War Within and War Without

Last night we watched two very different movies, though both were of the true story variety, from our most current NetFlix collection. "Saints and Soldiers" was about a very small group of WWII soldiers (there were four out of a total group of around 70) who escaped from the Malmedy crossroads massacre by the Nazi's in or near Belgium. It was the story of how these four, plus the Brit RAF pilot they picked up on the way, made the 20 mile journey through the dead of winter cross country behind enemy lines toward their nearest American unit. Any war movie you watch, if it's remotely well done, just reinforces the pointless, human waste of war in general. This was no exception. Nevertheless, it was a story that needed to be told.


We were talking when it was over about how we are all so focused on what is happening within our own provincial "worlds", it's way too easy to forget not just what went on before but what is going on just a few thousand miles away today.

Then we watched "To End All Wars", which just happened to also be about WWII but took place in the Pacific theater in a Japanese prisoner camp where the prisoners were forced to build "the railroad of death". Again, you have to wonder how people live the rest of their lives with those kinds of memories. How do you lead any semblance of a normal life? Very interesting to see what a human will resort to when pushed up to and over the edge. I'm quite confident I would not have survived that particular scenario.

I don't know how I ended up with both of those at the same time and now I have something called, "The More The Merrier", poor planning I guess. I'm just glad Netflix has so much variety and choice. We don't have time to watch movies right now considering we're leaving in less than a week for vacation anyway. Regardless, I always know when a movie was worth the time when I can't get it out of my mind. That's been the case with both of these. Knowing they were portrayals of actual events makes them very hard to take.

Man's inhumanity to man, we never seem to graduate to the next level above that; the cruelty seems barely hidden beneath the surface.

Discrimination

Has there ever been a time when there was no discrimination? I don't know that there has. What is it about human beings that makes us suspicious of anyone who doesn't look just like us. Wasn't this a song from South Pacific? Yes, "You've Got To Be Carefully Taught". So, do we learn this from our families/friends or are we born with prejudiced bones throughout our bodies?

I just read a book called The Stubborn Twig that recalled the lives of Japanese immigrants at the turn of the 20th century into the Hood River valley. It was clearly a doomed relationship with their neighbors from the start. Suspicions of the Japanese population grew into fears which grew into intolerance which grew into hatred, all for absolutely no reason other than they looked different. This stuff really gets my ire up.

There was a resident of Hood River who was even quoted that they had no issues with Italian, Scandinavian or even German immigrants because they looked like him. And the result was internment camps where these citizens were treated like animals. We have always been so busy pointing our fingers at what happened in Germany and in the south Pacific, I think it was all a cover-up to prevent anyone turning the spotlight back on us. I don't remember hearing a single thing about all these camps stationed around the country. Not only was the fact that it happened unexcusable, the number of decades it took for us to apologize were unbelievable.

Along those lines, have we ever apologized to our Native American citizens?

I'm appalled, disgusted and embarrassed at how we as a people just don't get it. Kara, I said I wanted you to write about the proliferation of stupid people in this country, that includes the bigots. And maybe we need a second write-up on all the just, plain, mean ones.

What About Everyone But You?

Do people who smoke ever think of anyone but themselves? Are they so desperate to get that cigie tar smoke down into their lungs that any consideration for others is driven from their tobacco-shriveled minds? If I'm walking down the street with no cigarette, don't assume by pushing past me and puffing away that I want to follow you and your foul smell, asshole!

I feel like all the smokers are part of the "ME" generation, whether they are or not. It's such a challenge anymore to avoid all the things that are harmful in our environment, thoughtless jerks who act this way need a good swift kick to jar their heads out of their self-centered asses.

After being subjected to second-hand smoke my entire childhood and developing chronic asthma as a result, I'm just a little sensitive on the subject. Nevertheless, it is not the responsibility of the otherwise healthy public to make allowances for the addicts among us.

They need to each find out-of-the-way caves somewhere to smoke to their little heart's content where they will die twice as fast from absorbing multitudes of smoke and let the rest of us die normal deaths from stuff like automobile smog, preservatives and rattlesnake bites. I don't ask for much.

A Matter of Routine

Every Thursday night, we troop through the house and gather up all the trash and the many versions of recyclable materials to go outside into assorted "cans" although everything is plastic now, not metal. Regardless, when all the junk has been loaded into the appropriate receptacle, it is placed by the curb for the assigned truck's pick up the following (Friday) morning.


That's when the seemingly choreographed "dumpster diving" begins. You always see the same characters each week, some walking, some on bikes, some even in cars, trolling through the neighborhood trash. Maybe it's just me but in the last few months, it has seemed to take on a more cutthroat nature. Perhaps it's the desperation I see in the movements of those participating in it and the way they rush from can to can. It's beginning to feel like a real life version of musical chairs although the loser doesn't get any money for food in this version.

OK, let's be honest. Are they really using the money for food or is it for alcohol or for drugs? Many of them, although not all, appear to be street people. This makes me wonder how many miles of blocks they cover to get what they get and for the one who follows all the others, does he or she end up with nothing? It almost makes you want to stage stashing your trash so you have enough for everyone. I've never really thought about some of these folks planting themselves down the block just watching and waiting for the cans to come out but I'm sure some of them probably do.


You have to wonder just how many will be joining them before this economy finds its feet again. I know there's at least one additional wave of dislodging coming. It will mean more people to pound the weary pavement with no results. It's hard to find encouraging things to say anymore. I guess creative, resourceful independence is the key hence making something out of nothing. I just know I'm no good at that.


If I joined "the line" the good news would be I could blog as much as I wanted. Hm, not worth it, no matter how much I dislike my job. The thought of rooting around in a hot, stinky can for my next meal isn't something I'm going to rush to try. I'll take the easy way out and watch from afar and perhaps provide a little more than I would have for those who have no choices left.

The Next Billy Mays

Do you know that my grandparents sat and watched tv all day everyday and everytime someone told them to buy something, they did it? My dad freaked out when he discovered all the junk sitting around and when he asked my grandmother about it all, she said the people on the tv told her to buy (the junk).

These tv hawkers should be against the law or there should be a way to prohibit them from displaying on certain tv sets like those of very old grandparents who simply do what they're told. It's very scary how so many vulturistic crooks prey on the elderly and have no qualms about taking what little they have. My grandmother had less than nothing, she and grandpa only had the barest of Social Security, neither of them ever worked outside the house. He was a farmer of sorts but was never really successful. Nevertheless, they still had 8 kids (2 of whom died young) who all had nothing either.

Then I see idiots like OctoMom and think, we haven't learned a damn thing in the last 80 years.

I can feel the theme of this post spiraling downward so I'll stop before it gets away from me. It's just that when I think about elderly people sitting in front of the tv for company, completely trusting what people on tv tell them, it makes me want to protect them all somehow.

Please don't let me become one of those little clueless, gullible old people.

Paint(ear) Wars

What if we replaced all nuclear weapon stockpiles with Airsoft or Spyder Classic guns? What if we replaced all nuclear ammunition with paintballs? Imagine having prison hospitals full of people suffering from nothing worse than deep tissue bruises rather than missing limbs. Imagine an international web-based scorekeeping system so at any point in time anyone from any country could check on "who was in the lead" (since that seems to be so important to all of us). Imagine giant versions of these guns from fighter jets where hitting a target would simply mean you might wake up with a red house or a green Safeway store or a blue Pentagon.

Or, does war as we know it today have a higher purpose? Is it intended to be part of man's means of shrinking the population? It certainly is effective in reducing the male:female ratios in the world. If we didn't have war, would the human inhabitation of our limited resource, "earth" already be over capacity

(for that matter it already is in some parts of India, Hong Kong, areas of Africa, etc.)?

Or, has war caused us to keep our existence off balance? In other words, what if all the men (it has been mostly men after all) who were killed in the countless, senseless wars caused by greediness, religious intolerance or pure, unadulterated hatred over the last 5 or 6 milleniums had instead survived to their natural deaths? Wouldn't that truly have changed the world? Would we have had a depressed international economy much sooner because there would have been a true glut of people competing for the same jobs or would there have been so many more companies and more jobs because there were so many more people? Would we have been even further advanced technologically?

Hasn't it also wreaked havoc with the environment, I can't think of anything much more destructive in a sudden and complete way than an atomic bomb? And how many unexploded bombs are still all over the world, both on land and underwater? Or, how about a little napalm hit for destroying the surrounding environment (although there are some weeds around here I'd like to hit with that)?

Just saying, having to do a little more laundry because of paintball hits sounds much more palatable than worrying about surviving into the next week. Instead of losing your head you would possibly lose your favorite white shirt. I could live with that.

Sun Damaged

All I can say is, all those tans and sunburns have paid me back tenfold. I now have the ugliest, scariest skin in the world. How do these chicks and studleys have constant tans? I would love to see an "after" picture of them because it would have to be as ugly as what I'm facing. Now I have first hand knowledge of why elephants look the way they do, their skin that is. If you think about it, they're out in the sun day after day except when they partake in a brief mudbath.

Anyway, this is not fun and if I can ever get through to Kara, she'll stop her excessive "oh well" sunburning and start protecting herself.

IT'S NOT WORTH IT! And these pictures are the tamest of what I could have posted.

That's my sermon for the day.

Dropping Like Flies

Now we can add Karl Malden to the list. I wonder if he was born with that nose? Anyway, it's gotten to the point when I open Comcast I expect to see another obit headline. It's pretty wierd.

I am so ready for a three-day, hot, summer weekend. And on the 4th of July yet. Hopefully the air conditioning will remain in good repair for the older ones in the group. Otherwise we'll be the family of slug relatives. There will be four kids under 3 and two more under 10 and oodles more over 70, even 80. What is it they say about the sandwich generation - the rest of us will be trapped between diapers and Depends. They even have a t-shirt for this condition.

Except for Kara who will be jetting her way to New Orleans to meet the significant other's fam. She's a good sport though considering he close quarters being required. I would probably not do well in that situation. I don't even like to stay that close to the relatives I've know for more than 20 years. I hope we get back there someday. I'm anxious to get Kara's assessment upon her return.

Tomorrow afternoon I'm going to see "Up" with a friend. Critique to follow.