Peace on Earth….

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Previous posts this month: 1st, 5th and 7th.

I have been thinking of how I can most constructively approach this distinctly unpeaceful season of peace.  What follows is a small attempt.  Sunday we were at a magnificent Christmas program at a large suburban church, St. Andrews Lutheran in Mahtomedi: “How Great Our Joy!”  There had to be at least 1,000 of us in attendance, for the first of two performances.  My mind wandered to a less pleasant scene in today’s Israel….

Earlier, Friday evening, daughter Lauri and two of the grandkids, Kelly and Lucy, came over to help decorate the Christmas tree – an annual tradition.  Saturday morning I noticed a bedraggled box by the television.

The box is very familiar to me.  It was delivered in early 1996 from Israel. It’s contents are 18 carved olive wood figures of a typical nativity scene.  I had purchased it in Jerusalem at a Palestinian shop which I think catered to Christian visitors to Israel.  A group of us had gone to the shop one evening.  The box, my purchase, was cleared for shipping by the Israel Postal Authority.

The set was expensive, and worth it.  Every year since,  the contents of the box are on display during the Christmas season.  Then it goes back into the same box till next year.

This year the box takes on particular significance to me: there is no peace in Israel; and no indication that sanity will return any time soon.  Hostilities are being ratcheted up, rather than tamped down.

Our trip to Israel in 1996 was about 11 days.  The January 11 itinerary included.Bethlehem, about 6 miles from Jerusalem. Among other visits was Yad Vashem. There was not yet a separation wall.  That was to come beginning in 2002.  The visit to the shop was after the visit to Bethlehem.

I have noted previously that 1996 was not a time of palpable tension in Israel, at least not felt by this visitor.  Yitzhak Rabin had been assassinated by a radical Jew in Jerusalem a couple of months before we arrived, but there seemed general calm.  We were allowed into the Golden Dome on Temple Mount.

Fast forward. I am very discouraged by the events of the past months.  Nonetheless, I hang onto the tenuous thread of hope, though punishing a group for the sins of a few, what seems to be the case now, is not and has never been constructive.  It does not work.

Which brings me back to the box….

The Nativity set, 1996.

I wish us all peace.  That 1996 Nativity set, photo above, in a sense melds Muslim, Christian and Jewish in Israel in a cooperative way.  I think it was Palestinians who carved the pieces, and sold me the product; Israel Postal Authority delivered the product to me, a Christian, in the U.S.

Maybe the box and its contents are something of a metaphor for the not always pretty reality of our own lives.  Maybe, the external box reflects how we feel about the tattered state of our country and world, but may not reflect the reality of who we really are – the people in that church sanctuary on Sunday.

More than ever, that set reminds me that we are all in this together.

Whatever your belief of tradition, don’t give up.  Work for Peace.

COMMENTS:

from Sharon: I especially liked the sentence of the Palestinians carving, sent from israel and arriving to a Minnesota christian. I, too, have an olive wood nativity set. My brother, Dallas, was a tour guide in Israel back in l962 and purchased it for my parents. Through the years, Mary got lost. I  have taken one of the shepherds and placed her behind Baby Jesus in the manger. Great article today. Merry Christmas. We must keep the faith.

from Florence: Thanks, Dick. Without a doubt we’re challenged these days to remember that “Christianity” is just a small part of the faithful in a world that too often overlooks others, including animals (land and water) that are much larger to much smaller than we are, but are equally a part of creation.

Our Christmas season figurines are making their way to the “barn”, occupied solely by a cow now, including the Christ Child in a manger, that won’t arrive until Christmas Day, December 31. Then we can begin to celebrate Christmas through to the arrival of the Three Kings. Before that we’ll be baking cookies and breads, entertaining friends and family, including Eric and Holly to celebrate their birthdays, and helping to deliver meals and participate in the Legion Hall dinner on Christmas Day.
We will also be entertaining friends here at home, at the cabin (if the weather allows!), and at least one dinner out with friends. Meanwhile, I’m trying to finish reading a book for our League book group, for discussion on Wednesday. I’ve started creating our Holiday cards from those we’ve received over the past three years, but am not at all sure when they’ll be delivered. Handwriting short personal greetings in each card will be challenging, without a doubt!
Very best wishes as this Holiday Season progresses through another New Year!

response from Dick: Our nativity group seems less active than yours.  It hasn’t found its home just yet, but will reside there until it returns to the box.  This is not to say we don’t try to act in the spirit of the season.  Also, I’ve always been abundantly aware of the fact that the labels “Christian”, “Jewish”, “Muslim”, etc. are by no means “one size fits all”.  Just look at all the variations within and among denominations, including such variations as atheist and agnostic, etc.  As a kid, I can remember when there was such animosity between Catholic and Protestant (both Christian) that one would have nothing to do with the other, with (they felt) justification.

 

 

 

December 7, 2023

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Those who follow this blog know that I have often remembered Uncle Frank Bernard who perished on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.  Search his name (the magnifying glass at upper right corner) and you will find many references.  Most recent was Dec. 7, 2022.

My main engagement re Uncle Frank this year has been to participate in a DNA-match process, to possibly match myself with some remnant of Uncle Frank preserved long ago, but not identifiable.  The odds are very long against such a match, but any possibility is worth the effort.

This year is by no means a routine December 7, in places like Gaza and Ukraine.  Today is the first day of Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights.

Today, I remember and honor everyone who has perished at the wrong end of a bomb or bullet, anywhere, any time.

Yesterday came another one of those ‘forwards’ that I feel is perfect for this season.  It speaks for itself.

 

December 5 post: Liz and Rachel.

POSTNOTE:   I published the blog this morning, and have been thinking all day about the “bomb or bullet” reference.

“War” today far exceeds its traditional definition.  Sure, the weapons are the way they were, albeit much more sophisticated.  But they have been augmented by even more dangerous weapons: lies, disinformation, misinformation, and on and on.

How do we change the conversation, one person at a time, where we live.  The “To-Do” list above is a good start.  Words, too, but the adage “actions speak louder than words” speak too.

 

Liz and Rachel

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Liz Cheney’s book, “Oath and Honor“, is out today, and my wife wanted a copy so it’s in the house.  We watched the interview with Rachel Maddow last night.  Liz self-identifies as a “conservative”, Rachel as a “liberal”, both on the left and right flanks of the population, but neither at the ideological extremes.

Rather than review the book, or the positions, which by now are well known to anyone wishing to learn what the “sides” feel, I’d like to briefly comment on what I was seeing and feeling at the time of the interview last night.

I start from what I think is a generally acknowledged public perspective.  Both are women, well known and respected. and thus subject to public attention and also to attack from opponents who consider them to be powerful

Liz Cheney, born 1966, is a lawyer, was a three-term Republican Congresswoman in leadership in the House of Representative, daughter of Dick Cheney, former vice-president of the United States.

Rachel Maddow, born 1973, is a graduate of Stanford, and has a PhD from Oxford, and over 20 year career in broadcasting.

The wiki links give a good description of both accomplished women.  They would self-describe as ideological opponents, at the same time, last night, they met as equals, and I was impressed.

What also strikes me is that both are powerful women actors in what were, in the older days, places where men dominated, and in many ways still dominate, though considerably more nervously.

I have noted for years the steady rise in conventional power of women, persons of color, and more recently youth.

When I graduated from college in 1961, I had not long before turned 21, the then-legal age to vote.  So I could not vote.  Then, 18 was selective service “Draft” age; 16 was the age for getting a drivers license, and possibly other threshold ages for various things.

Race of course, has been at minimum a source of quiet tension.

In organizations where both men and women were engaged, men were the designated leaders – it was not fought about, it was understood – an assumption.  On a number of occasions, on a personal level, I’ve had occasion to make lists of leaders, and the farther back one goes, the less likely one finds women as, for example, Presidents of even small organizations.

It’s hardly a mystery why women’s suffrage didn’t happen until almost 60 years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

Today, the ceilings remain, and there is tension as youth, people of color and women push at the boundaries.  It is probably natural that people of my gender, race and age tend to push back.

But the change is happening and I for one am happy that it is.

POSTNOTE:  Thinking more about the above, we tend to be imprisoned by implanted attitudes that we learn as we grow up.  In the simplest view, there are the generalizations which cause us problems: women view the world differently than men and would do a better job of governing; young people don’t know as much as elders, and without supervision will screw things up; people of color, poor people, immigrants who look different, don’t speak our language, etc., are not as good as we are.   On and on.

In our culture, people who look like me are the ones who got their start “on third base”: being a white male has had its advantages.  As barriers continue to fall, restrictions of opportunities for others decrease, in all of the ways we notice.  That is very threatening to people who look like me.  In general, I think one the very long term, we will find that people are people regardless of all of the artificial barriers.

One of the insights from the Liz and Rachel conversation is a brilliant statement of the obvious.  Imprisoned within their bubbles, liberal and conservative, it was difficult, perhaps, to understand that they really are quite decent people, and maybe even can like each other as a person.  This is one thing we seem to have lost in our polarized political conversation.  Any cracks in the wall of division are welcome, in my opinion.

 

 

Arrival

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Please see postnote at the end of this post.

It has been another event-filled time in my life.  I was again orphaned on the internet, this time from Nov 22 – Nov. 28.  probably thanks to some denizen of the dark web, the real reason or identity or location of the perpetrator never to be known.  So I start over again. (“Arrival”, this posts title, seems a synonym for Advent, soon to begin, and appropriate as a header for this post.)

Yesterday, Molly sent her usual collection of poetry for the season.  I’m privileged to be part of her list.  There are a couple of pages: 2023 T-day. 

Kathy sent along an inspirational phrase passed along by a friend.  It is very appropriate for this or any season:

*

Molly had called me during Rosalynn Carter’s celebration of life.

Nov 29, 2023

I watched the entirety of Rosalynn Carter’s farewell in Atlanta.  Very moving.  Jimmy, her partner for 77 years, was in attendance and then in Plains, Georgia, their home.  They were and are heroes of mine: small town folks who cared for others for a lifetime.

President Carter, near right side front row, Nov. 29, 2023

The Carter’s represented the United States honorably and effectively.

My son and I visited Plains GA in June, 1977, a few months after the Carter Presidency began.  Plains was and remains  small town, much like those I was familiar with from North Dakota days.  We were enroute to Florida, and I at least wanted to see Plains, which is about 50 miles off the freeway.  There was not much to see in the small town (pop. about 500).  Carter’s were not there, of course; you couldn’t get close to the house; we didn’t see the school both attended; we did see the peanut warehouse.  This was before brother Billy’s escapade with Billy Beer.

Plains Ga June 1977

Three years later, in January, 1980, I had a singular opportunity to sit at the Carter Cabinet table in the West Wing for a briefing.  Neither Jimmy Carter nor vice-president Walter Mondale were there that day, but it was still a unique experience.  The Carter presidency was friendly to public education.  I’ll add a photo from that day at the end of this post.

The post-presidency years were amazingly productive ones for the Carters, who were in their early 50s when their years in the White House ended. Personally, I think their positive reputation will live on, in some ways like Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt.  Sure, Jimmy Carter had only a single term, but his accomplishments were many and were positive; and Rosalyn was by no means a casual bystander.  And they did not rest in the over more than 40 years  following the presidential years.  Their contributions to the betterment of humanity worldwide are well documented.  They showed up.  I last saw President Carter in person in Minneapolis, as he spoke at the 2015 Augsburg Nobel Peace Prize Forum.  He was about 90 at the time, and very impressive.

March, 2015, Minneapolis, Augsburg Nobel Peace Prize Forum.  photo Dick Bernard

The Carter Center well represents the Carter’s legacy to this country.  Johnathan Alter’s book, His Very Best, about Carter’s life and work, seems very worthwhile.  Carter himself was a very prolific author.  I have a dozen of his books here.

Our country and our world can be grateful for their service.

Dick Bernard, January, 1980 White House, Washington DC

POSTNOTE: 6 p.m. on November 22 was the last e-mail I received until Nov. 29.  If you sent an e-mail to me in that period, I’ll never see it.  There were increasing suspicious intrusions and ultimately Apple shut down, and then cancelled, my e-mail address.  Six days later I set up a new account, with a new e-address.

I’ll continue the blog, of course, probably essentially the same general frequency as before, but I probably won’t send reminders.  Best strategy, if you wish, is to check the archive (at right on this page) for the current month.  For example: for November 2023, click  HERE.  Scroll down, most recent is first on list.

POSTNOTE 2: Dec. 2: Subsequent to the drafting of this post came the announcements of the deaths of Henry Kissinger and Sandra Day O’Connor. both of the same generation as the Carters; both very prominent in their own niches.  I will stay with the Carters exclusively for this post.

 

 

 

Thanksgiving

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A month ago, this tree in our yard reminded us of the coming season.

One month at this time of year makes a difference here in Minnesota.  No leaves on the tree, now, but no lasting snow on the ground either.  Thanksgiving day will be chilly, but nice otherwise.

As we all know, the seasons continue.  Happy Thanksgiving, wherever you are.

One month ago in our yard.

There are many reflective thoughts for me this season.

In all of our lives there are millions of minutes (525,600 of them each year), and many memories: things that have impacted each of us in many ways.  Today, 60 years ago, I was a brand new teacher setting up for a science class when the announcement came that President Kennedy had been shot; a short time later that he had died.

I really didn’t know a lot about John Kennedy.  Two-thirds of his 1,000 days as President I had been in the Army. At the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, October 22, 1962, I and other GIs had watched him speak thanks to the Mess Sergeant’s tiny tv in a barracks at Ft. Carson, Colorado.  (The first third of the 1,000 days I was a senior in college, but at 20 not yet old enough to vote in the 1960 election under the then-rules.)

Memories.

I am thankful this day for many reasons.  I like to consider myself an optimist.

President Kennedy’s life and work is and will be analyzed continuously.

For me, the essence of his message then, and still today, was very simple: each of us have a crucial role in making our community, worldwide, a better place for everyone.

The ball is in our court each day.  What happens, or not, is up to us.

*

If you’re reading this, you probably see my postings here from time to time.  The most recent three are Teddy, on Nov. 13, (about president Teddy Roosevelt and North Dakota). A Moment in Time, Nov. 15, is  about a 1972 family reunion in ND.  Gaza , Nov. 18, about the tragic situation in Gaza/Israel.

*

I close this post with some thoughts I had about another tree on the North Dakota prairie the summer of 2005.  Nature has wisdom to share.

And,  this day, I think of September song.  Here’s Frank Sinatra’s rendition in 1965:  “As the days dwindle down….”

Let’s make productive use of the minutes remaining in each of our lives.

Ft. Carson Colorado 1962, my barracks a couple of blocks from this end of the base; Pike’s Peak and Cheyenne Mountain area in background.  This was my “home” from January, 1962, to October, 1963.

POSTNOTE: I’ve elected to start listening to Rob Reiner’s podcast “Who Killed JFK?”.  It sounds promising.  You can access it here.  The segments are about 40 minutes. Three segments to date, all available: Nov. 8, 15 & 22.  There are commercials, otherwise no cost.  I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I do like to inquire into things.  There are multiple segments to this program and I think I’ll listen to them all.

Gaza (3)

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Today came an on-line column from an historian I really respect concerning a topic we are all forced to confront.  You can read it here.  I hope you take the time to not only read but think and act about it.  Read it before or after you read what follows, but I hope you read both.  Every single one of us can make a positive difference.

Of course, since I’m the one sending it on, it exposes my own bias, which means I should at least try to explain myself,

Like everyone, I’m a single ‘grain of sand’ among the 8 or so billion of we humans currently on earth.  My bias: we have devolved into a tribal world; but we sink or we swim, together.  We can’t survive, tribally.

This post is once again about Gaza.  It could be about Ukraine or other places as well.  But Gaza is where I start.

My personal lifetime started in 1940, and I’m lifelong Catholic, with the Passion, and all of that kind of introduction to Judaism.

Along the way, in 1953, without my knowing it, I became part of what was a vibrant “Mohamedan” (as spelled by my Dad sometime in 1953-54) community in western North Dakota, whose original migrants had come from what is now border-land Syria-Lebanon about 50 years earlier, the earliest migrants migrating to avoid conscription by the then-dominant Ottoman Turks.

One of that community remains a close friend to this day; his Mom and Dad were hospitable to us, and I’ll never forget a singular visit to their home as an 8th grader.  Their mosque, unknown to me at the time, was one of the first in the United States, and it is so recognized to this day.

In 1965, my first wife died in Minneapolis, and I will never forget the kindness of the Jewish community that was the then-Lincoln Del in St. Louis Park.  I don’t remember how I got connected with them, but they were truly life-savers for me in a terribly difficult time.  I worked essentially full-time at Lincoln Del for 6 months.  It was a great gift, I’m forever grateful.

Later came trips to Israel (Jan. 1996), and to Holocaust sites in Czech Republic and Poland (Spring, 2000); then 2005-07, presidency of a large coalition of peacemaking organizations, including two advocate groups for Justice for Palestinians.

In the trip to Israel, I had some unexpected learnings: two months before the trip a radical Israeli assassinated Yitzhak Rabin (Nov 5, 1995) – we visited the temporary memorial when we arrived at Jerusalem; the Saturday before we left for home a week later, a Rabbi at a Saturday service expressed angrily his concern about the ultra orthodox efforts to get control of the Israel government.

I learned a great deal in the above experiences, some of which are in the three previous posts on the topic: here, here and here.

Along the way, I came into possession of my Grandma Bernard’s Bible, c 1911, which included a large number of maps of the Holy Land, one of which shows the 1911 land, today commonly referred to as Israel.

Here is the map in pdf and jpeg format: Palestine ca 1912 Catholic Bible.  (This pdf is enlargeable).

The Holy Bible (1911 – Catholic) The E.M. Lohmann Co, St. Paul MN

Over these many years, viewing from my perspective as a ‘single grain of sand’, here are some impressions.  Take these as they are offered: non academic observations from someone who cares a lot about this question.

Israel was an artificial creation of the victors, flowing out of WWI, and its creation was important given the atrocities towards the Jews we have all learned about over the years.

We have all learned the biases towards the Jews from the beginning, if we happen to be Christian and ever studied even a tiny bit the Passion story.  At minimum it was an annual centerpiece of the Easter season.

Don’t forget the Crusades….

I have always had the impression that the Palestinians, as a group, actually had a close family relationship with the Jews, from a genetic sense at minimum, but were not looked upon with equanimity by the surrounding Arabs nor by the Jews.  The Palestinians were more likely to be Christian, but most were Muslim.

I have always had the sense that Israel from the beginning was a small country surrounded by unfriendly neighbors.  Most recently, I have described to myself (and now to you), Gaza as a prison, within another prison, which is Israel, and the matter of the settlements question, which is a long festering sore to the Palestinians in particular.

Breakouts from prisons seldom end well for anyone, and those responsible are very well aware of this, I would think.

It is difficult to imagine any ‘winner’ coming out of this, especially the dominance of a ‘win-lose’ mentality shared by almost everybody, across the ideological board.  Losers immediately prepare to get even, and on the cycle goes.  We are enduring this in our politics in this era, especially.  That’s another story for another time.

Just yesterday I was observing to a good friend my sense of dialogue in this divided day and age.  I put my pen in the middle of the restaurant table we were seated at, and simply observed that today the general rule seems to be “I’ll deal with you only you are willing to go more than half-way, first”.  In other words, I won’t talk to you unless I win.

It doesn’t work in day to day life; it doesn’t work in national or international relations either.  We are stuck with some tough lessons left to learn…but we candy our part to change the conversation.

POSTNOTE Nov. 22:  The Tuesday Minneapolis Star Tribune had a long article about a controversial Minneapolis teacher’s union action.  The article speaks for itself and is worth your time: CMFT re Israel-Gaza Nov21 2023.

It’s been years since I’ve been to such meetings myself, but as a full-time teacher union representative, I attended probably thousands of them in my career.  People who make the difference are the ones who show up and participate, and likely this is solely what happened here.  In short, as best I can tell, this was simply an expression of freedom of expression which took on a life of its own when one side didn’t like it.

Ironically, I wouldn’t even know about this action, unless it was made to be a public matter….

 

A Moment in Time….

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Every family has a history.  I think I can justly claim to have been more involved than most in preserving family heritage memories of both my mother and dad’s families in rural North Dakota.

One of the particularly evocative photos I have is below, taken in early August, 1972, after the funeral of my grandmother, Rosa Busch, the last of my grandparents to die, at age 88.  The photo in enlargeable pdf format is here: Busch Family Rosa Funeral 1972.  

Busch farm August 1972 rural Berlin ND

In the photo are the house built coincident with my grandparents arriving in ND in 1905; and in the yard three generations of the family: children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Rosa.  A typical scene for any family.  All that changes are the individuals and the location.

I’m not in this photo; I would have been among the group taking the pictures.  Others were unable to be at the funeral for assorted reasons.   Here is the “cast of characters” (the people in the photo) as best I’ve been able to discern: Busch Family Rosa Funeral 1972 caption

Years later, in 2000, the family took on the project of taking down the old house piece by piece.  One of the group observed the very high quality of construction, long before sophisticated and powerful tools of the present day.  They did a good job building the house, to last.

The Cream Can

Over 50 years later, on the exact same farmstead, one of the children of the current owners came across an interesting artifact – an old cream can, apparently owned by the Lakeville MN Creamery, located in the Minneapolis area, 330 miles from the old farm.

How could this be?  There exists a brief and fascinating on-line video of the history of the Lakeville Creamery, which connects the creamery with far away North Dakota years in the past.

Here’s the e-mail where I learned of the find:

I asked Christine Long, a great friend and nonagenarian in Berlin ND, if she could help.  Here’s what she said Oct 1, 2023:

Gabriel Aberle was my uncle.  He had a grocery store in Berlin.  I remember Uncle Gabe buying cream and sending it on the Northern Pacific rail train.  I also tested and bought the cream when I worked at Uncle Gabe’s store.

There are endless similar family stories well hidden everywhere.

Last summer my daughters Joni and Lauri took a short trip to North Dakota and stopped at the Veterans Memorial Park in Grand Rapids (LaMoure County).  We visited the family Memorial sandbox and bench dedicated to Uncle Vince and Aunt Edithe, who lived 5 miles from the park and were frequent visitors during their lives.  Here Lauri and I take a break on the bench by the sandbox.

The Sandbox July 2023

Perhaps this brief post might peak your interest in remembering and recording for posterity some of your own family memories.

POSTNOTE: I’m abundantly aware, how quickly time passes by: days into weeks into months into years.

I was at Grandma’s funeral, as were my wife, two children, and a third on the way.  I was 32 years old, and couldn’t imagine today, at 83 – just a few years younger than Grandma and Grandpa when they died (she at 88, he, in 1967, at 86.)

We have a finite amount of time on earth.  Use it wisely.  Far too soon it will be too late.

Teddy

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The Sunday Nov. 12, 2023 Minneapolis Star Tribune carried a story about the upcoming Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora ND.  You can read the article here: Theodore Roosevelt ND Star Tribune Nov 12 2023.  The Library is scheduled to open in 2026.

No, this isn’t a joke.  I’ve known about its planning for some years now, and it is now coming to fruition.

Teddy Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, was no stranger to ND, residing in the Badlands area for nearly three years, beginning as a visitor in 1883, when he was about 25; then became a young rancher.  His wife and his mother tragically had died on the same day in New York not long before he came to Dakota, and the wilds of the Badlands were where he recovered his will to carry on.

I think he would  approve the location of his library.  His surviving family did….

My grandmother, Josephine Collette, was two years old when Roosevelt came west.  She was born in Dakota Territory in 1881.  North Dakota became a state in 1889.

Her cousin, Alfred Collette, and her husband-to-be Henry Bernard, were among the earliest volunteers for the Spanish-American War, arriving in Manila in the summer of 1898.  They had scarcely arrived when the Spaniards surrendered, and the following year was mostly against native insurgents, who were glad America had come, but wanted us to go home….  The insurrection continued for several years.  In the end, the U.S. had a new territory.

(There is a good summary of how Roosevelt came to be a dominant figure in the Spanish-American War in Wikipedia,  Note sections on Naval History and Emergence as a national figure.)

My other grandparents, Fred and Rosa Busch, came to North Dakota in 1905, the first year of Roosevelts presidency (he had earlier replaced President William McKinley, killed by assassination in September, 1901).

One of the things found in the basement of the Busch farm home was a poster of the U.S. Presidents including the then-most recent, Theodore Roosevelt.  The print was in bad shape, but here is a photo I took of it several years ago.  Teddy is standing, second from right.  Here is the photo in enlargeable pdf format: Presidents through TR

The U.S. presidents and the U.S. Capitol, 1905. All Presidents shown up to and including Theodore Roosevelt (standing, second from right).

Here’s the White House description of Teddy Roosevelt.  He became President after the assassination of William McKinley in 1901, and was elected in his own right in 1904.  He was only 43 when he became President.

Teddy Roosevelt was truly a unique occupant of the White House, with many accomplishments.  He was not a wallflower.

It’s a long trip out to Medora, but I think it would be very interesting to visit this newest library to a President of the United States.  There apparently are about 15 Presidential libraries in nearly as many states, according to the National Archives.  The  Theodore Roosevelt Library is not yet listed.  A somewhat mysterious listing is the library for the 45th President.  It’s the last one listed.

I’ve visited the libraries for Truman, Eisenhower, and Clinton.

For years, North Dakota has recognized citizens with outstanding accomplishments with the Rough Rider Award, a tribute to Teddy Roosevelt.  Here’s the site.

POSTNOTE Nov. 22: 

60 years ago today, President Kennedy was assassinated.  Those old enough to remember will quite likely  remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the President had been shot, Friday, Nov. 22, 1963.  (I was in my first month of teaching, and was setting up a chemistry lab when the announcement came.  Three months earlier I was in an Army Infantry Company playing war in rural South Carolina on the day Martin Luther King Jr gave his “I have a dream” speech on the national mall in Washington, D.C.  Of course,  I learned of that later on….  I was watching the excellent History.com film of JFK’s life this week, and it really hadn’t occurred to me till the program was almost over, that I was on active duty in the Army for fully two-thirds of JFK’s time in office, and in that time probably watched TV only one time, and that when he addressed the nation during the Cuban Missile Crisis Oct 22, 1962.  I watched him along with a few other GI’s on the mess segments tiny tv in a barracks at Ft. Carson Colorado.  We were within a few miles of one of the targets of any nuclear strike – the NORAD facility in Cheyenne Mountain, which we could see maybe 15 miles away most every day.  We were in the front row of history, and hardly were aware of it.)

Sunday, Nov. 19, Rosalynn Carter died in Plains, Georgia, survived by her husband, President Jimmy Carter.  It is not unusual nature of life,  that the President, 98, will soon follow.

Early on Nov. 20, historian Heather Cox Richardson remembered a speech given by Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Nov. 19, 1863.  It has come to be known as the Gettysburg Address.

Armistice Day

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POSTNOTE Nov. 12: Yesterday, after the bell-ringing at the Victory Memorial, came some personal reflections on War, generally (see “Later” section).  The most recent, overnight, is an essay from Heather Cox Richardson, on the end of WWI and the almost immediate transition to WWII.  Her note is powerful and you can read it here.

On the way home (“Later”, below) I learned of Classical DJ Lynn Warfel’s essay in honor of her Dad and his colleagues at Normandy.  It is a powerful commentary.  My sister, Flo, commented on the Peace Corps (also below), which followed on a column in the Minneapolis Star Tribune by John Rash on the institution of the Peace Corps (also included).

Overnight my French-Canadian colleague Don Marier, reposted an article on the Mercy Train, which he had passed along to us on November 6, and reposted yesterday:

“This article on the Merci Train was sent to me by Nikki Rajala, wife of Bill Vossler, a St. Cloud area writer who put together this story on the Minnesota “Merci Train” for the Seniors Perspective magazine.
It think is should appear on our website or somewhere. It turns out the train car is in Little Falls.”  This was France’s gift to the people of Minnesota and all the other states after WWII.  It is a wonderful remembrance.

Every day we have an opportunity to learn from the past.  This is simply another of those opportunities.  Have a great day.
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Saturday, Nov. 11,  is Armistice Day, aka Remembrance Day.  In the United States the name was changed to Veterans Day by Congress.   I’m a veteran and I prefer the term Armistice Day, remembering the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 when hostilities ceased officially ending WWI.

The local Vets for Peace has its annual observance beginning at 10:30 Saturday in North Minneapolis.   Their news release is below.  I have attended frequently.  The observance is always moving, even if the weather does not always cooperate.

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Originating post Nov. 11: I have long expressed the belief that the only result of one war is providing the basis for the next.  World War I begat WWII, and on and on.

I equally believe being anti-war is not set in cement:  the choice in the 1930s was to act or not.  We waited too long.  There was evil to be confronted.  All the rest is argument.

This year the world is faced with  Gaza and Israel, and Ukraine and Russia, among other assorted conflicts.  Both in one sense or another are creatures of earlier wars, including WWI.  The rest is all argument – better, in my opinion, dialogue among us about other approaches.  (I did a followup on Gaza earlier this week.  Take the time, here.)

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VETERANS FOR PEACE
ANNUAL ARMISTICE DAY
REMEMBRANCE SERVICE
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 2023, Minneapolis.

Veterans For Peace will conduct its yearly Armistice Day remembrance service by ringing bells at 11:00 am honoring the Armistice which was signed on November 11, 1918 which was to be the war to end all wars.

This year we will gather at the World War 1 Victory Memorial Monument on Victory Memorial Drive (45th Ave N & Victory Memorial Drive-where Xerxes crosses) at 10:30 am.

Two options:

#1. 10:00 walk begins at 33rd Ave. N. & Xerxes Ave. N.
The 1 mile walk will honor service men and women along the way reading their names from ground markers. “Presente”
#2.  Meet at the Victory Memorial at 10:30
Words from ch 27 president Dave Logsdon and others.
Bell ringing at 11:00 am.

FFI contact Barry Riesch
651-641-1087
bwrvfp27@gmail.com\
Comment by WAMM member Lucia Smith:
This always is a moving commemoration of the Armistice (rather than a salute to military veterans) that took place at 11am on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 — to end all wars. The Victory Memorial Drive in North Minneapolis is the biggest memorial in the world to honor those killed during WWI. The Victory Memorial Drive features tall trees with a marker at the base of each tree showing the name of each of the 568 Hennepin County residents killed during WWI (including two women who were nurses in the war zone).  The central memorial is located at 4558 Victory Memorial Parkway, Mpls. 55412.
Dave Logsdon was on the radio about Armistice Day on Nov. 9.  [I listened to this radio program out of Nashville.  I thought it was well done well worth your time.]  Dave Logsdon, President of the local VFP Chapter 27, joined the show to talk about the Veterans for Peace project to reclaim Armistice Day a day to celebrate and work for peace. You can listen to the Thursday Nov. 9 program, Here. 
November 11 used to be Armistice Day but that was changed in 1954 when it became Veterans Day and since then it has been a holiday to celebrate war and militarism.  VFP is trying to bring back that sentiment of peace to the United States before it devolves further into an outlier and bully within the world community.  Dave Logsdon is the facilitator and coordinator of the project and joins us to share the importance of doing just that.++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Born in Gaza Special Screening

November 12 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pmSunday, November 12, 2023 at 1:00 pm, 4200 Cedar Ave S, Mpls MN Born In Gaza: This documentary film focuses on the violence of the Israel-Palestine conflict and its effects […]

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MERCHANTS OF DEATH War Crimes Tribunal – November 2023

The Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal aims to hold accountable U.S….
Opens Sunday night Nov. 12.

Read More     Register at https://merchantsofdeath.org

Once the Opening Session concludes, the entire Tribunal will be streamed via video links over consecutive weeks examining War Crimes in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Gaza, and Yemen.
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VFP27 Monthly Meeting, Sunday, Nov. 12 at 6 pm. For more information contact Dave Logsdon, dlvfp27@gmail.com.
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LATER
I attended the Bell-Ringing along with a nice sized group (below photo).  It was a chilly, breezy day.  Many had walked a mile to the ceremony, which began precisely at 11 a.m.  It was impressive.

11-11-23 at 11 a.m. Victory Memorial 45th Ave N and Victory Memorial Drive Minneapolis MN


Today, I have a rather unusual reflection to offer.

Enroute to the event, on a busy freeway, a car slightly ahead and in the lane to my left, hit a unknown piece of road debris, which kicked up and hit my car.  The debris dented the car hood, and almost surgically sliced off the rear view mirror on my side.  A split second and a foot or two with an open window could have been very bad for me and others on this busy freeway.

Later, enroute home, I got to thinking about a cousin of mine, Marie Josephine Collette, two months younger than I, living in Manila P.I.  The family genealogy says she died between February 3 and March 3 of 1945.  She was 4 years old.

Many years later, in the summer of 1998 in San Francisco, her brother Alfred, one year older, told me the rest of the story, with considerable emotion.

WWII was nearing its end, and the Allies were about to re-take Manila and the Philippines from the Japanese.  Their Dad was in Santo Tomas prison; their mother took the three kids to what she felt would be a refuge: the churchyard of the church where she and her husband had married Feb. 14, 1938.

As it happened, they got caught in the crossfire, and little Josephine climbed into her mothers arms for refuge.  Soon thereafter a piece of shrapnel from someone’s shell killed her in her mothers arms..

It was really obvious that Alfred, in re-telling the story, was returning to long suppressed memories.  He was there in the churchyard in Manila.

Obviously, I never met my cousin Josephine.  I did know Alfred and his sister Julie, who ironically and sadly both died in 2007 of different illnesses.  A fourth sibling was born after the war, and died at 13 in 1961.

As I was thinking about this in my car, I was listening to Lynn Warfel on the Your Classical Channel on MPR, ending a show of music dedicated to Veterans on Veterans Day.  Her Dad had been at Omaha Beach (1944), and she was remembering him, and as the show ended, she played some of the music from the movie “Saving Private Ryan”.  Her powerful contribution to today can be read here.

War is not a video game.  There are many victims who don’t even show up on lists.

Continue the necessary conversation.

COMMENTS (more at end of post):

Back home, a comment to the blog was in the mailbox:

from Chuck a long-time activist for justice:  I’m impressed with what you wrote and agree with you perspective 100%.  But I’m not a vet.  I dodged the Vietnam war by joining ROTC.

“one war is providing the basis for the next.”  World War I begat WWII, and on and on.  Non-ending war against a tactic that can never be beaten.  And I too equally believe being anti-war is not set in cement.  Sometime ya just gotta pick up arms…like the Ukrainians.

I grew up with guns. Thinking of buying one.  Not sure it will be of much help against a bioweapons attack.  Except against looters…

Stay healthy, fit and sane!

from Florence: I hope everyone will recognize Peace Corps Volunteers who continue to proactively work for Peace. There has to be more effort put into seeking that path for the good of the world and all who make it their home, including children to the seventh generation.  Peace be with you!

Note to Flo: Today’s Minneapolis Star Tribune had an excellent column on the Peace Corps: Peace Corps Rash STrib 11-11-23

Gaza/Israel (2) one month

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Pre-note: Overnight, from Sue: Tuesday night. “Frontline on PBS showed an old documentary of theirs detailing the history of Israeli-Palestinian attempts at peace over a number of years from the Cairo Agreement of 1994 through the Oslo Accords to the Wye River Memorandum to the Camp David Summit and the Taba Summit to the outbreak of war among Israel, the Palestinians, and Hezbollah. President Clinton was involved in most of these peace negotiations, until war shattered the hope of adoption of what was a fragile proposal in a fraught political time for many of the main players, and Clinton was replaced by Bush II, who soon had his plate full with his own foreign problems. Throughout, Prime Minister Netanyahu does not look good.

It was a stupendous rendering of the history, and everybody should know that history today, although it might just make us more depressed. This program was a late substitution for the scheduled program, which was to have been on the Uvalde shootings.”

to Sue and all: I didn’t, but I just called up Frontline on the web [same as above link] and the program is featured and apparently available to watch on-line. Don’t forget Jimmy Carter in this equation.  He, too, made heroic efforts.

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This post is deliberately set aside from the first post, Saturday.  You can read the first post here.  There have been a number of comments.  Yesterday was the one calendar month anniversary of October 7.

One of the most troubling aspects of the catastrophe in the place that is called Israel is the perceived fear of having a civil conversation about differing points of view on the whole issue of Israel/Palestine (the land) or Jews/Palestinians (the people of the land).

I wish it would be possible for everyone, from ordinary citizen on up, to just be able to dialogue across the boundaries which now exist.  Maybe it would only be me and you – but even that is productive, towards understanding.  The current standard seems to be: “This is my position, and until you agree with me, there’s no use talking.”  This goes both ways.

Today, as every day, my experience is that most people I come across, regardless of how they look, or the language they speak, make it a point to get along with others.  I don’t think I live in an atypical bubble.  We are all human beings.

Monday came a post from Doug Muder in his Weekly Sift: “Can We Talk About Israel and Palestine?” which is well worth your time, and personal consideration.  A question each of us can ask ourselves:  “what can I do with this, where I am, as a single individual?”

The instant issue seems always to be framed as us versus them.

The sense seems always  getting even.  “You beat me up, I’ll beat you up even worse”.   Over and over.  Retribution is a descriptor I’ve heard that speaks to this self-defeating strategy.

And on and on….

As noted, over the years, I’ve come to believe that at least informally the large majority of humanity much prefers peace writ large over division and conflict.  A small minority prefer disrupt and confuse and anger.  Most just want to get along.  All we need is the will and the patience and persistence to implement it.

Still I tend to be silent out of caution.  Unfortunately, silence without positive engagement is not productive.  Some tension is necessary.

The vast majority of all people, everywhere, are alike.  We want peace.

More than once, at this space, I’ve urged civil conversation.  Here I go again.  It will look different everywhere, but one conversation at a time will make all the difference in the world.