Memorial Day 2010

Memorial Day 2010

 

I can remember many years grilling outside with my family with the radio tuned to the Indianapolis 500. My father was a race fan and we both read mechanix illustrated and Motor trend Magazines each month. We loved the suspense of the long races and enjoyed rooting for our favorite racers.

 

Grilling in my family, was my mother's area of expertise. Today, either Marc, my son, or I do the grilling and Mary does not. Indoor cooking is appropriated according to who is the most motivated (hungry) to get things going.

 

My father hated camping. He served in WWII and said he had all the camping in Europe that he could stand. He hated tents and sleeping bags. He told many stories of the horrible conditions while his unit fought its way across Europe. He received a medal for inventing a kind of stove that could operate on gasoline without exploding and burning everything and everyone up. He came from a farm and was a very good innovator. His invention made a lot of people, even if modestly, more comfortable.

 

I am so proud of my father's contributions to defeating Hitler. Hitler was a horrible evil person who needed stopping.my father also received a Purple Heart when he was wounded during an artiliary attack. His good friend was killed by the same explosion. He always said that his friend saved him by shielding him. The strange idea of pure randomness was a lesion that I learned from this story. A random artiliary shell launched from many miles away explodes. 2 people a few feet apart are victims of the explosion. 1 is killed the other wounded. Who can possibly explain any meaning from that, except to be grateful for every day.

 

My father died when I was 16. I wish he had lived longer. He may not have lived that long if the wind had blown the shell a little off course, or the other soldier had been a foot one way or the other. We can only be grateful to God for every opportunity we get.

 

I sometimes oppose wars. I sometimes oppose political decisions. I even sometimes oppose Pentagon decisions on tactics or strategies. I never oppose our soldiers who go to fight on my behalf. Many times I feel politicians are far too cavalier with this precious resource. I am lividly angry at the lack of support that has been shown recently to the Veterans Administration to take care of Vets. Most homeless people in Lansing are Vets. Why can't the VA have a home for every homeless vet? These are special people who deserve our love.