EPIPHANY OF THE DAY

 ENTERTAINMENT

A particularly pertinent quote I saw yesterday involved the interview on CNN with Vice-President Harris and Time Walz. A commentator with AZCentral.com – a news site in the key swing state of Arizona – called the performance “too sane to be great TV”, an implicit comparison with Trump’s frequently ostentatious media appearances.

It reminded me of a phenomenon from 2016. So many people had become engrossed in so-called "Reality TV" and professional wrestling that they viewed the presidential election as a form of entertainment. What would happen in the White House would only hold value as entertainment. The results should have been predictable. The winner was the most engaging as a performer.

They loved it until over 400,000 people died of Covid-19.

EPIPHANY OF THE DAY

SACREDNESS

Well do I remember my visit to Arlington National Cemetery and associated spots. I always found it a bit historically delicious that we took the grounds from a slave owner and the bride of America's most beloved insurrectionist.

The tour even allowed me to look into the room where Robert E. Lee made the historic decision to turn his back on the country that bred him, nourished him, employed him, and rewarded him. In a few weeks, I'll once again stand on the spot where he once ordered over 13,000 men to make an uphill assault against the United States Army in an effort to preserve slavery.

Back to Arlington and the cemetery. To stand before the burial site of John F. Kenned was moving. My most vivid memory, however, was when, while waiting for the tour to continue, I turned and saw the tombstone of Audie Murphy.

If you are under the age of 40, you may not recognize the name. He was just an ordinary man from an ordinary place in the state of Texas. When World War Two broke out, he sought to join the military and was denied admittance by some branches due to his size and age. The United States Army took him. The sent him to Europe where he became America's most decorated soldier of the war.

The medals he earned included the Congressional Medal of Honor. Yes, that's the one Donald Trump said wasn't as worthy as the civilian one he gave to a big political donor.

Yesterday, Donald J. Trump desecrated this consecrated spot for political purposes. His backers now defend the desecration.

On the day of my visit, the tour ended with a visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, perhaps the most sacred spot in America. The slightest indication of disrespect at this spot draws unimaginable castigation.

Does it bother me to think that Donald J. Trump is not above invading this holy place for a political op?

Yes, it bothers me a great deal, but it would not surprise me at all. I can seem him in my mind stopping the marching guard and turning him toward the cameras, a fake smile covering his orange face.

What bothers me more is that I know a score of people whom I once considered caring, respectful, and patriotic who would still vote for him if he did.

RESULTS

 EPIPHANY OF THE DAY

Dawned on me today while walking that we seem to have lost interest in making things work. Instead, these days making things happen seems to occupy our interest.

Take Donald Trump. His record doesn't indicate that he has always had a winning record on making things work out successfully.

But none can deny that he has the ability to make things happen. Unfortunately, this happens more often for the worse rather than the better.

EPIPHANY OF THE DAY

 SACRIFICE

 Folks, I am a veteran of the United States Navy. I served one year in Vietnam and the rest on a Navy vessel. I didn’t join the Navy because I sought adventure. I joined because the Draft Board told me that one more address change and they would send a squad for me. I picked the Navy because I loved it more than the others.

I entered a bitter enlistee and emerged one who loved both America and the Navy, despite the fact that many Americans didn’t love me. I know how it feels to be despised for your service.

I entered a profession and immediately became aware of the sacrifices I had made. Peers who never served had good jobs and let me know about it. My own brother-in-law told me that secretaries at the paper mill where he worked made more money than I.

But I progressed. So did my country. So did the attitude toward me and my brother and sister veterans.

Then.

I was disappointed when a major political party dishonored the service of Max Cleland who went to Vietnam with four limbs and returned with one.

I was dismayed when a major political party dishonored the service of John Kerry who drove river boats in the treacherous waters of Vietnam.

I was disgusted when a major political party dishonored the service of John McCain who spent six years in a brutal prison as a result of serving his country.

I was despondent when a major political party deemed me a “sucker-loser” and dishonored veterans who wore their country’s highest honor for bravery and sacrifice.

Now, I live in a state where not a single constitutional office holder deems my service honorable. This includes the service of those who served before, after, and with me, including those more than 50,000 whose names fill the most famous wall in Washington.

Does it make me want to give up?

Nah, it’s just, as someone once quipped, “Déjà vu all over again.”

It makes me want to serve. The old uniform wouldn’t fit, but this old Bosun’s Mate can still tie a clove hitch. It was once called the king of knots for its ability to hold when needed in a tight spot and released when needed elsewhere. In fact, a high accolade for a sailor ran, “He’s all in a clove hitch.”

I’m going to whip a hitch and join the ride. Come on along. I’ll tie one for you too. They deserve it.

EPIPHANY OF THE DAY

 COACHES

 Thinking about football coaches. Never sell one short.

Some years ago, I was sitting in the lobby of a real estate office in a mid-sized Arkansas town waiting to see the owner about his current development plans. A man entered and walked through the lobby and the sight shocked me. Later I told the owner, “That man looked like our old football coach Marcus Kaufman.”

“Yep.”

“Really?”

“Our top salesperson.”

“He was our football coach and math teacher for years.”

“Sells real estate now. And does he ever."

It was true that he had been a coach. Legendary ain’t the word. Rumors abounded. A prevalent one had him flying a fighter plane in WWII. An adjunct rumor had him shot down, an incident that left him with an uncontrollable tick when he got excited. He had two modes: telling you to do it and telling you how you did. He once gave my sister an A+ on her report card and scribbled a note to my parents saying he was sorry it couldn't have been higher. How would you like to carry that on your shoulders through High School?

“Your top salesperson?”

“He is great with young folks. He shows them several houses and when they opt to see another, he stops the car and tells them they have seen enough and they need to pick one so they can get settled in and start their family. Works every time.”

Never sell a teacher short. I think Coach Walz said that.

EPIPHANY OF THE DAY

 THE SOUTH

Novels and films set in the American South, take lower Arkansas (LA) for example, love to picture southern neighborhoods as containing one eccentric but colorful character. It adds color and commands attention to the dull parts. Those who have lived in such places know better but take it in stride.

It’s better to laugh with than acknowledge being laughed at.

If I, though, were to be able to write a novel about such places, I’d try to include at least one person partially based on reality.

Take “Turnrow Thompson” for example. I’d say of him that he was known for his concentration. His acquired middle name honored, as Jimmie Buffet said of a character, his ability to "stick right to the task." It made him popular with football coaches, young women, sergeants, and bosses.

Folks claimed that the attention to duty was inherited, even resulting in the name Turnrow carried through life. Rumor had it that his mama was so dedicated to helping produce a bale of picked cotton a day that she had delivered him on a turnrow, deposited him under a cotton trailer and had gone right back to picking. No one had ever gotten her to verify the rumor. She would just answer inquiries with, “He never was no troublesome baby.”

A child with a reputation like that never found himself destined for greatness.

EPIPHANY OF THE DAY

TET

A Public Institution Graduate (PIG) Looks at History: The Tet Offensive began January 30, 1968 when some units in the South got confused by time-observance differential between North and South Vietnam and kicked it off. The full-scale offensive began 24-hours later. Now here’s the thing: everyone knew all hell might break loose then. I was there, the lowest of the low, barely a month in-country, still in the demeaning “stateside chow” category (Ask a vet), toting an M-14 because M-16s were in short supply and Colt Industries insisted on being the sole supplier. We had already doubled our watches to six hours on and six hours off. We weren’t prepared but we were ready. Despite this, General William Westmoreland, HMFIC, was so sure that the offensive was simply a part of feint to distract him from the battle at Khe Sahn that he took in a round of tennis that first day. It gets worse. Just ask the Marines (150 killed) and ARVN (400 killed) units that were left stranded at Hue because General (Body Count) Westmoreland felt they were overreacting.

Lesson:

Be careful to whom you trust your children.

Additional lesson. Those who are denouncing modern Americans as "Communists" should stop to read an account of the Battle of Hue. They might be astounded to learn how real Communists behave when fate removes the restraints.

Sources:

Bowden, Mark, Hue 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam. , 2017

Sorley, L. (2011). Westmoreland: the general who lost Vietnam. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.