Thoughts For The Day From Papa ‘a

Good Morning All & Happy Saturday!

Happy Birthday to my friend, Amy, who is an inspiring champion of the fight against epilepsy and a person committed to service to others!  Here’s to you, Amy!  Many there be many more lovely people like you!  Happy Birthday wishes also go to actor Clu Gulager, one of my favorite western movie actors, who turns 91 today; and to jazz singer extraordinaire, Diana Krall, who is 55 today.  Here’s to you, too!

Speaking of outstanding human beings, here’s to Spokane/Inland Northwest civic leader Dale Stedman, who died this past week at the age of 91.  We will be forever in his debt for his tireless efforts to promote transportation improvements throughout the Inland Northwest and for his many years of selfless service to our community.  Heartfelt sympathy goes to Dale’s daughter, Cydney Stedman Brown and all of her family.

Another lovely human being died this past week…Debbie McGoldrick.  She was such a good friend to my parents over the years and always had a smile on her face and a positive outlook on life, even when she was fighting various medical challenges.  She died way too soon at the age of 65.  She leaves behind a family that loved her and she will be missed.  Here’s to you, Debbie, for bringing a lot of sunshine into this world!

Last night our family was treated to a terrific concert at Courtland Place (where my mom resides) from RiversEdge, a women’s 4-Part A Cappella Chorus.  Their rendition of “The Battle Hymn Of The Republic” was spine-tingling & “Kokomo” was fabulous.  If you are in need of quality entertainment for an event, you’ll want to check out this group!  They can be reached at (509) 847-5858…ask for Kandy Brandt or by e-mail at kandy.brandt@comcast.net.  The group’s website is www.riversedgechorus.org.

I remain fascinated with the many different birds we encountered during our adventure in Iceland this past summer…among them were the Guillemot and the Cormorant.  They frequented the high cliffs and seawalls all along the Western Icelandic coast.  They raise quite a squawk too!  It’s pretty entertaining just to stop and watch them yak at each other non-stop as they perch on precarious ledges all along the bird cliffs.  Guillemots, for example, lay their eggs extremely close together on cliff ledges.  As many as 70 guillemots have been counted sitting on their eggs in a single square meter of space!  They literally stack themselves anywhere on a ledge they can find a foothold and then stand there for the 5-7 weeks it takes for their eggs to hatch and to get their chicks out to sea.  Guillemots return to the same spot every year to stand crammed in among the same old crowd.  These birds are not small, either!  And guillemots live between 20 and 40 years—don’t forget that!  What fun it was to see all of the wide variety of seabirds in Iceland…something you’ll want to put on your bucket list, for sure!

With all of the theatrics going on in Washington, D.C. right now, I thought it might be helpful to look up a couple of words that are being prominently mentioned…”impeach” & “censure”.  Here’s what I found out, according to Noah Webster’s dictionary:

Impeach:  “To call into question the integrity or validity of a practice”…”To accuse someone of misconduct”…”To challenge the credibility of a person.”

Censure:  “Express severe disapproval of someone or something, especially in a formal statement”…”strong or vehement expression of disapproval”…”to criticize or reproach in a harsh or vehement manner”…”commendation”…”reproof”…”reproach”…”reprehension”…”rebuke”…

Given President Trump’s behavior in office, one can make a good case that both houses of Congress should formally censure him for his conduct.  It remains to be seen whether there is conclusive evidence that he committed unlawful acts (i.e. “high crimes & misdemeanors” as described in the U.S. Constitution).  If evidence can’t be found, then why put our country through such a divisive exercise as impeachment and trial?  We are experiencing poor conduct on the part of Congress and the President…how embarrassing a situation for our beloved country.  I long for the day when better quality people are elected to serve our country.  Whatever happened to the idea of public service where folks served for a period of time and then returned to private life and not make a life/career out of politics?  In the meantime, we suffer through a bad dream that will never go away.  What do you think?

From time to time, I come across a book that turns out to be a compelling read and “Midnight Rising:  John Brown And The Raid That Sparked The Civil War” by Tony Horowitz is one of them.  Even if you’re not an avid Civil War era buff, you will find the story of John Brown and the raid on Harper’s Ferry in 1859 of interest.  Horowitz’s research and writing makes this story an intriguing one.  Here’s an excerpt:

“At first, (Frederick) Douglass (the great black abolitionist) had also been taken aback by Brown’s consuming hatred of slavery, unusual in a white man.  “He saw the evil through no mist or haze,” Douglass said.  “Against truth and right, legislative enactments were to his mind mere cobwebs—the pompous emptiness of human pride—the pitiful outbreathings of human nothingness.”  For Brown, slavery was a state of war and must be met in kind….

Once Brown lit the fuse, less with is actions than with the moral clarity of his words, Southerners were unable to extinguish it.”  They could kill him,” Douglass told his audience, “but they could not answer him.”  In the war that followed, the Union’s armies had “found it necessary to do on a large scale what John Brown attempted to do on a small one.”  Douglass therefore regarded Harpers Ferry, not Fort Sumter, as the true start of the nation’s great conflict.  “If John Brown did not end the war that ended slavery, he did at least begin the war that ended slavery.”

All this was apparent in retrospect, when war and emancipation had come to seem inevitable.  But Douglass closed his speech by returning to the autumn of 1859, to remind his audience how the events of that fall had changed history.

“Until this blow was struck, the prospect for freedom was dim, shadowy and uncertain.  The irrepressible conflict was one of words, votes, and compromises.  When John Brown stretched forth his arm the sky was cleared.  The time for compromise was gone—the armed hosts of freedom stood face to face over the chasm of a broken Union—and the clash of arms was at hand.”  The South, no longer able to steer the nation, “drew the sword of rebellion and thus made her own, and not Brown’s, the lost cause of the century.”

—Tony Horowitz, “Midnight Rising:  John Brown And The Raid That Sparked The Civil War,” pages 286-288 (2011).

 

I came across the 1969 Topps Football Card for Los Angeles Rams star running back Les Josephson, the pride of South Dakota (a member of the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame).  Les was born in 1942 in Minneota, Minnesota, a small farming community and then attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  He played 8-man football in high school.  His early college years were outstanding, playing on a college team that showed unusual success and talent.  The team during his final two years, however, had only mediocre success, and his hope to be claimed in the college draft faded.  He was not drafted, but signed as a free agent with the Dallas Cowboys in 1964, but was picked up by the Los Angeles Rams during that season.  He joined the backfield of Rams quarterback Roman Gabriel (my wife’s all-time favorite football player next to Aaron Rodgers…she rode in an elevator with Roman in Hawaii as a young girl…she had a crush on him, needless to say!) and became a team leader for the next decade.  He was selected for the Pro Bowl in 1967 after he helped lead the Rams to an 11-1-2 record before losing to the Green Bay Packers in the NFL Western Conference Championship.  The next year, he suffered a left calf injury in the pre-season, while running through the stadium tunnel to the field.  After the cast for the injury was removed, he tore the Achilles tendon of the same leg while rehabilitating jumping rope and was placed on the injured reserve list.  Injuries slowed him down but he contributed to the team for many years after his worst injuries.  He retired in 1975 after he was waived during the preseason.  At the time, his 3,407 rushing yards was the third highest rushing total in Rams history.  After his football career,  Les acted in a number of films and TV shows, among them “Police Woman” in 1977 with Angie Dickinson (I had a crush on her…she was hot!) and had a role in Waren Beatty’s film “Heaven Can Wait” in 1978 and also has served as a film technical consultant over the years.  He has also served as a color analyst for the Arizona Wildcats radio network, having worked as a sportscaster during the off-seasons in his football career.  He is 77 years old.  Here’s to Les Josephson and his tenacity and perseverance!

 

Here’s the fact for the day:

Humans shed 40 pounds of skin in their lifetime, completely replacing their outer skin every month.

 

Here are some thoughts for the day:

“My thing was always about individuality and about creating a world—because you don’t just wear clothes, you live a life.  You have style.  You project who you are.

—Ralph Lauren, American fashion designer

 

“I don’t remember just exactly how it started…All I know is we’re both alone and broken-hearted

It doesn’t make a bit of sense to me…Why should two people in love have to be

 

Like little children…Who don’t know wrong from right

Like little children…Who just can’t help but fight

Why should two grown people have to act

Like little children…

 

There’s no storm that you and I can’t weather…If we just take the time to talk it out together

But when talkin’ stops, tempers rise

And we both do things that aren’t wise…

 

Like little children…Who don’t know wrong from right

Like little children…Who just can’t help but fight

Whey should two grown people have to act

Like little children.”

—Carole King, “Like Little Children,” from the album “Tapestry” (1971)

 

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

Press on,

Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)