PRIORITIES

 I remember reading somewhere that, in late 1944 into early 1945, as Nazi Germany was collapsing:

The Allied bombing campaign had crippled Germany’s rail network.

German troops at the front were desperate for transport of fuel, weapons, and reinforcements.

Despite this, Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS and a central architect of the Holocaust, continued to prioritize deportations—especially in 1944 during the destruction of Hungarian Jewry. Trains continued to deport Jews to concentration and extermination camps as a top priority.

I dunno. Just thought about this the other day on a trip into lower Arkansas, i.e. LA.

Passing by bald areas where farm communities once stood and concrete-pad strewn strips where downtowns once thrived, I thought about us.

Conditions now suggest that those areas may be facing a drought of Biblical proportions, threatening the only industry left to those communities.

Then I saw where our president said we couldn’t afford to address the health of our people anymore because we need the money to make bombs and kill people. Actually, it wasn’t money but debt-capacity, which he equates with money.

Leave saving humanity to the states, he said.

In our state, they want to direct resources to the destruction of public schools and construction of a monumental prison facility.

Is this what y’all voted for? Is this what y’all want?

Really?

Retribution

Sometimes I wonder if, in some bizarre case of cosmic retribution, America isn't getting what she deserves.

In my lifetime, I’ve seen us allow the tragic effects of the Jim Crow bigotry to exert catastrophe after catastrophe upon the lives of decent Americans.

I’ve seen (been victimized myself) us invade a country that had done us no discernable harm and wage a seemingly never-ending war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives. For nothing.

I’ve seen us wage wars for profit that have de-stabilized large segments of the planet.

I’ve seen us make great strides in destroying the planet that succors us. Signs suggest that the next few months threaten a drought that might make water more precious than diamonds.

And now we choose to be ruled by international oligarchs using a mindset similar to what ruled the American South in 1861. They want to take over and rule us our country that once held such promise.

And they are doing a damned good job of it.

Coincidences?

Maybe. Or maybe there is a great spirit in the sky observing and controlling our destinies. If so, I’m guessing she’s pretty put out with us.

DEFEAT FASCISM

 America and the world still suffers from the last time a dim-witted American president got us into an unnecessary war.

We can at least blame a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court for that one. The elected him.

This time thought, 77,302,580 Americans will do the "walk of shame."

MEMORIAL DAY

Watching all the ads for ways to celebrate Memorial Day makes me sad. Some Americans can't seem to take anything at face value anymore. Any day can fall victim to fun and frivolity. 

I'll spend some time Monday in quiet reflection at a spot on our farm where a tree line sits atop a distant rise. I'll think about the man who used to sit there with me. This time of year, the sunlight begins to appear through patches of leaves. We were sitting there once and he said, quite softly, "That always reminds me of seeing those parachutes hanging from trees, sometimes with one of those boys still attached to it."

He is the same man who said of artillery attacks, "You just pray let me live one more second … just one more second."

As I'm writing this, there is distant thunder and I'm reminded of my own experience "in harm's way." I didn't thunder where I was. The rain would just come and stay for days. If you heard rumbling, it was the sound of war, and you could only wonder who was the perpetrator and who was the victim.

On this Memorial Day, let us honor the victims who left home and family to go into situations where they might have to pray, "Just let me live one more second." Many didn't.