Happy Thanksgiving

One of My Favorite Things

My Favorite Things/ John Coltrane

Hurry up and Wait

Hurry up and Wait

It's an expression long associated with life in the armed forces: the endless lines, the delays while an assignment is being readied, the long night before a major battle, and finally, the anticipation of final orders. For some who serve during war, the sounds of battle remain tantalizingly distant, as they are left waiting stateside for the duration.

This the beginning of a section of the Library of Congress, Veterans History Project. This project features many veterans stories. These stories describe not only the heroic, exciting, transforming but also the mundane. One story, Irving Oblas' features a quote which is the essence of Hurry up and Wait. I and others have waited months for orders, being in that netherworld of doing odd jobs and many platoons learning the glory of raking sand. There was that anxiousness during Viet Nam from soldiers I knew, on where they would be assigned. The draftees who would rather be elsewhere, submitted to the mundane. If orders came for Viet Nam, they would sigh, but never the less would selflessly serve.

The President Elect - Barack Hussein Obama

WOW!

I had not been one of those who thought it would never happen in my lifetime, until recently when I entered the world of the net. Things said here and groups devoted to keep racism alive and well, abounded. I never underestimate the influence of such rhetoric and I didn't know how much it would influence an election. I didn't want Barack Obama to win because he was black, but I didn't want him to lose, because of it.

I don't have expectations that the world will instantly change or that Barack Obama will be able to govern extraordinarily, but I know that it will not be an ad hoc, seat of the pants, let see where that goes, presidency. Peoples liberties won't be abridged, the US will not become communist and terrorist will not be sleeping in Lincoln's Bedroom.

I don't have much more to say, but to say I am truly proud today.

VOTE