Snake bit

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Today I was driving in a nearby quiet neighborhood.  I was meeting another car in a street narrowed to one lane by two vehicles parked on opposite sides.  The occupant of one, a young man, was sort of a traffic cop, though that wasn’t necessary.  But it was a nice touch.  But mostly I noticed the young mans pick-up which had a very large Gadsden flag mounted at the edge of the truck bed.  These days that coiled snake yellow flag seems favored by people who fancy themselves rebels (my opinion).

For those who like to think that we’re back on the right track in this country, I beg to differ.  The Gadsden Guy was only the most recent piece of evidence that trouble is not that far beneath the surface, and the trouble will likely come from within our own citizens including friends, neighbors and relatives.

Much of the inciting we see every day in the American commons of internet or television especially.  Role models are governors and state legislators saying “go to hell” on things like masking, etc.  Or people who disrupt school board meetings, on and on.  Why used to be rare has become common.

We’re a big country with lots of people, and there are brilliant and diabolical organizers out there who are willing and able to make trouble, and who have plenty of money to work with, and willing minions at the local level.  And of course there’s the tribal leader who’s modus operandi is to get revenge and enlists angry people in assorted ways most of us probably don’t see.

Many of us have friends and relatives who are police and military, former and present, some who were or still are open and even outspoken support of anti-government, though they are part of this same government.  We tend to close our eyes to this: this a free country, after all.

But the rubber has hit the road.  Selective enforcement of the law: in the case of January 6, a slow response to a crisis because the people in the chain of command who had to authorize action, delayed response.  We were accustomed to a usual and customary role of our law keepers, and their chain of command.  And we still are.  But the deviations from normal in the recent – and not so recent – past have been significant.

Timothy McVeigh, who murdered hundreds in Oklahoma City in 1995,  was a Boy Scout and from the military, we must remember.  Today’s militia groups include in their membership people with lots of military experience, with nothing good on their minds.  Perhaps we are fortunate to have witnessed the graphic demonstration of this on Jan. 6, first hand; and witnessing ever since the efforts made by some to disrupt and upset any investigation or punishment of those involved.  I wonder what the guy with the Gadsden Flag was saying?

This has been evolving for years.

Just this week I was going through a box of papers, and came across something I knew I had, somewhere, but couldn’t find.  There it was, something I wrote back in the fall of 2001, including three pages from a U.S. News and World Report from September, 2000.  Here it is: 9 11 2001 Three vignettes.  Look especially at pages 3 and 4, keeping in mind that this is from 20 years ago.  It is worth a look as the 20th anniversary of September 11, 2001, approaches.

I have no idea what if anything will happen from this point on.  Nobody does.  But you can bet that preparations are being made, just in case.  We can no longer be naive.  There is doubtless planning taking place.

Each of us is either part of the solution, or of the problem.  Where do you stand?

POSTNOTE: My reflections 20 years after 9-11-2001 on the anniversary day, Saturday 9-11-2021.  (9-11 was a Tuesday in 2000.)

9-11-01

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My first post about the 20th anniversary of 9-11-01 is here.

My personal quest is to learn from our nations experience in the last twenty years, and help make a contribution to a better world in what time I have left.  Another, possibly final, post on the topic will be published on 9-11-2021.

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September 11, 2001, I was part of a crew of volunteers from Basilica of St. Mary working on a new Habitat for Humanity home which had been under construction for some time.

Our crew began its work on September 10, and was on scene for two weeks.  I recall there was a great outpouring of volunteers in the days following 9-11-01, so many that there was not enough work to be done.  People would drive up and ask if they could help.  I suspect others have similar stories at that time of national stress.  I was there probably for 7 of the 10 days.

I remember this porch (below) especially since my son-in-law John was helping when this porch was being constructed 9-11.  When I took the below photo, in the late Fall of 2001, the house was essentially complete, and the dedication and presentation to the family was in January of 2002.  The family still lives in the home. (A photo of the porch and crew on 9-11-01 can be seen here.)

I’ve watched several retrospectives on 9-11-01 in the past week, most recently last night on the NY Firemen first on the scene after the first plane hit the first tower.

I have been to New York City only once in my life, and that was in late June of 1972 for a few hours when I took the snapshots at the end of this post.  At the time, one of the towers had been completed and was occupied; the second was nearing completion.  We did not go into the building; we just wanted to see it.

At the end of October, 2001, we went on a vacation trip to London, which had been scheduled long before 9-11.  I remember the kindness and welcoming of the English on that trip.

Back home, unfortunately, the mood of our nation was war, and that has been our last 20 years, largely.  I think the danger of the Kabul suicide bomber at the end of August, could be – I certainly hope it isn’t – our new 9-11-01.  Wars have started on actions by a single person or a small group.  We didn’t, and we don’t, need war to get to peace.  War is a fork in the road best not taken.  Too much can go too wrong.

Sadly and ironically, the day the World Trade Centers were destroyed was days after the United Nations General Assembly meeting at the UN in Manhattan had approved a resolution setting September 21 of each year as the International Day of Peace.  A celebration was taking place at the UN Plaza when the first plane hit the tower not that far away.  I still have the video produced by the English group Peace One Day (scroll to the end and read the review written by someone.  The film is worth watching, if you have any interest in peace.)

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Here is some information about the losses on 9-11-01 and in the subsequent years of war.  I think these numbers are reasonably accurate, though I know there are certainly other pieces of data that are similar, but not identical.

Data about the deaths at the time of 9-11-01 at the three sites.

Afghanistan cost of war between 2001 and 2021, data from Associated Press.

We always seem to amplify our own losses, and minimize those suffered by others in our wars.

World Trade Center New York City, end of June, 1972, by Dick Bernard

World Trade Center New York City June, 1971 photo by Dick Bernard

Snapshot of United Nations, New York City, Dick Bernard , Late June, 1972

POSTNOTE of concern: I have rarely written about 9-11-01 at this space.  One time vividly comes to mind, and that was the day I visited the International Peace Garden shared by North Dakota and Manitoba.  You can read it here.   I published it July 23 2009.  Succinctly, the tragedy we are re-viewing now, became a pretext to going to endless war, which hopefully ended on August 30, 2021.  Have we learned anything?  It remains to be seen.  Other posts about 9-11 can be accessed in the archive section at right, for Sep 2 2011, Sep 9, 2011,  Sep 11 2017, Sep 10, 2019.  Simply call up the month and year, then click on the specific calendar date.

Decay within.

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Individual citizens, like myself, and you, will decide whether this experiment called the United States of America will succeed or fail.  January 6 was the first and very major wakeup call about a genuine crisis attacking our democracy.  The assault continues.  We sit idly by, and we invite disaster.

Related posts: August 30 and September 6.

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This morning, as every morning, I delivered the Sports section of our paper across the driveway to our neighbor, then off for coffee.

We live in a town home, and share a driveway with three other families.  Rick, whose home adjoins ours, was in the doorway of his garage.  He’s often out early, the same time as I, and we’re casual friends.  Good folks, good neighbors, both ways.  This day Rick wanted to talk, and said he was reading a book about how America is destroying itself from within by Mark Levin.  It puzzled me.  First time in all the years I’ve known him that a political topic has ever come up.  I know the family politics – polar opposite of ours – and I said I didn’t know of the book, nor Mark Levin;  that what he posed would probably take a very long conversation.  We went on with our respective day.

Back home some time later I google’d “Mark Levin destroying itself from within”.  Levin’s a long-time conservative commentator, and there was a book with a similar thrust that he authored in 2005.  That book is my best guess what Rick was talking about.  (2005 was 16 years ago, the first year of George Bush’s second term, and we were full tilt into the Iraq War at the time.)  If you’re curious, google it.

The previous evening had come an e-mail from a relative, a retired PhD in political science in Montreal.  At the end of his e-mail he said “I’m reading a lot about the state of democracy in the States.  Fascinating but scary.”  The e-mail came at 8:29 p.m.

At 7:36 had come another e-mail from a good friend about the Supreme Court non-decision on the new Texas abortion law:  “How did only 80,000 Nazi officers control Germany, a country of 60 million? By identifying “the enemies” and asking citizens to report their fellows to the Gestapo or other Nazi group for persecution and/or death. Turn citizen against citizen. Divide and conquer.”

If you follow the news at all, you can probably gather the drift.  Vigilantes are being empowered.  To those who say “good”, be very careful what you pray for.

The non-decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in the Texas case on Wednesday is the immediate most recent cause, but the rainstorm has become a flood of epic proportions particularly since a certain person lost the 2020 election by over 7 million votes.  But the raining on democracy itself began long before, consciously and deliberately, by operatives wishing to take permanent control of this government, supposedly “of the people, by the people and for the people“.

Heather Cox Richardson catches the essence of some of the critical political history here.  It’s not a long read, but a good one.  She’s not the first I’ve heard, recently, talk about “dog catches car” – it’s more fun to chase the car, than to catch it.  What do you do when you win?  I would suspect the Taliban has that quandary in Afghanistan ‘as we speak’.  So did the Nazis, when their “1,000 year Reich” began to unravel only 10 years into their regime.  Be careful what you pray for.  Yes the victims can also be the perpetrators.

But this is a deadly serious matter and we are well advised to take our heads out of the sand.  If we give a damn, we get to work.  It’s our gig, not someone else’s.  One person, one action at a time.

Personally, I’m struggling with how best to address another e-mail I got from a relative last Sunday.  This one was one of those insane “forwards” which ends “Author unknown”.  It is the laundry list of the radical right fears and hates.  Here is the forward in its entirety: Ken anon letter Aug 28 2021.    The handwritten comments are mine.  I apologize for the brevity.  It would take many pages to do justice in a response.  I expect to add somewhat more detail to my response to this, perhaps this weekend.  Check back.  [Sep 5.  See postnote.]

As for the “author unknown”, I’ve watched this evolve over the years in the misinformation industry.  In the naive old days, which are really fairly recent, they would attach a real name to a quotation even if the person named was not responsible for the quote, which may or may not have been true.  The most recent example that comes to mind was a quote by Abraham Lincoln I saw in a North Dakota church bulletin a couple of years ago.  Unfortunately, there are people keep close tabs on Lincoln’s quotations, and it was an easy search to find out that Lincoln never said what was attributed to him in the bulletin.

The Priest apologized to me, and said he got a sheet including such quotes from parishioners he trusted…just how this works.  He was conned by his own flock.  Did he learn his lesson?  He’s in another state.  I don’t know.

If you look at the Ken letter, and I recommend that you do, what you have by this prolific and infamous author, “anon”, is a listing of things that a certain group of people fear or hate.

Caveat emptor.

Some ideas for a long weekend:

  1. Last Monday I had the opportunity to watch, for the first time, the film Hunger Games (2012).  It is worth your time.  It is fiction, but it is thought provoking.  It was a very successful series of books and movie.
  2. You probably know the name “Julian Assange“.  Whatever your personal feelings about him, an organization in which I’m active is offering a particular opportunity between now and September 16.  All details are here.  Scroll down.  Preregistration is required if you wish to join the program; the films are available on line and on your own.  Watch before the conversation.

COMMENTS:

from Jane:    Every woman has a right to choose whether or not to give birth.  And every woman also has a right to choose whether or not to get an experimental injection that is proving to be more dangerous in many instances than COV$D itself.

response from Dick: I decided to ask Center for Disease Control (CDC) about this first.  Here.  Then I went to the link provided by Jane, which is here.

from Marion: Thanks, Dick. I read the link. Most of it either new to me or lost to my 94-year-old memory.

POSTNOTE Sep. 5, from Dick: I don’t see any reasonable way to confront “Ken anon” (above).  It would be evidence against feelings, and if feelings dominate, evidence will make no difference whatsoever to either the author (who will always be unknown) and the person who sent it to me in the first place.   So, I’ll just let it be.  I did rescan the pdf, in particular high-lighting words and phrases which seem most relevant to the sender.

 

Hunger Games

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A few years ago I heard about a book then a film called “The Hunger Games”.  It didn’t much interest me.  I neither read the books, nor saw the movie.

That changed Monday night: I was invited to a showing of the movie and I went.

It is described as a “dystopian” novel and thus film.

Nonetheless, at the end of the film I would highly recommend it as good food for adult discussion about contemporary America.

Here’s the wiki article about Hunger Games.

I’ll say no more about it, than to say I watched the entire film with a few teenagers.  And I recommend it as food for both thought and discussion, but as a possibility for action.

9-11-2001

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President Biden’s remarks on leaving Afghanistan August 31, 2021.  Here’s some commentary about it: Just Above Sunset: Some Explaining.

More About 9-11:  post of September 6, 2021

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I’ll click ‘publish’ on this when August 31 begins in Afghanistan, 9 hours before Minnesota.  The intention of this post is strictly to encourage each reader to assess his/her personal feelings about the 20 years – a generation – since 9-11-2001; then to also personally reflect on how he/she commits to approach the 20 years upcoming.

Previous recent posts relating in whole or part to Afghanistan: August 16, 19, 26, 28 2021.  Access through archive section at right.

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Remembering 9-11-01, some thoughts from 20 years ago:

5th grade student, Lester’s, art, early October 2001 suburban Minneapolis MN.   This flag is prominent in my home office.  Somewhere here at home I have over 30 pieces of writing by elementary students after 9-11-01, a common cathartic technique.

Personal communications as saved by myself between September 10 and 24, 2001, appear here (12 pages): Sep 10 to 24 2001.  Except for the first two pages from Sep 10, 2001, I only include content that specifically relates to 9-11.  At that time, my normal e-mail traffic was a family letter I tried to do every two weeks.  9-11 quickly erupted into a communications frenzy – people needed to talk.  Some years ago I printed out the first 100 days of such dialogue, which filled two business envelope boxes.  These were donated to, and accepted by, the Minnesota Historical Society for posterity.

Referring to specific pages in the attachment: page 3) The three photos referenced can be seen here (scroll down, this space also includes my comments from a year after 9-11-01; 4) my sister Mary Ann’s comments.  She was at the WTC 4 days before 9-11; 5-7) first person survivor from the towers written immediately after escaping; 8) from a church bulletin, note comment about bullying; 11) “perhaps the most important…”; 12) note the Priests comments in a church homily the Sunday after 9-11.

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My grandson, Spencer, is an active duty Marine, though not in Afghanistan.  He was one and a half on 9-11-01, recently turning 21.  Those Marines killed at Kabul were largely in his cohort.  When he was in high school I prepared a simple page on the human cost of war to the United States.  The data is of 2016, and he and his teacher found it of interest.  It is here: War Deaths U.S.002

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Just Above Sunset for August 30 f you wish a good collection of opinions about the carnage at the Kabul airport.  If nothing else, read the last sentence.

Joyce sends on “Innocence and Folly” from The Weekly Sift.

COMMENTS: Check end of post for more.

from Mary: May as well ‘weigh in’!  Somehow I can not quite understand why this Afghan exit had to become such a big deal…don’t folks know how to fade out of the picture?  I will give some of the dubious credit  for the lumps to the 24 hour news cycles and the Monday Morning experts.  Human Rights aside – maybe they should not be – but we can not think that we can fix everything!!  We were uninvited and unwelcome and long ago outlived our usefulness in fixing this tribal society – there is and always will be plenty to do in the USA should Americans want to accept a real challenge…we live in a world of health care and infrastructure and education challenge and shady slimy stuff getting in the way of too many political decisions.   Afghanistan – Another sad example of the futility of revenge.

Dick in response:  I have been noticing over the last few years in particular a conscious and deliberate effort to make the United States a “tribal” society too.  Take your pick: urban/rural; race; women/men; religion…division has been useful to some operatives; not to a United country, and we will pay the price.

from Jermitt: Powerful read!  There is no way to leave a country after “losing the war”, without criticism and perhaps bloodshed.  Yes, perhaps a mass evacuation may have started earlier, but who would have forecasted the folding of the Afghan military.  No one.  I believe Biden had only one reasonable option and he did what was best for all the allies and the U.S.

The Peace Pole.

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Thursday’s post, Seeing Ike, began with some comments about Afghanistan, but I said not a single word about the terrorist attacks on the same day.  Why?  Very simply, when I wrote the piece – published at 12:16 pm CDT, terror attacks in Kabul were not at all on my radar.  Kabul time is 9 hours ahead of here.  The major story was probably out there in fragments but still developing as I was writing, unawares.  Even in these times of instant communication, verification is sought before anything official is said, but difficult in the best of circumstances; still, essential especially because of so much misinformation.  (Earlier posts about the current Afghanistan Crisis are at August 16 and 19.  August 31, deadline day for withdrawal from Afghanistan, will be my first post relating to 9-11-01.)

The opinions are endless now, and in many ways “empty and meaningless” (to use a phrase I once heard that really applies here).  Everybody appearing behind a microphone is, as someone mentioned, in “CYA” mode: impolitely, “cover your ass”.  That is simple: deflect and blame.  The wisdom of hindsight is 20-20, of course, particularly when you can fashion your message without any intrusion of facts that don’t support your own position.

Molly, yesterday, sent an interesting blog post which seems reasonably fair and balanced.  Molly says: “Friends, This morning, a blogger I follow linked to this amazing story-within-a-story (which I had not seen elsewhere) regarding yesterday’s tragedy in Kabul… Quiet, unsung, acting for the reasons that make us proud and humble that these people represent our country and us. The Pineapple Express.  500 people. May we stay worthy of these Veterans and their work.”

Personal disclosure: my grandson, Spencer, is a Marine on active duty at this moment in history, although not in this particular theatre.

The Peace Pole

Thursday we elected to go to the program on the Gandhi Mahal grounds, as advertised in Wednesdays blog.  The program was outside; the forecast for the time was near 100% probability of rain.  The decision was made by organizer David Logsdon to hold the program ‘rain or shine’.  It was a hike to get to the site; there could be nobody there and a thunderstorm pending even if there were people.  We went anyway.

I would estimate that 30 of us, “soaking wet”,  showed up.  And the weather followed through, basically it was near impossible to avoid “soaking wet”.  Most of us huddled under a large umbrella; some of us, including organizer David Logsdon, decided to welcome the rain (which is badly needed here).  We were under the umbrella…it didn’t help much!  There was no wind, thankfully, but it rained for much of the time.

Nonetheless back home I wrote Dave and a few others:  “last night was one of the most inspiring events I’ve been to in many, many years.  Thank you for organizing it.  (The weather added to, rather than detracted from, the significance of the evening.)“.  Showing up is the essence of organizing.

The purpose of the event was to re-declare the site of Gandhi Mahal as a Peace Site, and to present owner Ruhel Islam with a temporary Peace Pole in anticipation of a new restaurant and complex in coming years.  The restaurant was destroyed by fire in the events following the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

Special guest Larry Long performed several songs, and subsequently wrote his thoughts at his Facebook page, shared here with his permission:

“Ruhel Islam was honored with a PEACE POLE from Veterans for Peace & World Citizens on the sacred grounds of Gandhi Mahal restaurant – only a block from the 3rd Precinct in our beloved Longfellow community. The gathering was called Longfellow Rising: Another Evening of Peace, Love, and Curry.
As our friend Ruhel said following the loss of George Floyd, “Gandhi Mahal may have felt the flames last night [May 29, 2020], but our firey drive to help protect and stand with our community will never die! Peace be with everyone.” Ruhel also said, “Let my building burn, justice needs to be served. . . We can rebuild, but we cannot bring George Floyd’s life back.”
Gandhi Mahal is in fact being rebuilt at the very same location upon an even stronger foundation. To include an aquaponics community garden and fish farm.
As Mahatma Gandhi said, “We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.”
Thank you Dave Logsdon, Anita White, Thomas LaBlanc, Scott Fultz, Dawn Goodwin, Dick Bernard and so many others for participating and organizing this glorious event in the Longfellow neighborhood where my children where my children were raised.
Peace and all good Larry“

Here are some photos from the evening.  (It did rain buckets for a significant part of the two hour program; fortunately unaccompanied by wind and a minimum of thunder and lightning.)

Ruhel Islam, Gandhi Mahal, August 26, 2021

Martha Roberts, representing World Citizen, rededicates GandhiMahal site as a Peace Site.  Dave Logsdon, who organized the event, is at left.

Some of the audience August 26.  This is the site where Gandhi Mahal stood until May 29, 2020.

Larry Long (at right) and Scott Fultz perform August 26

Dawn Goodwin, White Earth, environmental activist fresh from environmental protests at MN State Capitol, spoke at the gathering.

POSTNOTE:  Tomorrow, a few comments about Assumption; August 31, a post preliminary to the 20th anniversary of 9-11-01.  Do check back.

COMMENTS:

from Jerry:  Dick, thanks for the report on yesterday’s gathering at the peace site.  When you sent a notice about this gathering, I wanted to be there and support Rubel Islam and rebuilding Gandhi Mahal, but I knew my condition would not make it feasible.  I have good thoughts of this site.  I’m sorry you got wet but God knew we needed the rain.  I’m on a two week wait and see if my hip heals enough to avoid surgery.

from Kathy:  Love this positive message!  Thank you for sharing!  “….rain down, rain down, rain down your love on your people….”

Dick, responding to Kathy:  Thank you very much for this.  Here’s a good version on YouTube.  It was a spiritual moment for us, for sure.

 

Seeing Ike

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As I write, I’m watching some talking head being interviewed by Andrea Mitchell, passionately arguing that the current situation in Afghanistan is the problem of the last three American administrations, leaving the Bush administration, which started this, out of the problem.  The problem, basically, the guy suggests, is Obama and Biden missteps.  I gather, he was an advisor in the room with #45, who basically seems to get a pass, after four years on the job.

Advisors give often conflicting advice, and argue their positions passionately.  Bush, Obama, #45, and Biden, and every President, are the ones left to make the final decision…and be crucified or idolized by one side or another…like the persuasive sounding idiot I was listening to this morning.  Truman’s sign on the desk, “The Buck Stops Here”, was accurate.

Just another day in disinformation, this time presented persuasively – but nonetheless BS.

History is  a good teacher.  Endings of wars are messy.  WWII was not a pleasant memory to Germans, and it was years till it recovered, thanks to things like the Marshall Plan.  Millions of Americans had German ancestry, including myself.

While you’re deciding which talking head to believe, if you’re old enough to remember, think back to the end of other wars – WWI, Vietnam, Iraq, Korea et al – and the abundant lessons to learn from them, among which is that wars are never really won; they simply take a break til the next war, premised on the excuse of the day.

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I headline this post “Seeing Ike” because of a recent question answered about the President I knew as a kid.

I was 12 when Dwight Eisenhower was elected President.  He was, of course, hero of heroes in WWII.  He was President until I was well into my college years.

I liked Ike.

Ike could have run for President as either a Republican or Democrat.

For years I have remembered the single time I actually saw Eisenhower in person, in a motorcade in Minot ND.  I thought it was in 1953, when I had just turned 13, just out of 7th grade.

Little more than a week ago, August 18, I decided to try to find out if my memory was accurate, and I decided to ask a question of the Eisenhower Library in Abilene Kansas, a place I had actually visited with my Dad in 1983.

I was amazed at the fast turnaround, and the precisely presented answers to my question.

With thanks to Linda Smith at the Library:  “Thank you for your inquiry.  President Eisenhower did visit Minot, ND, on June 10, 1953..  According to our trip database, he made a trip to the northern states of Minnesota and North Dakota.  Here is what the log says about the trip:

First stop – Minneapolis, MN, then to American Swedish Institute to receive local Republican leaders, then to auditorium to give address before the convention of the Natl. Junior Chamber of Commerce, on to Minot, ND to the Clarence Parker Hotel, in the evening DDE greeted GOP leaders meeting at the hotel, remained overnight.“
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I responded back to her: “Thank you.  It is odd how certain things stick in ones mind – lodged there for years and years.  I remembered the then-Air Force One flying in from the southeast.  Of course, it wasn’t the current edition!  

We lived in a rural town – Karlsruhe – perhaps an hour away, and my guess is that we weren’t in Minot for Ike’s visit – rather, I had broken my leg some months earlier and was probably in Minot to have the cast taken off.  Of course, [in June, 1953] Ike was in the first months of his first term as President.  
I was a senior in college when his second term ended in 1961.  So I can say my formative years were primarily during the times of Dwight Eisenhower, including driving on one of the first completed stretches of the Interstate system (from Jamestown to Valley City) in 1958.  It was so new that the construction the shoulders had not been completed, even on the opened stretch.  I remember they liked to talk about it costing a million dollars a mile!“
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I sent a note to my siblings with a little more: “To a few of you who I think would find this of interest.  Start at the end and work up. 

Wiki says Eisenhower’s Air Force One was a Lockheed C-121 Constellation.  I truly do remember watching its approach over Minot.  I seem to recall our vantage point was outside a large brand new movie theatre in town.  [A friend who later was at Minot Air Force Base noted the theater was the Empire.]
I’m old enough to remember Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower.  I was not yet five when Franklin Roosevelt died in 1945.“
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There is not much more to say.  Every opinion is right, and every opinion is wrong, and that is all there is, opinions.
My consistent narrative since 2001 is that it was a mistake to go into Afghanistan in the first place.
President Biden has the fortitude, the experience and the common sense to say ‘enough is enough’.  I hope for an August 31 exit.
There are different ways to solve problems.  They’re very long term, and they aren’t dramatic.
War is never the answer.
In fact, you don’t have to look far to find out that Eisenhower would share my opinion.

 

Peace and Love

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The program below is tomorrow (Thursday) evening, Aug 26.  The 20th anniversary of 9-11 is a couple of weeks ahead; and August 31, is the self-imposed deadline President Biden has set for American departure from Afghanistan.  On August 31 I plan to do a post reflecting on 9-11-01.  Check back.

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Here’s a message from David Logsdon of Vets for Peace from Sunday Aug 22. “This Thursday evening  [August 26] 6 to 8  [at] site of the Gandhi Mahal Restaurant (27th Ave. So. just south of Lake Street).  Food available for purchase.   Music by Larry Long and Scott Fultz.   Poetry by Strong Buffalo.   Bell ringing.  Presentation of Peace Pole and Kellogg-Briand Treaty to Ruhel Islam of Gandhi Mahal.     Ruhel will talk about his vision for the space.    Emcee is Dave Logsdon.

                                 Bring your own chair! Admission is free!”
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The poster:
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We are in stressful times, once again.  Let Thursday (details above) be an island….
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Sunday on spur of the moment, after Mass, I decided to revisit the Habitat for Humanity house our Basilica of St. Mary crew was helping construct beginning September 10, 2001.  I didn’t get out of the car – just took three photos from the car window, from the street.
Apparently I looked suspicious, and a lady in burqa approached me, with cell phone in hand.
We chatted briefly.
I said: “I was one of the crew helping build this house on September 11 2001”  I remembered the project was for a Somali family.  I was there the first week. joined for a time by my spouse and one of my sons-in-law.  I asked “Are you one of the persons we were building this house for?”
“Yes”, she replied.  The tension broke immediately.  “Thank you”, she said.
I had my camera in hand, but didn’t take a photo of her, or ask.
I had taken a picture of the house, which is immaculate, after all these years.  I won’t include that here, nor the address.  I’ve been by the place on several occasions over the years, and always the same story: very well kept.  I didn’t tell the lady that we had been to the dedication of this house when it was completed in January, 2002, if I recall correctly.  We all had met the family then.
Today, I’ll write her/the family with a copy of the photo I took, and a little more of the story, which I’ve shared on numerous occasions with others, here: Post 9-11-01001.
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Enroute home I drove by the site of Gandhi Mahal, burned to the ground May 29, 2020.  I hadn’t been there lately, just a side trip to take a look.  I was looking at some fresh poetry there, and a man approached from across the street.  It was my friend Ruhel Islam, the owner of the place that was once and will again be Gandhi Mahal, the host for the program on Thursday of this week.
He was doing some community gardening.  He mentioned Thursday as well.  Ruhel is no quitter
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I ask that you come, Thursday,  totally in peace.
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Meanwhile, our country is in the midst of craziness once again.  Some people are just too uncomfortable with peace.  As the book title suggested years ago: “War is a force that gives us meaning” (Chris Hedges, 2002).
The overnight Just Above Sunset, “Remembering Grenada”, reviews some current and past history which every one of us need to revisit from time to time.  There remains reverence for war.
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We need to, again and always, be the people of peace.
One of the writings seen at the Gandhi Mahal site on August 22.
COMMENTS;
from Joyce: “The Weekly Sift” Afghanistan, Biden and the Media.

2021-22: School

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Primer on Afghanistan, published August 19, here.

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The school year begins in my local school district on August 31 (Grades K-6 and 9); and September 1 (the rest).

In Minnesota, the traditional start of the school year used to be the day after Labor Day, this year September 7.

Times are no longer traditional, as we so well know.  Today’s paper headlines that the Minnesota State Fair is opening at its traditional time, ending Labor Day (this year August 26-September 6).  There was no State Fair last year; and no one expects any record setting attendance this year.  Even the State Fair spokesperson is quoted: “To those who aren’t attending…we hope that we’ll see you in 2022.”

One of my kids is Principal of a 1,000 student middle school about four miles from where I live, but I have made it a point to not bother her for any inside information about 2021-22.  She has a great plenty to deal with as it is.

Another headline on the front page today “State’s ICU beds are filling up again“.   While we’re a good state when it comes to being vaccinated and masked, there are resistors under the guise of “freedom”.  At the coffee shop more patrons, including myself, show up masked; yesterday the conversation with my barber was about vaccination and crowds and such.  The ‘variant’ will be in the air, at least on people’s minds, at church tomorrow, in one way or another.

And on and on it goes: two grandkids graduated from high school last year, in a year of universally unconventional high school graduations.  Both were born in the year following 9-11-01.  Another headline “Biden vows U.S. citizens will leave” Afghanistan….

Communal celebrations and commemorations (as funerals) went unattended last year.

Back to school, Joni (my Principal daughter) will do okay, as will her peer administrators, but it will be a stressful start to what with little question be a stressful year.  In the best of times, “school” is like that.  The night before school begins is not a relaxed time for most who’ll answer the bell the next day.  This is not the best of times, lots and lots of patience is needed and often in short supply.  “Freedom” is being demanded; but isn’t free, and can’t be guaranteed to some, and deprived from others.  We need to work together, to sacrifice together.

“Public School” is the essence of community.   It is never perfect, though it always aspires to that.  The mix of students, their parents, staff requires patience and cooperation, no different than living in society, as most all of us do.

This summer someone I had just met braced me about my opinion about vouchers for students who’d rather not attend the public school.  It didn’t take me long to respond: schools are imperfect, but so are all of us.  At the very least, school is an opportunity for kids to learn from each other about the need for people to work together, to get along.  Going to home school or similar only delays the reality of becoming an adult.  Staying insulated has its downsides.  I suppose the same can be said for the probably continuing era of meetings via Zoom and other remote means.  There are advantages to not having to travel to work, and do committees via tv screen.  But there are downsides, too….

I have two parting thoughts as the new school year begins.

  1. Some weeks ago my great elder friend, Marion Brady, who’s had a lifetime in public education, sent me some quotes to ponder about “Core Curriculum”.  They’re here for your perusal.  Marion has been about the mission of public school ever since he attended one-room rural school in the 1930s.  He is a personal hero of mine.
  2. Back in the 1990s I was doing a workshop for teacher union leaders, and decided to start my session with a question: “Think about a teacher who made a difference in your life.”  I gave them a little time to ponder this, then I asked them to describe in one or few words why they picked the person.  Here are the words they came up with (from among the participants): Yes, one person in one of the circles – a teacher – couldn’t come up with a single teacher who inspired him, and admitted it. The exercise, as I recall it, took up the entire hour (unintended on my part), and those in the circle were completely engaged.

We all learn from each other, and as you know, it doesn’t take the entire village to help you in life; what you really need is the one person who in one way or another clicked with you at the time you were receptive.  (Success is a team sport!)

Let’s make the best of 2021-22.

POSTNOTE: Most likely I will be doing a few interim posts on differing topics.  Please check back.  Alternatively, you can get notice of posts as issued by checking the block in the comments section below.

COMMENTS: 

from Larry: Dick, I’ve written some stories about great teachers in my life.  A few times have done small story circles, asking people to tell their own great teacher stories.  Among the too many things to do, too little time, things is to do more with this.

from Fred:  A very enjoyable musing about the coming school year. After 20 years on the shelf following 34 in the line of fire, I no longer salivate at mere mention of the coming Labor Day. Yup, I actually liked the beginning of another school year.

Re your “inspiring teachers” question. The ones that I remember as excellent (can’t say they were inspiring) were my sixth grade teacher Laura Detloff, sophomore high school English teacher Aileen Sethre and senior high English instructor Gene Robinson. Most were average and few mailed it in.
response from Dick:  Thanks much.  I would say all of us, including the high and mighty types, are just people with strengths and failings.  In other words, we don’t represent the Lake Wobegon rule “above average”.  Then, with teachers in particular, in public schools even more so, the clientele comes with their own strengths and shortcomings, and all are in the same stew-pop, some coming from awful circumstances at home that very morning.  It would have been great to be in that circle that day, I think it was 1999.  Except for the one guy, everybody came up with somebody who’d stuck with them…and that’s all one needs, I think.

 

Afghanistan, a Primer

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There are 15 comments thus far at the originating post, here.  Your comments are welcome.  Check back once in awhile.  I will have two or three new posts in the next several days, trying for a little variety/diversion from this story which will last far beyond this week.

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Below is my National Geographic Atlas view of Afghanistan, from its 7th Edition (1999) Atlas of the World.  Here is the same map in pdf form: Afghanistan 1999 National Geographic Atlas

Afghanistan is almost exactly the size of Texas; and has about one-third more people.  It land-locked, several hundred miles away from access to any of the world’s oceans.  It is bordered on Iran to the west, Pakistan to the east and south, and the assorted ‘stans of the old Soviet Union.  I can’t help wondering how substantively politically different the Taliban regime will be from the current Texas regime.  Just put the recent news side-by-side.

My brother John, a Vietnam vet, recently passed along a couple of pertinent writings he came across.

This comes from Rudyard Kipling “The Naulahka“.  It is none too subtle.  The entire poem is as direct.

Here’s John’s editorial comment: “It’s pretty axiomatic to me that US involvement overseas follows a long tradition of European colonialism, in which the primary reason for involvement overseas is trade/money for homeland investors who eventually need military support to ensure that their business continues to thrive. Shoot, the problem probably traces all the way back to the Roman and Greek fleets and legions – and as technology in transportation evolved and became more rapid, it became easier to continue the exploitation. Obviously there are people who are not profit motivated, but those noble causes become secondary and even tertiary: Business, cultural appropriation; and then humanitarian seems to me to be the ultimate pecking order in human interaction.”

John likes to bicycle, and recently he came across something he’d informally sought out for years: the plaque remembering the signing of the UN Charter in San Francisco in 1945.  He took this photo (I’ve included the verbiage after the photo, since it is somewhat difficult to make out.) from John: “[Plaque recently seen] in the lobby of the Herbst Theater at the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco”

“In recognition of the contribution of the facilities of the War Memorial Veterans building in San Francisco for the use of the United Nations  Conference on International organization during the period April 25 to June 26, 1945.  This plaque is presented to the city of San Francisco by the Department of State on behalf of the Government of the United States.  In this building the Charter of the United Nations was formulated and signed by the delegates of the fifty participating nations.”

Here are the 50 nations who signed the Charter in 1945.  Today there are 193 member nations.  The complexion of the world was a bit different then, than now.  World War II had not ended, but was on its last legs.  “India” was part of the British Empire, and included what is now India, Bangladesh and Pakistan and perhaps some other current neighbor states.  Personal comment: the UN is far, far from perfect, and never has been perfect, but is far better than nothing.  It’s up to all of us to work for better.

My favorite quote remains this attributed to Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has.” 

COMMENTS:

from Terrence: I just finished PREVENTABLE earlier this week. It was very interesting. Last week I finished a large print book I picked up at the Woodbury Library entitled : Mussolini and the Pope. It was written in about 2015 after many but not all Vatican records were made public. It reads like a blueprint of “Trump & the Republican Party”.