Good Morning All & Happy Wednesday!
On this date in 1945, Japan formerly surrendered, officially ending World War II. I have a terrific painting of the U.S.S. Missouri as it sailed into Tokyo Bay to serve as the site of the official surrender ceremony. The painting was used to acknowledge gifts made to help build the Washington State World War II Memorial at the State Capitol grounds in Olympia. If you ever get a chance to visit that memorial, be sure and do it. It’s quite something. So many things were changed by this war. A truly monumental effort by everyone in the United States to stand up to the threat of tyranny worldwide. It takes one’s breath away to comprehend the sacrifices made by so many in the cause of freedom. We owe the World War II generation so much. It’s somewhat ironic that yesterday, Sept. 1st, marked the official beginning of World War II in 1939 with Germany’s invasion of Poland…
This coming Saturday, September 5th marks a momentous day in our family’s history, little Amy Newbold was born in Spokane in 1986. She has brought so much joy into our lives. Here’s to you Amy…wife, mother, actress, business owner/entrepreneur extraordinaire! Have fun on your special day of celebration!
Happy Birthday wishes go to friend Dave, civics instructor and good government champion extraordinaire in Minneapolis, who celebrates his 73rd birthday today and to friend James, affordable housing champion & real estate broker in Spokane, who celebrates his birthday today as well. Here’s to you two! Happy Birthday wishes also go to one of my all-time favorite singers, Gloria Estefan, who celebrated her 63rd birthday yesterday. Here’s to her and the “Miami Sound Machine.” As Gloria is fond of singing…”Get on your feet, get up and make it happen”! Happy Birthday also to other’s who celebrate birthdays today: NFL quarterback great Terry Bradshaw of Pittsburgh Steelers fame, who is 72 today; to Los Angeles Olympic Games visionary Peter Ueberroth, who turns 83 today; to actor Mark Harmon of “CSI” T.V. Fame, who is 69 today; to actor Keanu Reeves, who turns 56 today and to one of the most beautiful actresses of our time, Selma Hayek, who is 54 today. Here’s to all of you!
Here’s the culinary tip for the day…
Be sure and check out these two Malbec wine selections…Cafayete and Amalaya, both spectacular Malbec wines from the Salta region of Argentina. My friend Chuck, who has traveled extensively in Argentina (some 26 times, if memory serves me correctly) got me interested in Malbec wine. It’s a superb red wine and is more reasonably priced than over varieties, such as Merlot, Cabernet Savignon, etc. Most people think of the Mendoza region when they think of Argentine wines. However, in my humble opinion, the Salta region produces the smoothest Malbec wines…it could be because of its drier climate…Salta is situated in the extreme northwestern part of Argentina in the foothills of the Andes Mountains. Salta is on my bucket list if I ever get the opportunity to make a trip back to Argentina! My friend Chuck introduced me to Cafayete Malbec and then the other day in a liquor store in Hungry Horse, Montana of all places I found this wonderful bottle of Amalaya Malbec. It’s fabulous!
Speaking of finding wonderful things in unlikely places, my mom Chris and I were out antique shopping yesterday in Post Falls, Idaho and I came across a first edition book by noted historian Stephen Ambrose entitled “Crazy Horse & Custer” for five bucks. Turns out that this was Ambrose’s first book and I was lucky enough to find a first edition of it. The only thing better would be to have it autographed by Mr. Ambrose! Not to mention I found a vintage campaign button for Senator Henry M. Jackson, a noted senator from the State of Washington who ran for President in 1976. The campaign button reads “I’m For Scoop!” (Scoop was Senator Jackson’s nickname…he was a newspaper reporter for an Everett, Washington newspaper in a previous life). You never know what treasures you’ll find when frequenting antique stops!
Speaking of interesting stories, I was taken by an article I read this past week about missionary pilot Joyce Lin, who died tragically in a plane crash while delivering needed supplies to a village called Papua in Indonesia. Joyce’s life story is a compelling one…after earning two degrees in engineering from MIT, followed by a decade-long career as an officer in the U.S. Air Force and in private sector cyber security, Joyce felt led to Christian ministry. She enrolled at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. While there, she discovered missionary aviation and traveled to Papua, Indonesia for a summer internship with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). Joyce earned her private pilot license while at MIT, but still needed an instrument rating, a commercial pilot license, and training to meet MAF’s standards. She was also dealing with significant back issues. But “the doors never closed, and every hurdle was cleared.” Joyce once said that “I’m privileged to be serving the many churches and missionaries in Papua who continue to reach out to isolated villages so people can be both physically and spiritually transformed.” Brock Larson, the regional director of MAF Indonesia, said that “Anyone who knew Joyce recognized she was extremely dedicated. That showed up most in her commitment to being used by God and sharing His love with others.” Prior to her death, Joyce wrote about seeing past hardships to the hope beyond:
“I am most grateful to personally know God, who has never forsaken me in my lowest times (as there have been many) and has repeatedly turned “mourning into dancing” (Psalm 30:11) in ways I could not have brought about on my own. While I will always be excited to fly planes and work on computers, I am most excited to share the love of Jesus Christ by helping transform other people’s deep discouragement and mourning into dancing and joy.”
—“Flightwatch,” Summer, 2020, “Tears Of Hope: Remembering MAF Pilot Joyce Lin,” pages 3-5.
In trying to make sense of all the recent conflict surrounding our nation’s coming to grips with racial justice & reconciliation, I have found an article entitled “Rediscovering The Wisdom In American History” compelling. In it, the author quotes a passage from a 1941 essay entitled “The Use of the Past,” written by noted author John Dos Passos:
“Every generation rewrites the past. In easy times history is more or less of an ornamental art, but in times of danger we are driven to the written record by a pressing need to find answers to the riddles of today. We need to know what kind of firm ground other men, belonging to generations before us, have found to stand on. In spite of changing conditions of life, they were not very different from ourselves, their thoughts were the grandfathers of our thoughts, they managed to meet situations as difficult as those we have to face, to meet them sometimes lightheartedly, and in some measure to make their hopes prevail. We need to know how they did it.
In times of change and danger when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present and get us past that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now that blocks good thinking. That is why, in times like ours, when old institutions are caving in and being replaced by new institutions not necessarily in accord with most men’s preconceived hopes, political thought has to look backwards as well as forwards.”
The author who cites the Dos Passos’ passage above, goes on to write:
“Isn’t that marvelous? There’s so much to unpack in it, but of special relevance today is his rather rough denunciation of “that idiot delusion of the exceptional Now.” This phrase expresses something that nearly all of us who teach history run up against. It’s harder than usual today to get young people interested in the past because they are so firmly convinced that we’re living in a time so unprecedented, enjoying pocket-sized technologies that are so transformative, that there’s no point in looking at what went on in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. To them the past has been superseded—just as our present world is forever in the process of being superseded.
While this posture may be ill-informed and lazy, a way to justify not learning anything, it also represents a genuine conviction, amply reinforced by the endless passing parade of sensations and images in which we are enveloped—one thing always being succeeded by something else, nothing being permanent, noting enduring, always moving, moving, moving into a new exceptional Now. But it is childish and disabling illusion that must be countered, in just the way that Dos Passos suggests…”
Compelling food for thought, don’t you think???
I came across another one of my collectible cards the other day. This one featured the AIM-4 “Hughes Falcon,” the first operational guided air-to-air missile of the U.S. Air Force. Its development began in 1946 by Hughes Aircraft (of Howard Hughes fame) and was first tested in 1949. It entered service with the Air Force in 1956. Produced in both heat-seeking and radar-guided versions, the missile served during the Vietnam War with F-4 Phantom jet units. The collectible card that features the AIM-4 writes about it as follows: “The electronic brain that guides the flight of the “Falcon” does all its work of destruction once the pilot sends it off. It’s metal think-box is able to close in on an enemy bomber, no matter what action the bomber may make. The Falcon with an electronic will of its own blasts the enemy out of the sky.” Designed to shoot down slow bombers with limited maneuverability, the AIM-4 was ineffective against maneuverable fighters over Vietnam, such as MIG-17s. Lacking proximity fusing, the missile would only detonate if a direct hit was scored. Due to the AIM-4’s poor kill record, the F-4 fighters were modified to carry the AIM-9 Sidewinder missile instead, a missile that is still in use today.
Here’s the fact for the day:
“OMG” was added to the dictionary in 2011, but it’s first known use was in 1917.
Here’s the word definition for the day:
“Gadzooks” (gad-zooks): A late 17th century English word meaning “An exclamation of surprise or annoyance.”
Here is the thought for the day:
“We were born during the boom times, played house down in the bomb shelter
Suffered through the wonder years, and silence at the dinner hour
But once upon a summertime, out behind the old garage
We were buzzing on midnight, Luckys and Rolling Rock
Thinking we were heroes in our own hometown…nothing less than heroes in that old hometown
Some married on a day in June, some disappeared without a trace
And some of us are still at large, still searching for a better place
But once upon another time, it didn’t matter what they said
Didn’t matter if we fell behind, we’d still come out ahead
Cause we believed in heroes in that old hometown
Hey, you could be a hero in your own hometown
Now I’m long away and very far, from gazing at an evening sky
From wishing on a shooting star, from thinking that a heart can’t lie
This world is gonna wear you thin, knot you up and spin you round
This world will take it’s aim, call you every name, trying to bring you down
Everything seems so clear when you’re looking back from such a distance
When the road not taken disappears into the path of least resistance
But once upon a time, oh so long ago
Underneath this same old sky…every brand new road
Would know that you we were heroes in our own hometown
Nothing less than heroes in that old hometown
We still loved a hero in our own hometown
Baby, you could be a hero in your own hometown.”
Mary Chapin Carpenter, “Hero In Your Own Hometown”
Here’s to a great Wednesday and lots of love & good wishes always!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, Mark, etc.)