I'm Late, I'm Late...

Yesterday was rather a blur for me, literally as well as figuratively. I have been having issues with vertigo, and took some meds that didn't set well with me. Had an allergic reaction that kept me up most of Thursday night, so needless to say, I was wiped out most of yesterday.

To top off my incredibly horrid day, there was an ice storm in Texas that hit the Dallas area hard. It was supposed to come here, so we cancelled the opening night of our holiday show, which was probably good for me since there was no way I could stand up and do music. The weather today is a tad better. No precipitation, but it is very cold. Our story takes place in Southern California, so we are just going to have to pretend that we have warm weather for our surfer dudes.

This morning I discovered that Nelson Mandella died, and the news saddened me. What a remarkable man he was, even though our government, and others, considered him a terrorist.

 

It is true that Mandela’s group, the ANC, which was leading the black struggle against the apartheid regime, did engage in violence, but it was a fight against oppression. Mandela was imprisoned in 1964 after being arrested and charged with sabotage, specifically a campaign against the country's power grid, and plotting to overthrow the government. No one was injured in the sabotage campaign. He was released in 1990, at age 71. He was elected president of South Africa in 1994, in the country’s first full and free elections, and served until 1999.

For more thoughts on the legacy of this man, visit libcom.org 

I also want to take note of the historic significance of this date - December 7th. Rick Moran, a blog editor at The American Thinker, shares his thoughts about this day on The PJ Tatler

It was my honor to stand on the memorial for the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor some years ago, and I will never forget the emotions I felt as I thought about what happened there and the men and women who lost their lives.

Wednesday's Guest - Slim Randles

Slim usually brings us some cowboy humor, but today he shares on a more serious issue. Thanks for the reminder, Slim, it is especially poignant today as we recall what happened on December 7, 1941. Today, I'm sharing my thoughts about Pearl Harbor HERE Stop by if you get a chance. 

 

When Pop Walker snuck out the kitchen door the other day, it affected all of us. He’s been a resident of the Rest of Your Life retirement home for several years now. 

He still remembers who said what during combat in Europe, but has a hard time remembering if he’s had breakfast.

The call went out down at the Sheriff’s office around 10 p.m. that Pop had slipped through the enemy lines, meaning the kitchen staff, and was on the loose. One of the deputies called Doc, who was a friend of Pop since forever, and Doc alerted the rest of us.

Pop is one of our own, of course. A couple of years ago, he took his coffee black and his philosophy straight at the philosophy counter at the Mule Barn.

It was cold, and they found his heavy coat still in his room, so this wasn’t good. 

The deputies checked out the interstate and volunteers hit the all-night diners to see if he’d checked in there. No luck. 

The cook at the home was crying, and she said Pop had been talking about going to see his buddy, Jasper, again, and did we know someone named Jasper? 

Sure. Jasper Blankenship, up at the cabin in the mountains. When we heard this, the hunt actually took more form. Two guys started up at Jasper’s place and worked down the road. Steve and Dud both went horseback and started from the edge of town. 

Steve found him. Pop was sitting and shivering under a tree high up on a ridge. Steve used the cell phone to let us know he was all right, then built a fire and wrapped a blanket around Pop. 

Pop wouldn’t go back until Steve told him Jasper was down at the home, waiting for him. And Steve let him ride in the saddle, too. But before that happened, Steve ducked off behind a rock and made another phone call, to be sure Jasper would be there. 

Two hours later, everyone had coffee and doughnuts back at the home, and they fixed the lock on the kitchen door. We have to be careful with those who have problems. We can’t afford to lose beautiful people like Pop.

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Brought to you by Slim’s award-winning book (and stocking stuffer) “A Cowboy’s Guide to Growing Up Right.” Learn more at http://www.nmsantos.com/Slim/Slim.html.

Remembering Pearl Harbor

I wonder. Is there ever a time when a tragic event stops eliciting strong emotions and becomes just another historical footnote? If so, how long does that take?

It seems to me that the urgency that used to surround remembering Pearl Harbor has eased somewhat in recent years. Perhaps because so many of the people who actually witnessed it area gone and that strong emotional connection is weakening.

In the not too distant future most of the people who were alive when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor will be dead, and then the remembering will be done by people of my age group, who were born just as the war was ending. Pearl Harbor touched us only in the stories told to us by our fathers and our grandfathers, and I'll admit that the story did not affect me as deeply as the memory affected my father and my grandfather.

The full impact of what happened on December 7, 1941 didn't hit me until I visited the memorial in Pearl Harbor when we took a trip to Hawaii. Actually seeing the place, standing where the Arizona still lies beneath the water, and watching people drop flower petals on the water made it real. Even our daughter, yet another generation removed from the reality, was deeply touched. We stood there, arm and arm, and wept.

Remembering Pearl Harbor

I recent years I have noticed that people don't seem to make such a big deal out of the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. It used to be practically a national holiday and news sources would be full of stories about the tragic day, stories that would lead in the news.

Today, while looking at a few online news sources, I did not see lead stories about Pearl Harbor. The tragic mall shooting in Omaha, Nebraska, still leads, and I found that disquieting. Here was a young man who killed a lot of people because he was troubled, but also because he thought it would bring him fame. And it has.

But measure the worthiness of that story as compared to the worthiness of remembering what men and women suffered on Dec. 7, 1941.

It would have been fitting for the story about Everett Hyland, who was aboard the USS Pennsylvania on December 7, 1941, to be the top story in publications today. The Pennsylvania was dry-docked that day, so it did not suffer as much damage as some other ships, but Hyland clearly remembers shipmates dying and being injured. Not for fame, but just because they were doing their duty.

He will join some 50 survivors and hundreds more family members and officials at a Pearl Harbor pier overlooking the USS Arizona Memorial to honor the attack's victims.This year, survivors and their family members are dedicating a new memorial for the USS Oklahoma, which lost 429 sailors and Marines -- the second greatest loss of life among any of the battleships in Pearl Harbor.