Father’s Day
I was preparing this post for Father’s Day when announcement of the killings in Minneapolis suburb came in. For this reason, I plan to publish exactly as it was a short while ago. Any other words are superfluous. There are two posts for June 14 (the other on the Army); I published a third, title PTSD, on June 8, which relates to Los Angeles. I was planning to attend the demonstration today at state capitol in St. Paul. Authorities have asked that this event and other area events be cancelled because the shooting suspect has not been identified or apprehended. Check here later – I will add whatever I have learned at this space.
POSTNOTE June 15, 2025. This overnight column from Joyce Vance seems relevant.
Here, from a second Joyce, is a photo from yesterday’s demo at the State Capitol in St. Paul MN. Here is Indivisible’s report on the over 2,000 demos.
State Capitol St. Paul June 14, 2025
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A short time ago my cousin Mary passed along some old photographs. Among them was this one of my siblings, and my uncle and there three children at the time, the summer of 1950 in Rugby ND.
Summer 1950 from left, top Florence, Mary Ann, Richard, Uncle George. In front from left Mary Kay, John Busch, Georgine, John Bernard, Frank.
The photo is 75 years old. Probably Jean, Mom of the three Busch’s, took the photo. Mom and Dad were there as well.
This business of Dad, Mom, Woman, Man and on and on is complicated at the very least. Let me take a tiny stab at it.
Friday June 13, my youngest grandchild, Lucy, a new high school grad, invited me to the first showing of the new flick “How to Train Your Dragon”, There were nine in her group, including her Mom, my daughter Lauri, and my daughter, Heather, who is every now and then a great movie partner (Heather, 50 this year, is Down syndrome).
Saturday morning, up came the “Rotten Tomatoes” e-review of the film. I have not read the review, and will not till after I publish this blog, but I obviously know the show, from having watched it hours ago.
Here is what I said in an e-mail to Lucy and Lauri, Friday, after the show: Over the years with occasional movies with Heather, I’ve come to note that the films always have a teaching component to them – a “moral of the story” – both for the young people and their elders.
I really knew nothing about the Dragon film other than the short tv ads, so I came to the theater with no knowledge about it. What I took away from the film was that every single one of us have our own ‘dragons’ which, with effort, can usually be trained. At least that was my takeaway!
There were parts that were emotional for me.
Thank you again.
Feel free to pass this along to the others who were there.”
Read the review. See the film. I watched it as a Dad and as a Grandpa and as a person, generally. You decide.
Time passes on. In late October 1945 George returned from three years as a Naval officer on a Destroyer in the Pacific. Two more Busch’s joined the Rugby family a couple of years later – twins. George died in 1979, son John died at 51 in 2000. Jean and Mom and Dad made their exit long years ago now.
It’s just a family snapshot, but like all family snapshots in any family, any time in history, there are stories – reminders of times good and not so good. On and on.
Today is basically dedicated to Dad’s.
It’s a good day to remember your own, and others who impacted on your life.
POSTNOTE June 17: I finally read the Rotten Tomatoes Review referred to above.
Hi Dick,
Just a horrible, terrible, sad day!!
Take care.
Tony
Great picture, Dick! Thanks for sharing. Growing up in the 1950s our family, like many others, had albums and boxes (mostly boxes) of similar photos. That was a time when photography for the masses was still relatively new and rather expensive. Still, most families had collections. Today, everyone has a high-quality camera in the form of a phone in their pocket or purse. That phone likely contains hundreds, if not thousands of photos. Sometimes a few are shared, but most aren’t and exist only until the phone’s memory fills when pictures get deleted. Seventy five years from now, I wonder how many people will be able to see photos of their relatives who were living in 2025.
I agree with you. I regularly make copies of photos and share them and people appreciate getting them. It is easy and inexpensive – less expensive in real terms than ‘back in the day’. I pay the couple of bucks a month to store the photos in the cloud – over 30 thousand of them. In the Covid year I took a lot of time to make sure the photos were captioned and people identified as good is possible. It’s now five years since, and I’ve gotten a little sloppy. Memo to self: do it.
This Saturday, the day before Father’s Day, I grieve with such sadness at what our country has become. I believe that one evil man has fired shots in the beginning of a civil war that I believe has long been in coming. We liberals and progressives have tried to reason for justice in our country only to be cut down by an assassin’s bullets. By one deranged and evil person where sadly there are many more like him, including our President. I am sure while Trump publicly announces sadness over this tragedy, he privately cheers it on.
This President admires people who use violence like those who attacked the Capitol on Jan 6th then pardons them.
And now Trump assists Israel in order to get us into another war. He says he is for peace but has done absolutely nothing to create peace.
We now are all on the front lines of saving our country and our democracy
Thanks, Bill.