Thoughts For The Day From Papa ‘a

Good Morning All!

Happy second day of Summer!  The Summer Solstice is upon us…here’s comes the sun!

Happy Birthday wishes go to our friend Lori, whose birthday is TODAY!  Happy Birthday, Lori!  She shares a birthday with singer/songwriter Cyndi Lauper of “Girls Just Wanna Fun” and the current Broadway show “Kinky Boots” fame, who is 66 today.   Happy Birthday to our friend Jill, mother of Keinyn and a person who shows lot of enthusiasm for life, who celebrates her birthday tomorrow, June 23rd.  And here’s to our friend, Dennis, husband, father, truck driver and restaurant owner extraordinaire (owner of the Wall Street Diner and former owner of Europa here in Spokane), who celebrates his birthday tomorrow as well.  Here’s to all of you birthday people out there!

My mom continues to make progress in her recovery from a recent heart procedure.  Slowly, but surely as they say!  I marvel at her determination to keep living independently.  I hope I inherited her grit and resilience…good qualities to have in making the journey through life, for sure.  Here’s to my mom!

On this day in 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the GI Bill of Rights, which I think is one of the greatest single pieces of legislation ever enacted in our nation’s history.  It helped a young man from Willapa Valley (my dad) with little or no financial means after coming out of the Marine Corps in World War II to get a college education.  It made a huge difference not only for him, but for our family and for generations to come.  He went on to be a successful business man and had the financial resources to help many others…his college education was the key that unlocked that door.  Here’s to the members of Congress who introduced & voted for this legislation and for President Roosevelt’s leadership in getting it enacted.  It was a “game changer” for so many World War II veterans and provided the opportunity for a better life for so many of them.  Here’s the GI Bill of Rights!!!

Also on this day in 1945, the Battle of Okinawa ended after 81 long, harrowing days of fighting for control of the island.  It was the last major battle of World War II.  One of my Dad’s friends from Willapa Valley, Bob Bush, received the Congressional Medal of Honor for services he rendered to wounded Marines as a young Navy Corpsman (medic).  A statute of Bob giving a wounded Marine plasma with a pistol in his other hand stands in downtown South Bend, Washington (along the highway to Long Beach WA).  If you ever go by that way, be sure to stop by and see the statute and read Bob’s amazing story.  You can also honor the 60+ people from Pacific County who gave all for freedom in World War II.  Little Pacific County sustained the highest death rate of any county in the State of Washington in World War II.  During the Battle of Okinawa, a brutal attack took place on April 16, 1945 atop Hacksaw Ridge, a 400 foot tall cliff.  Much of the combat was hand-to-hand and the Americans suffered heavy casualties.  Corporal Desmond Doss, who was an Army medic and Seventh-Day Adventist church member, is credited with saving 75 soldiers who had been wounded.  He was unarmed at the time of his heroic actions.  This story is the basis for the recent Clint Eastwood directed film, “Hacksaw Ridge”…some 72,000 total casualties were sustained by American and Japanese forces on Okinawa…let us never forget…and resolve “never again.”

 

Here’s more from my recent World War II-related adventure in Europe with my friend Harold Voltz:

May 24, 2019

We arose this morning and prepared to make our journey to Dachau, just outside of Munich (now a suburb of Munich), the site of the infamous Dachau Concentration Camp.  I must admit that, one the one hand, I dreaded going to see this awful place, but, on the other hand, it was something I needed to do to help honor those who suffered and/or died there and to keep the memory of what happened there in the 1930s and 1940s alive.  It was a beautiful spring day when we arrived at Dachau, after what seemed like a fairly short bus ride.  Given the fact that many of these Nazi labor and/or concentration camps were located near villages, towns and cities, it’s hard to conceive that the general German public didn’t know what was going on there.  Even though the day of our visit was filled with sunshine and blue sky, there was no way you could feel happy about this place.  The basest aspects of human depravity occurred here.  This place attests to the fact that mankind is not basically, intrinsically good/moral…that, unfortunately all of us can stoop to these acts of cruelty to one another, at whatever level.  Dachau is a reminder of the Fall of Man.  We toured the barracks where the camp internees lived…harsh conditions…no heat, no insulation, crowded conditions.  Visiting the gas chambers and the ovens was the hardest time of the visit…you couldn’t help but be overcome with emotion to consider what took place here…I was glad to leave this place when our tour was completed…there is a heaviness of heart and spirit here that is hard to put into words.  As with war, let us resolve to commit that “never again” would this happen.  However we do know that even now, genocide and mass killings continue to take place all around the world…the struggle between love and obedience to our Creator, on the one hand, and the temptations of evil (Satan), on the other, continues on…

After leaving Dachau, we took a walking tour of Munich and visited many of the places that played a significant role in the rise of Hitler.  Hitler and many of his cronies were from Bavaria and/or the greater Munich area.  The Nazi Party had its origins in Munich, particularly in the beer halls of Munich.  My mother-in-law is fond of saying that “nothing good happens after midnight” and this saying is so true with regard to the rise of the Nazis and their message of hate (anti-Semitism in particular).  It was late night drinking parties in Munich that spawned much of the activities of the “Brown Shirts”, the true believers, if you will, of Nazism.  The “Gestapo” (Nazi secret police) had its origins in Munich as well.  It’s hard to get your arms around why would such a horrible movement get its start in a city that was known for its commitment to the arts and culture.(the home of renowned composer Richard Strauss and philosopher Thomas Mann).  Munich was also the place where the first opposition to Nazism was formed…”The White Rose Society”.  Sofie Scholl and her brother were courageous in writing & publishing anti-Nazi propaganda.  They eventually paid with their lives because of their efforts.   Ironically, Hitler ordered the creation of a Museum of “German Art” (of artists who were acceptable to the Third Reich) and a Museum of “Degenerate Art” (Jewish artists and others not acceptable to the Third Reich).  Speaking of artistic expression, Hitler thought that jazz was a degenerate form of music…The infamous SS was also started in Munich.

I mentioned to our tour guide in Munich how impressed I was with the vibrancy of the city and the beautiful building all around.  He said that 70% of Munich proper was destroyed during the war.  I asked how it was possible that the city could be rebuilt to how it looks today and he turned to me and said “The Marshall Plan”, the ingenious plan developed by U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall to allocate $14 billion (a heck of a lot of money in 1946) in U.S. funds (provided by the American people) to help Germany rebuild the cities and infrastructure that was damaged or destroyed during the war.  I can’t think of very many countries who have ever given of their treasure to help a vanquished foe rebuild its economy…and Germany and its people certainly benefitted from this unprecedented expression of generosity from the people of the United States…

We had some free time to walk around the center of Munich…so many shops and beautiful buildings to enjoy….the Opera House, the church buildings, the main city plaza.  I had to have a bratwurst and was not disappointed…so juicy and delicious with a little mustard!  I enjoyed watching a lady (she appeared to be Eastern European) build a cute dog out of sand….a sand sculpture of a dog, if you will.  It was delightful to watch her at work along a busy street corner in Munich on a beautiful day (probably one of the warmest days of the year in Munich so far).

After returning to our hotel, I put on my running shorts and headed out the door for a run around the 1972 Olympics Park. The Germans were smart to build their Olympic venue so close to the city center, as the park now gets lots of use from walkers, runners and bicyclists and seems to be a center of activity for many different things.  This venue certainly gets used and enjoyed by thousands of people every week.  It is really “runner friendly” and the trails around the park afford beautiful views of the Olympic Stadium (where one of my heroes, Frank Shorter, ran into the stadium on the last night of the games in 1972 to claim the Olympic Gold Medal in the Marathon).  What fun to be in this park and enjoy everything about it!  Here’s to the Munich Olympic Park!…one of the highlights of my time in Europe, for sure!

To be continued…

 

I came across the 1969 Topps Football Card for Marv Woodson, a defensive back for the Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints in the 1960s.  He was born in 1941 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.  He played college football at Indiana University.  He was the 8th overall draft pick in the 1964 NFL draft by the Baltimore Colts who traded Woodson to the Steelers for future star kicker Lou Michaels right after drafting him.  Woodson overcame early career injuries and played in the 1967 NFL Pro Bowl and intercepted seven passes in that game…Wow!!!  It doesn’t appear that Marv Woodson is related to Rod or Charles Woodson, two other Woodsons who subsequently played in the NFL.  I can’t find anything else about Marv Woodson on the internet.  Does anyone know anything more about him?

 

Here’s the silly question for the day:

Q:  Why are cows so interesting?

A:  Because they are udderly fantastic.

 

Here’s the fact for the day:

For every person on earth, there are roughly 170 million insects.

 

Here are some thoughts for the day:

“With lady like devotion, she sails the bitter ocean,

If it wasn’t for lovesick sailors, there’d be nothin’ left but flotsam.

 

Singin’ why, me oh my, is there a better man than I?

I hope you find your way back home, before you’re lyin’, high and dry,

I hope you find your way back home before you die.

 

Her sails billow like bubbles, while you sip your daily doubles,

If she wasn’t so fond of the weather, she might give the deckhands trouble,

 

Singin’ why, me oh my, is there a better man than I?

I hope you find your way back home, before you’re lyin’, high and dry,

I hope you find your way back home before you die…”

—Gordon Lightfoot, “High And Dry”

 

“One road leads home and a thousand roads lead into the wilderness.”

—C.S. Lewis, “The Pilgrim’s Regress”, as quoted in “C.S. Lewis’ Little Book of Wisdom:  Meditations On Faith, Life, Love, and Literature” (2018)

 

Here’s to a great Saturday and lots of love always!

Press on,

Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)