Guard Duty at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

 

On Jeopardy the other night, the final question was, How many steps does the guard take during their walk across the Tomb of the Unknowns? ------ All three missed it ---

 

The Guards at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is really an awesome sight to watch.

Guard Duty at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

1. How many steps does the guard take during their walk across the tomb of the Unknowns and why? ...21 steps. It alludes to the twenty-one gun salute, which is the highest honor given any military or foreign dignitary.

 

2. How long do they hesitate after their about face to begin their return walk and why?...21 seconds for the same reason as answer number 1,

 

3. Why are their gloves wet? ...Their gloves are moistened to prevent losing their grip on the rifle.

 

4. Do they carry their rifle on the same shoulder all the time and if not, why not? ... They carry the rifle on the shoulder away from the tomb. After their march across the path, they execute an about face and move the rifle to the outside shoulder.

 

5. How often are the guards changed? ... Guards are changed every thirty minutes, twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year.

 

6. What are the physical traits of the guard limited to? ... For a person to apply for guard duty at the tomb, they must be between 5' 10' and 6' 2' tall and their waist size cannot exceed 30.' Other requirements of the Guard: They must commit 2 years of life to guard the tomb, live in a barracks under the tomb, and cannot drink any alcohol on or off duty.

 

They cannot swear in public and cannot disgrace the uniform or the tomb in any way. After two years, the guard is given a wreath pin that is worn on their lapel signifying they served as guard of the tomb. There are only a little over 600 presently worn.

 

The guard must obey these rules while serving as guards or for the rest of their lives if they choose.

 

The shoes are specially made with very thick soles to keep the heat and cold from their feet. There are metal heel plates that extend to the top of the shoe in order to make the loud click as they come to a halt.

 

There are no wrinkles, folds or lint on the uniform.

 

Guards dress for duty in front of a full-length mirror.

 

The first six months of duty a guard cannot talk to anyone, nor watch TV.

 

All off-duty time is spent studying the 175 notable people laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery. A guard must memorize who they are and where they are interred. Among the notables are: President Taft, Joe E. Lewis (the boxer) and Medal of Honor winner Audie Murphy, (the most decorated soldier of WWII) of Hollywood fame.

 

Every guard spends five hours a day getting their uniforms ready for guard duty.

 

ETERNAL REST GRANT THEM O LORD, AND LET PERPETUAL LIGHT SHINE UPON THEM.

 

In 2003 as Hurricane Isabelle was approaching Washington , DC , our US Senate/House took 2 days off with anticipation of the storm. On the ABC evening news, it was reported that because of the dangers from the hurricane, the military members assigned the duty of guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were given permission to suspend the assignment. 

They respectfully declined the offer, 'No way, Sir!' Soaked to the skin, marching in the pelting rain of a tropical storm, they said that guarding the Tomb was not just an assignment, it was the highest honor that can be afforded to a service person.

 

The tomb has been patrolled continuously, 24/7, since 1930.

 

God Bless and Keep the Guards of the Unknown Soldier.

We can be very proud of our young men and women in the service no matter where they serve.

 

Duty - Honor - Country

 

IN GOD WE TRUST

 

 

In May 1864, one month prior to its establishment as a national cemetery, the first military burials took place at Arlington National Cemetery. The four burials took place in Section 27 (pictured), the oldest section of the cemetery:

 

  

 

Private William Henry Christman, 67th Pennsylvania Infantry: first military service member interred at Arlington.

 

Private William Reeves, 76th New York Infantry: first draftee.

 

Private William Blatt, 49th Pennsylvania Infantry: first battle casualty.

 

Private William H. McKinney, 17th Pennsylvania Cavalry: first to have family present at his funeral.

 

Learn more about the history of Arlington National Cemetery.

My First Date

My first date with my first girlfriend was my High School senior prom. This is one instrumental that I will never ever forget. I just heard it, after over 50 years I still remember where I was and who I was with when I first heard it. <sigh> I was wishing I knew how to dance at my High School prom. My date Barbra wanted to dance to this tune soooooo bad.  

I graduated Lincoln-Way High School in June of 1969. By July, I had enlisted in the Navy. It was either enlist in the military or be drafted, I chose enlistment. I ran track, the mile and 2-mile for all four years. ... I thought HS was boring. 

Hearing it again brought back that same feeling...Wish I could dance.

Harlem Nocturne long version by The Viscounts

"Harlem Nocturne" has been recorded by many diverse artists, but this version by the The Viscounts is by far the best.

 

“Harlem Nocturne”  - “Harlem Nocturne” is a saxophone-saturated song born in 1939 that has had a long shelf life –a song that found pop fame 20 years, and again nearly 50 years, after its first release.

 

A Symphony Of The City -  Duke Ellington‘s “Mr. Cotton Club” in Harlem connection to “Harlem Nocturne” is a fascinating tale of musical inspiration and cross-pollination in the jazz world. 

 

“Harlem Nocturne” (1940) Ray Noble and (1969) Ted Heath - Swing & Beyond

 

... Wonder if my Physics teacher remembers who he danced with while this played?  

Nights In White Satin by The Moody Blues

Another memory from <God, I can't believe it...> over 50 years ago <sigh> Am I REALLY THAT old? It's amazing what memories a song can bring back. I can't remember what I had for breakfast just a few hours ago, but a song from over 50 years ago can bring back a memory so vivid and clear that it could have just happened.

1969, one hell of a year...Graduated high school, scared stiff over the "draft", gained a "Love", enlisted in the Navy and had no idea of what to expect, went to a high school prom - that dress REALLY accented her bu...bre..."womanly" features, began a career that lasted almost 50 years...and lost a "love".  

Nights In White Satin by The Moody Blues, one of the few "popular" songs that made it into my "country music" era. The video above, consists of clips of Paris and the famous monuments there, and the band singing the song from a staircase to in front of what appears to be a statue and a patterned room. The video has over 63 million views since its upload in 2006.

Justin Hayward started writing the song after he was dumped by a girlfriend. Remembering a gift a different girlfriend had given him he eventually wrote a song that became a multi million-selling, era-defining classic.

First released in November 1967, Nights In White Satin was a masterpiece that bridged pop and symphonic music, with a lyric ripped directly from Hayward’s personal life – it finds him caught between ecstasy and despair, between the end of one love affair while embarking on a new one.

“There was a lot of emotion that went into the song,” Hayward affirms. “I was nineteen or twenty at the time, living in a two-room flat in Bayswater with Graeme [Edge, Moody Blues drummer] and our girlfriends. I came back from a gig one night, around four or five in the morning, when the birds were just twittering, I sat on the side of the bed and wrote a couple of verses. The only people writing in the Moodies then were [keyboard player] Mike Pinder and myself. He’d been working on a song called Dawn Is A Feeling, which I’d heard him fiddling around with, and I knew the other guys were expecting something from me at rehearsal the next day.”

Searching for some kind of metaphor for his emotional turmoil, Hayward remembered the recent gift he’d been given. “Another girlfriend, who was neither the one that had just dumped me or the one that I was then going with, had given me some white satin sheets. They just happened to be in my suitcase and I was trying them out in this place that Graeme and I lived in. They were very romantic-looking, but totally impractical.”

Shaped by producer Tony Clarke and arranger/conductor Peter Knight, Nights In White Satin became a sumptuous epic in the studio. It formed the centerpiece of the Moodies’ second album, Days Of Future Passed, a dawn-to-darkness song cycle that made full use of the Mellotron’s ability to simulate an orchestra. Topped off by a spoken-word poem, Late Lament, Hayward’s song clocked in at nearly seven and a half minutes. Nights was duly edited down as a single, although not everyone at Deram, Decca’s new subsidiary label, was convinced of its worth.

The song continues to enjoy a prolonged afterlife. South Carolina’s Hard Rock Park in Myrtle Beach has unveiled the Nights In White Satin: The Trip - theme park, a sensory experience based on Hayward’s tune, with on-board audio, digital effects and psychedelic imagery.

So, what's MY memory of a ROCK song invading my era of country and western music? Like it's writer, I felt as though I had been "dumped" by my then girlfriend. I remember I was in the Navy, just out of bootcamp and just entered Electronic Technician "A" school at Great lakes, Ill. On a weekend liberty I went to my girlfriend's apartment in Chicago. When I left I kinda felt as if I had just gotten dumped. On the train ride back to Great Lakes I remember hearing the song and the "low and slow" "Oh I love you oh how I love you." Kinda had me down for a while.

The down feeling didn't last long, in a few months when I graduated, I was sent to California...I learned what "I wish they all could be California girls" meant (I later married one). The Moody Blues and hometown girls were quickly forgotten. It's good that when you are young you can just "push the past aside" and start over again. When you get older, it's harder to just "push stuff aside" and start over. Our character might say "forget it - move on" but our emotions, that only strengthen over the years, say "not yet, give it one more try, maybe something can be worked out". ... It's those strengthened emotions that let us smile and shake hands with one of those things that didn't go exactly the way we wanted it to. How we handle memories adds to those qualities that define our character. 

Now when I hear Nights in White Satan, I get nostalgic and remember home - New Lenox Ill., high school, the draft, a girl. Memories remind me that life changes, instead of being sad over lost loves, things that I did wrong or things I should have done or not done, I'm happy that I had an opportunity to just live and add strength to my emotions and build the qualities distinctive to the Pogi Americano. 

 The Moody Blues perform "Nights in White Satin" and "Late Lament" at the 2018 Ceremony

Project Mercury

I remember watching this on our living room couch with my mother. Including all the hype, it was only about 30 minutes long. I was only about 10 years old, so it didn't mean that much to me. 

Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astronaut into orbit around the Earth and returning him safely. Shepard's mission was a 15-minute suborbital flight with the primary objective of demonstrating his ability to withstand the high g-forces of launch and atmospheric re-entry.

Shepard named his space capsule Freedom 7, setting a precedent for the remaining six Mercury astronauts naming their spacecraft and the format of their names. They selected names ending with a "7" in all the crewed Mercury spacecraft to commemorate the NASA's first group of seven astronauts. the number 7 also was the model number for the McDonnell Model #7 space capsule used in the Mercury Program. His spacecraft reached an altitude of 101.2 nautical miles (116.5 statute miles, 187.5 km) and traveled a downrange distance of 263.1 nautical miles (302.8 statute miles, 487.3 km). It was the fourth Mercury flight launched with the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, close to the Atlantic Ocean.

During the flight, Shepard observed the Earth and tested the capsule's attitude control system, turning the capsule around to face its blunt heat shield forward for atmospheric re-entry. He also tested the retrorockets which would return later missions from orbit, though the capsule did not have enough energy to remain in orbit. After re-entry, the capsule landed by parachute on the North Atlantic Ocean off the Bahamas. Shepard and the capsule were picked up by helicopter and brought to U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Lake Champlain.

The mission was a technical success, though American pride in the accomplishment was dampened by the fact that just three weeks before, the Soviet Union had launched the first human in space, Yuri Gagarin, who completed one orbit on Vostok 1. In 2017 the first National Astronaut Day was held on May 5 to pay tribute to this first U.S. flight.

Less than 2 weeks after Alan Shepard. returned from the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. President Kennedy, in a special message to congress on urgent national needs said: "First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth."

Then on 12 September 1962 at Rice University President Kennedy said: ""We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." 

We made it to the moon and back in 1969, Why has it been over 50 years before we see the value in moon exploration? 

Barack Obama delivers heartfelt speech at grand opening of new presidential center

So inspirational! I miss common decency in our culture. I miss inspiration in our leaders. Thank you for giving hope again with all that’s going on now.

 

In a tribute to her husband that brought Barack Obama to tears, Michelle Obama called out those who spread “the lies about your birthright, your patriotism,” omitting any mention of then-businessperson Donald Trump’s starring role in amplifying those narratives.

 

 

Now that's how a First Lady should be. Pure class, humble, smart and intelligent.

The Speech That Made a President

When Barack Obama launched into his address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he was still an obscure state senator from Illinois. By the time he finished 17 minutes later, he had captured the nation’s attention and opened the way for a run at the presidency.

I really didn't know it at the time, but Obama couldn't speak, I mean, he was the type of speaker that would put a crowd to sleep...Until THAT speech. There is a great article about his speaking skills - Obama’s 'Overnight Success' In 2004 Was A Year In The Making

Memorial Day USA (revised 6/12/26)

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Its been over 40 years since I have given war and it's consequences much thought. I don't know why it is coming back this year. I'm beginning to understand why veterans don't want to talk about war. Civilians talk about the horrors of war, the death and destruction as if they have been there. They think the 6:00pm news tells the whole story. They consider interviews with "heroes" that have come back as gospel. Neither is true. A few minuets of coverage on the news is only a few minutes of an event that lasted several years, it isn't even a summary. Interviews are filtered through a man's life, from birth through the end of the interview, every man tells a different story. 

Why are soldiers interviewed in the first place? They do not start wars. Wars are started by rulers, kings, emperors and presidents. Soldiers only carry out orders of those who wield power over them. In America, during the 1960s our young men upon reaching the age of 18 were conscripted into combat or sent to prison. They did not start the war. In the 1960s, we, the United States were the invaders; and then, as now, it was not called a war, it was a "military action." Then, as now, the soldiers that do the invading are not the ones who started the war. 

Wars and "military actions" are started by governments that either want power or want to display power. Men and women in uniform do nothing more than follow orders sent down to them by governments. 

Yesterday was "memorial" day, a day set aside to honor those who did not come back from war. We at St. Peter Catholic Church had a Mass to honor and remember those who fell in battle. Our Deacon gave a very touching homily, I could tell, it meant a lot to him. But, for some reason, that particular homily left a lingering question that has been hiding in my soul for over 40 years...Who prays for the wives, children, brothers and sisters of the men that I killed? 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  that you may be children of your Father in heaven. ... If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

I'm an active member of Knights of Columbus, a global Catholic fraternal service organization. It serves as a mutual aid society, providing support and charitable services to its members and their communities. Many of the members of my council are veterans. If I said I pray for the families of those I killed in war, I fear that many of the veterans would say I offend America with such a statement; or worse, accuse me of treason. 

Loving one's enemy is not easy, it has taken me over 40 years to understand and act on those feelings deep inside me. Now, those feelings are bringing up a new question from my soul. Who is my enemy? Those who I am ordered to kill by government agency? Or those who are offended by me praying for the families of those who perished on both sides of the battle line?  

I think many Americans forget "But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  that you may be children of your Father in heaven."

I believe and will forever follow that a true Christian man, no matter what religion, should pray for all families of those who fall in battle, no matter which side they were on. This is the will of God. 

Imagination

 

While I was finishing up my degree at Fresno State University in 1999, I posted my first blog post on a new Google application called Blogger. At the time, I felt it was a good place for me to practice my writing skills, share my writings and hopefully gain some insight and pointers about public writing from people of all walks of life. That one blog post blossomed into what is now almost a dozen blogs on various aspects of my life and the interests those aspects have sparked.

I guess I like to write. I'm always at my keyboard, I like to sit and just imagine. Most of the time, those "imagination" articles make sense only to me. 

Imagination operates both spontaneously while daydreaming or during sparks of creativity and deliberately during planning or design. Imagination relies on memory, attention and associative thinking. I sometimes just sit and daydream at my keyboard (like I am right now). Most of those articles don't even make sense to me; but humanity owes a lot to imagination and dreams. Most of our discoveries and inventions were once a dream in someone's imagination. Much like President Kennedy's dream: "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." 

I wonder what the world would be like if every person was an academic nerd? I doubt that we would have landed on the moon. Ask anyone at NASA and they will tell you that not all answers come from math, physics and chemistry because sometimes even the problem has to be imagined with solutions coming from an engineer's dream. ... That is how we achieved President Kennedy's dream.

I also write about places I've been and places that interest me. Somewhere on my hard drive is an story about me landing on Pluto, you know, the planet we threw away.  My imagination kind of "ran away" in that article. Although I have not published any of those imaginative and daydream articles, I often go back to them when I am writing factual articles from my research about technology.  After many years spent in technology, I find that dreams and imagination actually lead discovery, fact and solution. So, the next time you see me daydreaming, we could be on our way to Pluto (I'm an engineer ... Retired!). 

I love to research technology. I used to be a "retro" guy, Writing about the old computers and software on a card. I still do, but lately, I have turned to writing about Artificial Intelligence. If you want to let your imagination and dreams run wild, AI is the place to be. 

Take a moment right now, ask yourself, can you get through a day without using any type of computing hardware or software? Everything in your kitchen except, pots, pans, dishes and maybe a 5 year old toaster, has a CPU in it. Your garage door has a CPU, your television and radio have a CPU, your car has multiple CPUs, traffic lights are controlled by a CPU, almost everything in our world today has a CPU (even toothbrushes?). Now, sit back in your chair and daydream and imagine yourself living in the 1800s. Could you do it? The only problem with THAT daydream is that some idiot is going to come along and dream up a CPU, RAM and build a "computer" and you will be back where you started. Sitting back in your chair surrounded by CPUs. 

The hardest thing for me to write about is myself. We are all different. We have different experiences and even if two people have the same experience, they will both interpret it differently. It seems sometimes I always make someone angry with a post. There are many aspects of being human. There's the hardware, consisting of your skin, organs, muscle, and bones; software, consisting of electrical charges, chemistry, and nerve connections in the brain; and firmware of blood and water. Then there are the "feelings". Where do they come from? how are they made? Probably, they come from that same unknown factor that generates imagination and dreams (remember, attention and associative thinking are part of imagination).

 

 

Some folks say I am a contradiction within myself. My early life was hardened by living in a world of racial chaos, war and drugs. During those times I didn't know who I was or why I was here, I desperately wanted the ideals that John Lennon sang of. I wanted peace, unity of mankind and serenity in my life. They say John Lennon wrote this song for the world, but I think he probably wrote it for himself. We should not have to imagine a world in peace, we should be able live it. 

In the 60s, above the roar of race riots, the shouting in Congress and the cries of our men dying in Vietnam, you could hear the shout of the young "All we are saying is give peace a chance."

We achieved Kennedy's dream by pulling together, helping each other out and forgetting our differences. We can do the same for our dream of peace (we all have it!) by stopping our one-up-man ship and forgetting our differences. If we can do that on an individual basis, we will all be pulling together, pulling in the same direction because it won't be a choice, it will be the only thing we can do. 

Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

It's always a treat to encounter the Weinermobile! Beside putting a smile on your face, you might get lucky, and score a weinerwhistle too!

The very first Oscar Mayer Wienermobile drove down the streets of Chicago in 1936 to advertise Oscar Mayer hotdogs and has been treating us to a thrill when sighted ever since.The company retired its worn-out Wienermobiles in 1977 to focus on television ads. In 1988, the company decided to make a new fleet of six 23-foot-long Wienermobiles with creature comforts like a microwave, fridge, and even a cell phone.

Oscar Mayer currently has 10 Wienermobiles in its fleet, and an online Wienermobile locator and app can help you find the closest one. You can even apply to become a "Hotdogger" and drive around the country promoting Oscar Mayer. Have you ever encountered the Weinermobile? Did you score a whistle? Do you know the Oscar Mayer jingle?

Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener,

That is what I'd truly like to be-ee-ee.

'Cause if I were an Oscar Mayer Wiener,

Everyone would be in love with me.

My Generation

The turbulent 60s, the generation I grew up in. Marked by intense social upheaval, political conflicts like the Vietnam War and Cold War tensions, the booming Civil Rights Movement, countercultural shifts challenging traditional values, assassinations of key leaders (JFK, MLK Jr., Malcolm X), and major protests, all leading to widespread activism, cultural experimentation, and deep divisions in America and globally. 

"Many have passed away, and those who are still here are called "the elderly.""

We were born in the 40s-50s-60s. We grew up in the 50's-60's-70's. We studied in the 60s-70s-80s.

We were together in the 70s-80s-90s. We got married or not and discovered the world in the 70s-80s-90s. Adventuring into the 80s - 90s

We're settling in to the 2000s. We became wiser in 2010s. And we’re going strong into 2020 and beyond.

Turns out we went through EIGHT different decades... TWO different centuries... TWO different millennials...

We've gone from phone with operator for long distance calls, pay booths, video calls worldwide. We’ve gone from slides to YouTube, vinyls to online music, handwritten letters to emails and Whats App.

Live games on the radio, black and white TV, color TV, then HD 3D TV. We went to the video store and now watching Netflix.

We've known the first computers, punch cards, disks and now we have gigabytes and megabytes on our smartphones. 

We wore shorts all through our childhood, then trousers, ep pants or mini-skirts, Oxfords, Clarks, Palestinian scarves, jumpsuits, and blue jeans.

We avoided childhood paralysis, meningitis, poliomyelitis, tuberculosis, swine flu and now COVID-19.

We've done roller skating, roller skating, tricycle, bicycle, moped, gasoline or diesel and now we drive hybrids or electric.

We played with the little ones. Horses and checkers, ostrich and marbles, 1000 threshold and monopoly, now there's candy crush on our smartphones

And we read... much. And our schoolmates religion was not a subject...

We used to drink tap water and lemonade in glass bottles, and the vegetables on our plate were always fresh, today we get meals delivered. 

Yes, we have been through a lot but what a beautiful life we have had!

They might describe us as “ex-annuals”; people who were born in this 50s world, who had an analog childhood and digital adulthood.

We should add the Biological Revolution that we have witnessed. In 1960, biology was very descriptive. We have witnessed the event of Molecular Biology: the molecules of Life have been discovered: DNA, RNA etc. When you see everything that has come from it: gene therapy, gene fingerprints, and others the progress is considerable.

We kind of have "seen it all"! Our generation has literally lived and witnessed more than any other in every dimension of life. This is our generation that has literally adapted to "CHANGE".

A big congratulations to all the members of a very special generation, which will be UNIQUE.. "

It's really sad that much of the popular music of the 60s, still rings true today.  

 

 

  

 

 

 

What defines my generation?

Although I wasn't there, I would have to say

WOODSTOCK 1969! 

 

 

On the third day of the festival, just before Joe Cocker's early afternoon set, Max Yasgur, the humble farmer who lent his land for the occasion  addressed the crowd at Woodstock:

 

"I'm a farmer. I don't know how to speak to twenty people at one time, let alone a crowd like this. But I think you people have proven something to the world — not only to the Town of Bethel, or Sullivan County, or New York State; you've proven something to the world. This is the largest group of people ever assembled in one place. We have had no idea that there would be this size group, and because of that you've had quite a few inconveniences as far as water, food, and so forth. Your producers have done a mammoth job to see that you're taken care of... they'd enjoy a vote of thanks. But above that, the important thing that you've proven to the world is that a half a million kids — and I call you kids because I have children that are older than you are — a half million young people can get together and have three days of fun and music and have nothing but fun and music, and I – God bless you for it!"

 

 ... Max Yasgur, said this on stage the last day of Woodstock as America was sending Kids to Vietnam to die. 

 

My generation of the 1960s could land a man on the moon and bring him back safely, but we could not stop a war that no one wanted or look upon a people freed in the 1800s as our equals. Today is in the year 2026 and nothing has changed. We are headed for the moon again, in a war that no one wants and driving people who are not white from our country. It saddens me to think that in all these years America has still not learned what our fore fathers tried to teach us.  

 

Imagine all the people living life in peace. As we did at Woodstock.  

 

The Answers are Still Blowing in the Wind

 

I was thinking today about how life has changed since I graduated High School and how it hasn't. Much can be told of the '60s from the popular music of that time. Songs like "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield. Released in 1967, the words of that song still apply to what is happening in the United States today (1/18/26). "Blowin in the Wind" by Bob Dylan could have been written yesterday, it's still that relevant to what is happening today. 

In the '60s when I was 16, 17, and 18, I didn't really pay attention to what the words of the songs were. I just listen to it because my peers listened to it. But, as I listen today, I hear in the songs of the '60s, the things I saw on the 6:00 o'clock news tonight. Civil rights are being violated by armed government militias, the US is threatening war on countries, there are riots in some of our largest cities against civil rights and marches against war and government policies, when will we ever learn? I think The answers we seek are still blowing in the wind.

 

Society today hasn't changed much from the '60s.  I grew up first on the South Side of Chicago, then in Oaklawn, about 10 miles south; then on to New Lenox, about another 10 miles south of Chicago. I still remember going to the large Sears store and Montgomery Ward store in Downtown Chicago where there were signs over the restroom doors; "Whites Only" and "colored". Separate but equal is what our government (and white America) called it. From what I remember, most of "Downtown Chicago" was "Whites Only". Things are supposed to be different now, anyone can go anywhere, but just because you "can" go somewhere, it doesn't mean you will be welcome. Chicago along with most other big cities is still segregated. There are areas where whites live, areas where blacks live, areas for Latinos, Italians, Irish, Puerto Recons, etc... Still today, you are only really welcome in your designated area. I always lived in the white side of town, went to schools that were "Whites Only", went to churches that were all white. Sometimes, it seemed to me that we were still fighting the Civil War. 

 

I live in Winterville North Carolina now, society is still segregated; not by race now, but by economic status. Greenville is broken up into rich, middle and poor communities. Again, just because you can cross community boundaries, it doesn't mean you will be welcome. What is really sad is that although races can intermix within their economic communities, race still seems to be a factor among whites. I still don't understand how our rich white forefathers who owned many slaves, could write in a Declaration of Independence that all men are free and equal when they, themselves did not believe it. They were good at talking the talk, but they did not walk the walk.  

 

Where ever you are now, look around. Do you see freedom and equality? Or do you see segregation and lack of respect. What our forefathers did not understand was that before we can be truly free, we must have respect for those around us. And before we can have equality, we must respect the race, religious beliefs and economic status of those around us. 

  

"How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they're forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, and how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind

Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take 'til he knows
That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind."  

There's Something Happening Here

"There's something happening here
But what it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
A-telling me I got to beware"

 

We're reliving the '60s. In America it was a time of lawlessness, shootings, mass killings, thievery, widespread corruption and denouncing the President. It was all over a war that our government perpetuated over the will of the people. It's happening again, the government perpetuating many things over the will of the people. 

 

Those lines above come from a protest song from the '60s. “For What It’s Worth” is one of the most widely known protest songs of the 1960s. Recorded by Buffalo Springfield as a single, it was eventually released in 1967 on their self-titled album. It has transcended its origin story to become one of pop’s most-covered protest songs – a sort of “We Shall Overcome” of its time, its references to police, guns and paranoia remaining continually relevant even to this day.  

 

Buffalo Springfield was the house band for LA’s famous Whiskey A Go Go Club during the time of the LA riots, which led Stephen Stills to pen the song.

 

“For What It’s Worth” was penned solely by Stills in response to the Sunset Strip curfew riots in Los Angeles in 1966. It all started in the mid-1960s when hippies and young people associated with rock and roll culture would frequently gather on the famous street in West Hollywood. The commercial merchants on Sunset Boulevard decided that the element of young people on the street every night was not conducive to commercial enterprise. When bunch of kids got together on a street corner and said we aren’t moving, the local government put in place curfew and anti-loitering laws to stop people from congregating at the behest of local businesses.

 

This tension between the free-spirited culture and local government came to a head in November and December 1966 when protesters clashed with police, particularly on the night of November 12 when a local radio station announced there would be a protest over the closing of Pandora’s Box, a popular nightclub for young people. Roughly 1,000 people showed up to protest. Three busloads of Los Angeles police showed up, who looked very much like storm troopers. 

 

According to reports, a fight broke out for reasons having nothing to do with the curfew; a car carrying a group of Marines was bumped by another vehicle. Egged on by that fight, the protesters (some of whom carried placards that read “We’re Your Children! Don’t Destroy Us”) trashed a city bus and threw bottles and rocks at storefronts. 

  

The LAPD instigated a 10 p.m. curfew for anyone under 18. 

 

 

The riot was really four different things intertwined, including the war and the absurdity of what was happening on the Strip. 

 

Despite having a reputation as being an anti-war song, as it was also written during the Vietnam War, Stills said that “For What It’s Worth” was mostly written in response to the Sunset Strip riots. 

 

“It was really four different things intertwined, including the war and the absurdity of what was happening on the Strip,” Stills explained in an archived interview, according to the Los Angeles Times. “But I knew I had to skedaddle and headed back to Topanga, where I wrote my song in about 15 minutes. For me, there was no riot. It was basically a cop dance. … Riot is a ridiculous name. It was a funeral for Pandora’s Box. But it looked like a revolution.” 

  

The beginning of the song is a study in understatement. An electric guitar plays two notes, slowly repeated, with tremolo. The drums set up a quiet pulse-like beat. An acoustic guitar enters, strumming two chords, then beginning a quiet riff that is a definition of laid-back L.A. funk. (Audio clip – 80K.) Finally Steve Stills’ voice enters, in a quiet, conversational tone. (Audio clip – 64K.) 

 

[Verse 1]
There's something happening here
But what it is ain't exactly clear
There's a man with a gun over there
A-telling me I got to beware

[Chorus]
I think it's time we stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down

[Verse 2]
There's battle lines being drawn
And nobody's right if everybody's wrong
Young people speaking their minds
Are gettin' so much resistance from behind

[Chorus]
It's time we stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down

[Verse 3]
What a field day for the heat
A thousand people in the street
Singing songs and a-carryin' signs
Mostly say, "Hooray for our side" 

[Chorus]
It's time we stopped
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down

[Verse 4]
Paranoia strikes deep
Into your life, it will creep
It starts when you're always afraid
Step out of line, the man come and take you away

[Chorus]
We better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going
We better stop
Hey, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going
We better stop
Now, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going
We better stop
Children, what's that sound?
Everybody look what's going down

While watching the news today, this song from my past came to mind and has not left. Once again we have riots in LA, and beginning to start in other cities. We have battle lines being drawn between Trump supporters and Trump non-supporters; Republicans and Democrats; those who want peace and those who want to take peace. When will we learn that nobody's right if everybody's wrong?

We teach our young people to "speak their mind" but we forget to teach them to consider those around them before they speak. Our "freedom of speech" does not give us the right to trespass, steal or destroy other people's property. Our "freedom of speech" does not give us the right to bully or demean any other human.

Nearly 50 years later, and in very different times, we still haven't learned from our mistakes of the 1960s.

 

Imagine By John Lennon

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No Hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people livin' for today
Ah, ah, ah-ah

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothin' to kill or die for
And no religion, too
Imagine all the people livin' life in peace
Yoo, hoo, oo-oo

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will be one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharin' all the world
Yoo, hoo, oo-oo

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope some day you'll join us
And the world will live as one

  

What Does Family Mean?

What does family mean to you? Take a minute to write down your own definition of family. If you compare your definition with others, I'm sure you will find both similarities and differences. For example, would your definition of family include: 

1. A friend or neighbor who is not a blood or legal relative (maybe a close friend who lost their house and all their belongings in a storm).
2. An adopted or foster child. 
3. Children who were once step-siblings after a remarried couple divorces.
4. A married couple (relative or close friend) without children.
5. A relative or close friend who cannot live independently on their own.
6. The spouse of a deceased relative or friend.-
7. A sibling who married outside the family’s religious faith and/or race. 

You might be surprised to learn how others respond to these different family types. In fact, you might be surprised at how you respond. What would be your reasoning for including a particular family type or leaving them out? Defining who is and is not family is foundational to your identity, and has implications on how you live your life.

My personal definition of "family" includes all of the above. Inclusion of those who need help into my "family", whether or not they are "blood" relatives, has become part of my belief, faith and trust in God.

Rather than simply defining family by a dictionary definition, I define my family by my own standards, being careful when I look inward to not let local society dictate what my standards are. Instead, I look inward, deep into my soul, find love, respect, support, forgiveness and understanding; for those are the building blocks of a true family.

You can have several families in your lifetime, even several families at once if you choose, such as your spouse's family, your "blood" family, work family or family of friends. Regardless of how you define your family unit, whether traditional or unique, your definition is of the family unit should be one that contains the building blocks of “Family”. Whether made up of blood relatives, friends or a combination of these, your family should offer you the love and support you need to thrive.

Part of navigating life’s many challenges, being welcomed as part of a family is one of our most central needs and a gift we can offer to others. We also take comfort in knowing there is no one way to define family. This knowledge helps us understand and appreciate our families in all their breadth and richness as they develop and change over the course of time. Rather than put up roadblocks, we all have an opportunity to benefit, learn from, and support families among our neighbors, community members, and among our own household and extended family.

There is no perfect family, we do not have perfect parents, we do not marry a perfect person or we do not have perfect children. We sometimes complain about each other. We sometimes offend one another. We are sometimes disappointed with each other. Yes for so many reasons at various times we find it hard to get along with one another. For these reasons, there is no healthy marriage or healthy family without the exercise of forgiveness. Forgiveness is the medicine of family joy and happiness. Forgiveness is vital to our emotional health and spiritual survival. No matter the offense or who is the offender. Without forgiveness, the family becomes an arena of conflict and a fortress of evil. Without forgiveness, the family becomes sick and unhealthy. Forgiveness is the healer of the soul, the purification of the spirit and the liberation of the heart.

No sin is too big to be forgiven. He who does not forgive does not have peace in his soul and can not have communion with God. Unforgiving is Evil and a poison that intoxicates and harms the soul of the one who refuses to forgive. Keeping forgiveness in your heart, mind and soul for your family is a self-healing gesture. Those who do not forgive are physically, emotionally and spiritually ill.

The family must offer respect love and happiness; not despair. A family brings healing through forgiveness and joy and replaces sorrow. A family gives support, not gossip or slander of one another. Families must offer a feeling of welcome not indifference or rejection. When anyone in a family is going through a challenge they need support of others in that family.

Family should offer love and acceptance freely with no strings attached. Family to me, is not just a group of people, it includes a collective group of personal attitudes and emotions from the people around me that accept me and my life as it is, with no apologies, no expectations and requiring no changes.

Family is a feeling of belonging, individual beliefs should not be held against each other; actions or in-actions should not be judged; words should not be manipulated or taken out of context. Family should lend a place of peace and happiness and is a reflection of it’s individuals identity's.

Family is about caring and sharing. Caring that comes from the heart, based on God's love for us and our sharing of that love with those around us. Family is caring and sharing with no expectations, judgments of past or present life experiences or restrictions.

My concept of Family has been shaped by culture, both my wife's culture and mine, along with our families cultures and experiences. My concept of family has also been shaped by my past life and spiritual experiences. Family should consist of people who listen without judgment, retribution or resentment when I reflect on the past; people who do not judge me when I talk about my past or present; and people who allow me to dream about the future. Family is also something I am willing to share with those who try to understand me and my life without judgment or resentment.

My concept of Family is rooted in "love your neighbor" as a way of life, not just a commandment we say should be followed.

My wife and I are under 2 Flags, from 2 Countries, of 2 Cultures, but of 1 Heart. Families should also be of one heart and that heart should be nurtured through love, respect for each other, caring for each other and sharing that love, respect and caring with all those we come in contact with. In my heart, mind and soul, family is not just a group of people, it includes feelings and emotions that are born out of respect, love and caring.

My Catholic Faith teaches me how to be a man and a husband. My Faith also teaches me that we are ALL brothers and sisters of Jesus. Life would be easy if we all lived in the Garden of Eden without sin. But, we don’t live in that garden, we have to deal with the temptations of our world. Because we do not have the knowledge and strength of Jesus, we fail many of life’s challenges. Maybe we would win more challenges if we called on Jesus sooner and worked closer with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

2020 Taal Volcano eruption

 

On January 12, 2020, Taal Volcano erupted with almost no warning, sending a massive column of ash and steam fifteen kilometers into the sky. Within hours, the picturesque lake surrounding the volcano turned into a cauldron, and lightning crackled through the volcanic plume in a terrifying display that lit up the Batangas sky. Nearly half a million people were ordered to evacuate.

Taal is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the Philippines, and it sits in one of the most unlikely places: a small island inside a lake, inside a larger island, inside a larger lake, on the island of Luzon. That layered geography sounds like a riddle, but it is exactly what makes Taal so unpredictable. The interaction between magma and water creates phreatomagmatic eruptions that can turn explosive with very little buildup.

What caught the world off guard was the speed of the disaster. Families living on the volcanic island and along the lakeshore had grown up with Taal as their quiet neighbor. Many ran fishing boats, grew crops in the fertile volcanic soil, or guided tourists to the crater. In a matter of hours, their homes were buried under thick layers of ash and mud.

The 2020 eruption was classified as a Level 4 event, just one step below the most catastrophic designation. Ash fell across Metro Manila, airports closed, and schools shut down for weeks. Yet amid the devastation, communities mobilized with extraordinary speed. Evacuation centers filled, relief goods poured in, and ordinary Filipinos once again demonstrated the bayanihan spirit that surfaces in every crisis.