"Restrepo"

The National Geographic and Sebastin Unger did a magnificent job in reporting "life" in war zone (Afghanistan). "Restrepo", a name of a camp that was named in honor of one of their fallen comrades, is a film that one would not want to watch unless they feel that they want to be depressed.

The horror of war is captured as well as the dehumanization of the warriors. How could someone be involved in combat without hating others, minimizing many human dimensions of life, in order to survive the frustrations and sorrows that combat entails.

In a book written by Unger that dealt with his experience as an embedded reporter (I have not read the book), he apparently relates many positive aspects of the "war experience", e.g., the bonding that occurs to ensure that they all "make it out". Unger also apparently reports the excitement that occurs as a positive reality. This aspect of excitement is captured in the film.

I would think that most people who would watch this film would conclude that war is horrendous for all parties involved. Peace is a more viable goal that one should embrace.

Forever Grateful!

FOREVER GRATEFUL

Walking by the ocean

Brings memories bearing in,

How wonderful life has been.

No one deserves such gifts,

A wife that so awesome,

Gifted with the touch of love,

Given freely even to me.

Children who became so beautiful,

Taking their talents to new heights,

Becoming persons of love.

Children whose life-partners,

Grace us as friends,

Grateful for their presence.

When life passes on,

Memories are so strong,

How could anyone be so blessed.

Pat Tillman Story

The "Pat Tillman Story" is overwhelming!

Given how old I am, it is amazing that I continue to have my naiveness exploded. I can recall how strongly I believed in Christianity as I found it in the Catholic Church. There was a time when I was convinced that the Church was the source of absolute truth. There was no question that the truth was there!

My first experience that this notion was possibly not quite right occurred while I was in the seminary. After Pope John was elected, our education changed rather dramatically. What was taught in prior years was now explained differently. It did not take me long to conclude that I could not depend on what I was taught; I had to learn as much as I could on my own to be sure that I was not being mislead. At the time, I still believed that the truth was there; the issue was uncovering it. It took years to know that truth, per se, may never be known. What we needed to do is continue the search for truth and be satisfied that the search was enough!

Similarly, there was a time when I thought that USA was the greatest nation in the world. It was not until the Vietnam War before I concluded that the nation was engaged in an immoral action! I became an advocate for a revolution. Ultimately, the lesson for me is that I could not trust the government.

Yet, I occasionally saw reasons to love the government. I even worked for the federal government and felt proud of our work. But, the Iraq invasion devastated me. My anger against the President and those leading the war was as strong as I could ever recall. I was livid.

Watching the "Pat Tillman Story" was devastating. It is horrendous that the military lied, mislead, cover up, and distorted the real story behind the killing of Pat Tillman. While I knew the story, watching this film was still overwhelming!

A Happy Situation

In the recent issue of Atlantic Monthly, there is an article on the fears associated with being super wealthy, defined has having more than $25 million. The data coming out of a study undertaken by Boston College is worth reading to get an insight into the "problems" of being super wealthy.

However, I was really struck by the author's reference to the 1873 novel, the Gilded Age. In particular, the novel described an unwealthy family that seemed to get the right perspective on wealth:

Having only riches enough to be able to gratify reasonable desires, and yet make their gratifications always a novelty and a pleasure, the family occupied that just mean in life which is so rarely attained, and still more rarely enjoyed without discontent.

I am grateful to think that this quote is quite relevant personally.

I thoroughly value the fact that we can address our personal needs without the concerns that others unfortunately have. It is amazing to me that we have done as well as we have since we were only relatively ordinary wage earners. We acquired no wealth independently of our work. We had no jobs that paid enormously, albeit we never complained that we were not paid adequately.

At the same time, I have never got jaundiced by this good fortune. I wake virtually every day with the awareness of what a blessing it is to live where I do. It has been nearly 14 years since we moved to Scituate. It has never got old!

Similarly, whenever something occurs that has some reference to money, I am personally awestruck by it all. Whether it's the Christmas celebration which includes having so many around the table or our vacation in Jamaica, it is always a real treat, something that seems always novel and almost unbelievable.

I am truly a fortunate man.

A Most Happy Memory!

In reading a column today regarding Mother's guilt, I was able to empathize with the complexities of today's mothers who deal with work and family. While my experience was "ancient history" to some, one could agree that it was not as complicated to earn a living and raise children, even if both parents worked.

However, the point of this blog entry has to do with a memory evoked by the article. It has to do with the joy of not having to deal with multiple forces of one's attention, e.g., attending to Blackberries while shopping and preparing supper along with attending to the needs of children.

It is a memory that will be never be lost.

Last summer, we were providing a "vacation" for our grand daughter who lives in New York City. At the time plans were made for this week, we had no knowledge that a very close friend of my wife's would be diagnosed with a serious brain cancer. There was, then, an unexpected need to address two realities: a very sick woman and a beautiful little girl.

As opposed to the dilemmas of modern day women, we could solve our problem rather easily. While my wife attended to her friend at MGH, I would provide time with my grand daughter while the hospital visit occurred.

I had no agenda other than to "entertain" a young girl. On this particular nice day in Boston, I decided to push her stroller down Cambridge Street, thinking that we could go through the Boston Common area and then onto Wendy's where she could enjoy her Frosty!

I had forgotten how great Boston Common is for people to spend time with their families outside in a beautiful setting. In the winter, there is ice skating. I had forgotten what was available in the summer.

As we entered the Common, I quickly became aware of a real unexpected treat, a carousal. Did she ever enjoy the experience! (Only later was I told that it was her first experience.)

Then, we pushed on the Frog Pond which I had never experienced with my own children. It is very large and water is kept at the same very measured height throughout the large area. All sorts of children were enjoying the water.

Here I was unprepared for her enjoying the water. It did not take long for me to remove her clothes and let her get wet with only a diaper. A new problem arose. The guard came to me to tell me that I had to a swimming diaper. That was a problem. How could I tell her that we had to leave because I had not thought of taking a swimming diaper with us? I proceeded quickly to ask diligent mothers if anyone had an extra swimming diaper. No problem! Success!

But then, the strong sun became an obvious problem. I surely did not bring sun screen with me. No problem! I went to some mothers to ask if I could borrow some sun screen. They seemed to enjoy helping an old man trying to entertain such a beautiful little girl.

And did I enjoy the unexpected pleasures of providing such a wonderful experience that was totally unplanned. I did not have anything else to do but make a little girl happy. I had no need to attend to work (a clear benefit of retirement). I only had Nora Anne and what joy she provided me!

Yoga

It has been interesting to observe my transition from one who considered good for someone else to now becoming enrolled in a class!

Comments about my slouching posture precipitated an email to my primary MD regarding a brace of some sort. He reported that the only approach found successful was Yoga. So, I proceed to purchase a DVD, assuming that this should not be that difficult. However, with a little more exposure during our vacation, it became clear that I was woefully in need of Yoga, measured by the level of difficulty I had dealing with some of the poses.

Now, I am enrolled in a class that appears to be perfect for me. It surely is difficult, i.e., I cannot do everything as prescribed, but it is making me do more than I have in the past.

It will be interesting to see how this progresses.

Our Military is not Wanted

For ages, I have had grave misgivings about our military. Not only as the Pentagon an economic fiasco, its mission has become incredible, i.e., the military's mission far exceeded any rational defense basis. The invasion by Japan was the last direct attack that warranted a defense. Military involvement clearly has become empire building and the nation building.

Nothing has worked our well.

Hopefully our military will not be involved in the Middle East eruptions, unless we are requested by NATO (and Europe should be in the lead).

What seems to be a new twist is that we are not wanted. All these burgeoning democracies need to consider is Iraq and evaluate the consequences of our invasion. Where could they look to imagine their world as becoming better because our military became involved in their nations!

Rethinking the Whole Paradigm!

From time to time, I am jolted into the need to start from scratch. I clearly accomplished a "redo" in religion. More recently, I have transitioned from thinking that Yoga was for others, to thinking a DVD would help, to the point that I am now enrolled in class. Walter Mead is a person who can really upset the proverbial apple cart by refuting even those I hold in the highest regard, e.g., Paul Krugman. In his most recent blog, Mead throws the gauntlet to Krugman for remaining tied to an underlying world view built around the emergence of our strong economy following WWII.

The thrust of his comments focuses on the fact that the economy, as we have known it, cannot be resurrected under any circumstances. And if so, then all sorts of other notions of what is needed to maintain a strong economy falls by the wayside. And he references virtually everything.

If all jobs will be vulnerable to automation, then education is no solution to more jobs. If the economy is so reliant on computers, then unions will be useless and, of course, there would be no monies to support the union initiatives, at least as they have been known.

Without knowing the details of the future, he calls to reconsider virtually everything that we thought that "necessary" for a strong economy. For someone as old as I, this is a challenge without a fear component. My "world" in retirement will not be impacted. For my children and grandchildren, however, his views should stimulate all sorts of discussion, hopefully designed to alter behavior so that they can stay on "top" of the flow of history.

Non-Western Christianity

Philip Jenkins continues to provide provocative insights into Christianity. In the past, he has indicated that the Catholic Church is being driven by demographics, i.e., the institutional interests are focused on the population that now dominates the universal church, referring to the southern hemisphere, particularly Africa.

Matthew Roberts discusses reviews Jenkins' current thinking in the Brussel's Journal. His thinking has progressed to the point where he sees Christianity becoming "different" from its historic identity with the West. We tend to correlate Christianity which emerged in the Mideast with the prominence it achieved through Constantine and the West, as though this was the intent of Jesus. Obviously, when one thinks about it, we realize that there is no basis for extrapolating Jesus' views beyond its Semitic origins.

Jenkins' focus now on the historical processes of Christianity becoming identified with the cultures of the majority (historically, the West) implies that Christianity will be modified to accommodate the culture of the southern hemisphere, especially Africa.

Drawing out the implications of this perspective is surely interesting!