Proud to be an American?

Meg had a school performance tonight and the theme was America and a solute to our veterans. The school was divided up into four groups that each performed three songs. One of the songs was a hymn of one of the branches of the military. They finished with two songs that the entire school sang together.

With all of the patriotic songs being sung, I could not help but think about their meaning. The songs all saluted the "men who died for our freedom." There have been many heroes that have died defending this great country. But there have also been many men who have died for no reason at all. I am ashamed that we treat these men the same as the men who fought to defend our country. I am ashamed because our government sent these men into battle for misguided reasons.

Vietnam was a disaster of a war. The government fabricated reasons for us to fight that war and the public was up in arms. It was horrible for everyone. The Gulf War is another horrible situation that our government put us in. Their were fabricated reasons that justified sending our troops to that region and many men and women have sacrificed their lives for no valid reason.

Every Veteran's Day we should think about the heroes who died to give us our freedom. We should also think about the mistakes our government has made and make sure we don't repeat them. We can change the future!

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A Day of Lows...and Highs

Saturday was a day of extremes for my wife and I. We started the day with her shopping for food with a good friend of ours for a post funeral gathering. As I mentioned on Thursday of last week, our good friend's father past away recently. His funeral was on Saturday.

It was a rainy day. I was thinking that would be a fitting type of day for my funeral when that day comes. I guess it is weird for me to be thinking about my own feneral, but I could not help myself.

The funeral was interesting since it was the first one I have attended where there has not been a body. His dad was cremated per his wishes. Our friend is an only child and his parents divorced when he was young. His dad never remarried. All of this added up to an intimate funeral.

There was a slideshow of photos and then people spoke about his father. Our friend was the last one to speak and he was very emotional. His relationship with his dad had suffered a lot over the years, but they were just in the process of trying to rebuild their relationship when his dad died.

We went back to their house after the funeral. They had some food and drinks. I felt really bad for our friend. His mom lives out of state, so now he only has his wife and daughter. His wife's father has told him that he will never be without a dad, so that has made him feel pretty good.

We had to leave their house early to get to my mom's sixty-fifth birthday party. I guess I didn't eat before because I knew there was going to be a lot of food at my parent's house. It turned out to be a pretty good gathering of about thirty to thirty-five people. After a long emotional day it was great to end the day on a positive note.

After dinner, my sister stood up and spoke about my mom. It was a pretty good speach, but it left me itching to say something of my own. I waited patiently for the right moment. After everyone, including my dad, spoke, it was my mom's turn. She thanked everyone and mentioned something about her favorite child. When she was done, I seized my opportunity. I started off by telling everyone that I was the favorite she was referring to.

I talked about how fair she has always been. She has been fair when dealing with my step-daughter and has welcomed her into our family from day one. She has always done her best to treat her like her other grand daughters. I really appreciate this as I know how hard it can be to accept a new person into a family and to try to treat them all equally. It really takes a special person to do this.

I made a joke or two about what my sister had said earlier in the evening and then ended it. We sang to her and then had cake and ice cream. It was a great evening for her and she had a lot of fun. She has waited to be "old" for a long time.

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If You Dig Deep Enough, You May Just Find What You Are Looking For

I am sure that most people have head the term that you can make data say whatever you want it to say. When given the same data, two different people use that data to support totally opposite conclusions. All you have to do is leave out the data that does not support your idea and solely focus on the data that does. I think this applies to life in general.

This applies to every subject you have a discussion, or argument about. You can make valid arguements for both sides. It is usually the person who is better at the arguing who ends up winning the discussion. It is really hard to go into something without bias. That bias can end up skewing your results, thus making your findings questionable.

The same thing goes for history. You can look back at a person like Rosa Parks who I wrote about last week. If you really want to find something wrong with her story, then you can. If you really want to believe something about her story, they you will be easily convinced. That doesn't mean that it is the truth. It just means that you believe it to be true.

What brought this to my mind was the look of Google today. When I first opened the page this morning I noticed that they had updated their logo for the special occasion of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. At first I did not even know what it was representing. I wondered why it was in black and white. I hovered my mouse over the logo and saw that it was for MLK Jr.'s birthday. My first thought after learning its purpose was, "why is it in black and white?"

If you wanted to dig into this or look for a deeper, hidden meaning you could. You could associate the black and white to Martin Luther King, Jr. being black. You might even be able to accuse Google of being racist or some other nonsense. Maybe it is just in black and white because of the era he lived in. Who knows what influenced their design, but I do not think it is racism.

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Was Rosa Parks' Protest Staged

QTRHT and I were in the kitchen cooking dinner tonight and she was talking about her day at school. Out of nowhere she told me that some of the teachers at her school told her that Rosa Parks' protest on the city bus was staged by the NAACP. One teacher said that her husband told her that and even showed her the proof. Another teacher agreed that she was not the first to refuse to give up her seat to a white passenger.

I told QTRHT that I knew that Rosa Parks was not the first to refuse to give up her seat, but that I had never heard that her protest was staged by the NAACP. I told her I would have to do some research. She knew that I would and told me that was why she told me.

I did some research and have not found anything to support the idea that her protest was staged. Here is a summary of what I did find.

Rosa Parks was a seamstress and also worked as a volunteer secretary at the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP. She worked directly with kids as an advisor to the NAACP Youth Council. On March 2, 1955 Claudette Colvin, a 15-year old girl was arrested for not giving up her seat on a public bus to a white passenger. Colvin was a member of the NAACP Youth Council. Rosa Parks began raising money for her defense. Colvin was not the first to refuse to give up her seat, but the NAACP was looking for someone to be the face of their fight and her timing was right.

Soon after Colvin was arrested, she began a relationship with a married man and became pregnant. E.D. Nixon, the president of the Montgomery NAACP, decided that Colvin would not be the right person to be the face of the civil rights battle. He later explained that he had to be sure that he had somebody he could win with, and Colvin was not that person. Her pregnancy and relationship with a much older, married man would give the opposition reason to argue.

In 1943 Rosa entered a bus through the front door and sat down. The bus driver told her to exit the bus and enter again through the back door. She started to exit the bus and dropped her purse. She sat down in a seat for a white passenger momentarily to pick up her purse. The bus driver was angry and as soon as she got off the bus he sped away, leaving her standing in the rain.

On December 1, 1955 Rosa Parks was on a bus in downtown Montgomery. She sat in the "colored" section. She noticed that the bus driver was the same one who had left her in the rain in 1943. The white passenger seats on the bus filled up and a few more white passengers got on the bus. The driver, James Blake, walked back to the "colored" section and moved the sign marking the section back behind the row of seats Rosa and three other black passengers were sitting in. He told them to get out of their seats. The three other passengers complied, but Rosa moved to the window seat instead of moving back to the new "colored" section. The police were called and she was arrested.

E.D. Nixon now had the face of the fight. Rosa Parks was a morally clean, reliable person that did not have anything in her background that would taint her story. The NAACP had to pick its battles and Rosa Parks was deemed to be worthy of the fight.

None of my research supports the ideas that were expressed to QTRHT today at school. I don't know why anyone would want to portray Parks' protest as a staged event. It seems like they are trying to taint her actions and legacy. The way we treated black people at this time was wrong. I don't fault the NAACP for waiting for the right person to come along before taking up their fight. That is just smart.

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Gnome Sweet Gnome

Our gnome, Homie Gnomie as the kidnappers named him, is home again. Meg found him hiding in a nativity seen in Dinuba on Christmas day. It was later revealed that Tim and Sharon were in cahoots on the kidnapping. Luckily, our gnome was unharmed in the ordeal. He actually got a vacation out of the kidnapping. Tim took him to Hawaii with him and his two friends on vacation. He stayed at Sharon's house and had some fun on the beach. We were given the vacation photo collage, which I am having trouble uploading but here is one of the photos.
We all had a lot of fun with this kidnapping. On our drive home, Tina mentioned that we should continue the adventure and take our gnome with us whenever we go on trips. I agreed. Meg does not want to put him back outside yet, even though she said that he watches over our home.

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AP Athlete of the Year?

Jimmie Johnson was named the AP athlete of the year. In order to be an athlete, you must participate in a sport. Auto racing is not a sport. It is a race. It is a past time. It may even require sportsmanship, but it is not a sport.

An athlete is someone who uses their physical abilities in an athletic pursuit. In my opinion, the majority of the effort has to be exerted by the "athlete." in the case of auto racing, the majority of the work is done by a machine. I am not saying that driving a race car does not require skill or endurance, but skill and endurance does not mean you are an athlete.

Poker players have both skill and endurance and are not athletes. Chess players need to have skill and some endurance, but they are not athletes. And even construction workers need to have some skill and endurance, but they are not necessarily athletes. So why are auto racers considered athletes?

I don't have the answer to that question. I just don't agree that they are athletes.

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The 7 Signs of a Leader

I read an interesting post on the website, www.dumblittleman.com, titled "The 7 Signs of a Leader." This really made me think about who I would consider a leader. Do I really know any leaders? After reading this, I don't think I personally know a leader.

That is a very scary thought. I know several local business owners and upper level management types and I don't think any of them meet all of these criteria. Here is the list:

1. Vision
2. Discipline
3. Emotional Strength
4. Experience
5. Respect
6. People Skills
7. Momentum and Timing

One thing that is missing from this list is "communication." I think that is the most important attribute of a leader. They may have buried it under people skills on this list, but I think it is important enough that it should have been its own point.

Here is a link to the article.

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What is a Hero?

With tomorrow being Veteran's Day, I thought I would explore a topic that is relevant. Most people consider people who "serve" in our military a hero. I question that type of labeling. What makes someone who serves in the military a hero just because they served?

Are you a hero for killing someone from another country? Are you a hero for destroying the infrastructure of a foreign city? Are you a hero for blindly taking orders? Are you a hero for being stationed in San Diego for 4 years? What makes a member of the military a hero?

If you do something heroic, you should be labeled a hero. I don't think you earn that label just because you choose the military as a profession. And let's face it, that is what it is. The same as being a police officer, fire fighter, teacher or postal worker. It is just a profession, and for many people it is the best profession they could ever hope for. You get to travel. All of your meals and living expenses are covered. Your medical, dental and vision needs are taken care of for you. Your college expenses get paid for. And you even get a pay check. Granted, the check is not that large, buy they are for the most part uneducated members of our workforce. Does any of this make you a hero. If it does, then I know a lot of heroes.

I don't think people should be labeled as heroes just because they choose a certain profession. I think you are a hero for what you choose to do. For your actions. For what you "fight" for. I guess I am just a bit more picky in who I label a hero.

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