Cause and Courage

I just watched a twenty year old movie, Rough Riders.  It was a very well made film and from what I can find, historically correct in it's portrayal of the Spanish American War.

 

Was the reason for the war, simply America's Imperialistic desire, our wish for power and territory and resources or was it to rescue Cuba from oppressive brutality? The oppression was real and happening, but the benefit for our country on a national and global level was also without argument.

 

Watching this movie, with stars such as Tom Berenger in an excellent recreation of Theodore Roosevelt, as well as many other talented actors---Sam Elliot, Gary Busey, Buck Taylor and more---made me have lots of thoughts about courage and bravery.

 

Another of my favorite movies is Glory. This is the story of Colonel Robert G. Shaw and his black regiment of soldiers in the Civil War, the 54th of Massachusetts. They were famous for their part in the unsuccessful charge at Fort Wagner where Shaw and a high number of his soldiers were killed. Shaw was 26 years old.

 

These stories of valor are but a drop in the ocean of the thousands and thousands of men and women who have acted with extreme gallantry and honor in the defense of a heart felt cause. Is the cause always just and right?  No, it's not.  The cause isn't always right, but the courage is always real.

 

I don't believe that courage, true heroism is deliberate or planned. It comes from something deep within and propels a human to make, often the ultimate sacrifices.  In a moment of certainity in the rightness of cause, a person will stand up, speak up or move forward and completely disregard their own self preservation.  These acts of bravery renew my belief in the goodness that exists in mankind.

 

 John F. Kennedy said, The courage of life is often a less dramatic spectacle than the courage of a final moment; but it is no less a magnificent mixture of triumph and tragedy.  Bravery and honor are present in our everyday lives and also in our last moments. 

 

In our world and country today, we need courage. Perhaps we can find ours in the actions of those that came before.

We can have no '50-50' allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all. --Theodore Roosevelt.

 

 

 

I Pledge Allegiance

Very Dull in Mind

 

Webster definition of stupid- *see title, dense, dumb, fatuous, mindless, obtuse, simple, slow, unintelligent, witless, feebleminded.

 

I'm sorry folks but I wish to add Pokemon to the official definition.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that playing ANY games is stupid. I actually think that games are good for people's brains, especially older people.  Even games on phones, tablets, etc. 

 

Playing the games isn't stupid. Walking around in a stupor in public, playing the games on your phone is the absolute epitome of dumb.  As if it wasn't scary enough to have folks zombie shambling around having all kinds of personal conversations on their phones! Now, they're going to endanger the rest of us with their total distraction, not only risk our physical safety but possibly infect us with their idiocy.   Seriously, we're talking about people not stable enough to walk and chew gum at the same time, but they're going to play a game and competently function on the street---sure, they are. 

 

There's a valid argument for needing some distraction in this old world. Every single day something horrific and disturbing is happening. But, in a dangerous world where people are dying and starving and hurting, some open distractions just seem obscene to me.  Surely, there is something more productive that we can do when we're out in the world---even if it's just to respect your fellow human beings and give them a smile.

 

Being raised in the south, in Texas, manners were not an option. Class wasn't something that you could buy or that you were born with, it was something that earned with character, grace, honor  and respect.  Haley Joel Osment (in the photo) has every right to be terrified. Our society embraces the crude, rude and inane. I don't see much difference in brain-dead and dead-dead. The earth is literally crawling with the dumb. Pokemon is simply the latest garish entry into the Parade of the Pea-brains.



Bored-Bored-BORED

I'm fond of saying that I like my own company. Writing is a rather solitary occupation and I can get lost in it and not be very interested in doing other things.  Sometimes, the problem is---I bore me. 
 

Never mind that glassy eyed, gazing into the distance look that comes over some folk's face as my drawly voice washes them like a dog that won't stop licking, with a story.  I've got me, right? I've got the words on the page. 

 

The hubby has become practiced at faux expressions. 

"I saw that look," me.

 

"What look?  I don't know what the heck you're talking about," incredulous him.

 

"Oh, ho, ho-you know. Rolling your eyes, thinning your lips. I saw it."  (Our daughters always said, watch out if daddy gets that thin lipped look.)

 

He throws me his best fake smile, "Well honey, I'm always interested in what you're saying." With fifty years of practice at protecting his backside, he lies. Pure survival instinct.

 

It's true. Life---just isn't always exciting.  I tell myself, remember those old days when there was no time to be bored.  Those days of making a living, raising children and hoping you could feed them next week.  Lots of struggles and work and worrying to do---not a minute to be bored.

 

What bothers me is how much this generation, admittedly even our generation, has become so accustomed to sound bites, flashes of action on the television, short and sweet texts on the cell phone, a world that seems to be moving like an antique silent movie,  in double time choppy clips. We're so used to that speed of life that if there's a lull, a slow and silent lapse, we are bored.

 

I've always hated it when someone said, "I'm bored." The standard answer to a child, used to be, "Well Missy. I will sure find you something to do."  Of course, children, not unlike us all---don't really want to be occupied, they want to be entertained.  Work isn't bad medicine, though. The advice that probably rings the truest is get up off your bottom and move around. Movement, simple or active can be good for the body and soul.

 

Listing to yourself all the ways that you're fortunate is a good way to discourage your boredom. Reminding yourself of the wonders and beauty of our world (don't think about the crap), can help. We just have to look at those slow-w-w times as an opportunity to recoup and learn to relish them.  Every minute of our lives doesn't have to be full to the top and bustling with activity.  We don't have to be seeing, hearing, accomplishing something every waking moment.  Sometimes, it's okay to just sit, be thankful and breathe. At my age, I try to be thankful that I am breathing.