Ralph, a neighbour. Photos by MS(R)M
With thanks again to Siobhan
Hi again, folks. Nice to see you and I hope all has been well in your house. There’s been some interesting things going on in the world of Northstar and I’ll certainly get to them in a moment. But because this is a reader-interactive column, what needs to come first is a letter from one of you about a young American soldier who is going to war.
Hey Mick,
How are you? I enjoyed all your articles. I have been busy with a friend who's son is going to War. He has a son (just a babe) and a wife and is 26. He is going to be a foot soldier in the Infantry. First Tour of Duty. Family is proud of him and what he has accomplished, but, Mom is sick with worry as well as his wife. We are all praying for this war to end and bring our troops home.
Seem's like we have been in war forever through out the ages and it doesn't get any easier does it? Only new technology. When we mention to other vet's re: a foot soldier their response is (oh not good) under their breath. And this is very unsettling. Since you were in the war in the 60"s I thought maybe you could write an article for all those who are new to this world of war. And for the mother's family of those just getting started on their journey.
Thank you for listening and again a fan of your writing.
Your friend,
Lara,
dragonflychild4@aol.com
North Carolina
Lara, between your letter and my response? There is no way to sanitize war. Despite the fact that this soldier has had the finest combat training in the world, there is no way to truly EMOTIONALLY prepare for battle, no more than there is for life in general because each person experiences it differently. I know this from my own experiences and the experiences of others.
The battlefield does not judge. It executes the judgments of others and it does not discriminate between the noble and the base, the brave or the timid, the honest or the immoral. A battlefield has no conscience, no compassion, so sense of justice. It is a place where people are killed and the last discrimination it does not make is between military and civilian.
This is the baseline reality of war and as much as I wish there was a way to soften that, I cannot because it only makes reality harder to face up the road.
It sounds like this soldier has a good family who will support him while he's there. I would urge his mother not to worry so much as to simply plan out the next few months and be in contact with him as time and circumstance allow.
This young man also has the backing of his nation. Even those who do not agree with any of the wars still support the Americans sent to fight them. Morale is a critical factor in any war and in these regards, this generation of American warriors is far better off than some past generations have been. Yes, to have the love of family and nation often does make heroes and survivors of every son and daughter who serves.
I would counsel the family of this soldier to put their son's life in the hands of God now and to continue to live as though he was coming home at the end of his tour. Statistically, he has a much better chance of making it than he does not. That's not a guarantee but it is realistic. How free are we to truly love someone if all we can see and feel is the tragedy of a loss that may not, in fact, occur? Is it not better to mourn when mourning is appropriate?
And until then to celebrate each moment, each day that is to be shared?
Mick
aka Rusty
Okay, take a second with that. I sure did. Maybe a couple more seconds because this next one involves an American veteran who swam across a lake in Rangoon and ended up getting the already house-arrested Burmese opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate and her housekeeper five more years in prison. They let him stay there two days and he got caught swimming back.
What really just pops the flipping lid off this particular jar of briny pickles is that this yo-yo would still be in prison had it not been for the intervention of one of the most respected men in this country, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), who, for all his military, journalist, legal and legislative credentials and influence could not get Suu Kyi or her housekeeper released.
I respected Jim Webb when we served in some of the same theatres of operation and I respect him now. This American veteran was not a soldier and he had no business being over there in the first place. The idiot tried the same thing the year before.
Meanwhile, here’s the Asia living Statue of Liberty who has been under house arrest for the last fourteen years and is not in the best of health but whose stand earned her the Nobel Peace Prize, frail in health, and facing five years in prison.
To me, it’s not a matter of leaving no one behind. Someone got left behind and she was far more a soldier than this rescued American was. What got left behind? WHO got left behind? A frail, softspoken symbol of Burmese freedom got left behind. I’m hoping Captain Webb’s not quite done with this yet. I wouldn’t be.
Well, under critter stories this week, we’ve got a couple of them which strongly suggest that humans are NOT at the top of the evolutionary ladder, but a rather loose and precarious rung in it.
Bobcats have joined black bears and cougar in wandering Seattle’s suburbs as if they owned the place. Local residents are not real thrilled with this newest wave of immigration but appeals to State Fish and Game are to no avail because the bobcat is not classified the same way cougars and black bear are.
The bobcat is considered a nuisance, which means, “deal with them but don’t kill ‘em.” And because there are also rabbits, squirrels and a host of other natural prey in the area, these small wild cats are not going after pets or small children. As Darwin has suggested, survival is not about the strongest but the most adaptable. Yep, I’m leaving that one just hanging there.
This other one involves a Canadian couple on vacation and a squirrel popping up in a photo these humans had taken with a self-timer. There seems to be some controversy about whether this photo was enhanced and my experience tells me it probably wasn’t. I got mugged by an American/Seattle squirrel several years ago while taking lunch at the Convention Center, where I was also working at the time.
It wanted my peanut butter sandwich and I was so stunned and yet somehow refreshed by the straight forward and unvarnished single mindedness of purpose of this creature that I did not put up much resistance.
I did not, however, eat lunch in the same place again. Until I figure out where that squirrel’s going with this, I’m not feeding it. Human being of some 6’3 and 170 versus a creature about six inches long and maybe three pounds. The squirrel took the round and probably the match.
And what’s really weird is that I am really okay with that. Just like I am having bald eagles, black bear, bobcats, cougars, raccoons, Republicans, rich folks, two mountain ranges and three volcanoes for neighbours.
Speaking of which and NOT something I need to be reminded of daily, the Cascade Volcano Observatory is getting $2.4-million in federal funding to upgrade its monitoring system. We’re being told that this is just to provide us earlier warning in the event of an eruption, not necessarily that one is anticipated. Yet in this same story is a reminder that Mount St. Helens still rumbles to life occasionally. And get this. Washington’s not the only state getting this kind of money.
According to the KING 5 story, “There is also $7.56 million for the Alaska Volcano Observatory, $3.3 million for the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, $950,000 for Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, $800,000 for upgrading networks in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and $200,000 for the Long Valley Observatory in California."
Yep, you can run like a hyper-caffeinated hamster in an exercise wheel but you can’t hide. If there’s a volcano with your name on it, right? Sometimes you really pay a lot for the good view up here.
Well, this last one sort of redefines “weird” to me but there’s a possibility than extraterrestrials may be vacationing in a tiny wheat farming community 65 miles west of Spokane, Washington. Last week, five new rings and a circle were found impressed into a wheat field out there and this is the second time ~ not the same field ~ that this has happened in as many years.
So, a lot of people from University of Washington scientists to folks wearing tinfoil hats to at least one naked dancing troup have been flocking to Wilbur again, spending their money and going home. This despite the fact that some crop circles have been proven hoaxes in the past. It’s got to be real entertainment for this village of some 900. It’s also a good weekend vacation getaway from most of the Northwest what with the oscillating cost of gasoline and limited discretionary funds.
Are we making the trip “east of the mountains”? Ummm, nope. Something tells me UFOs really are visiting Wilbur, Washington. I’m not so sure some of them aren’t staying. I know my luck. I’d meet one of them.
And I honestly can’t imagine what I’d say to someone in a John Deere t-shirt, denim jeans with a butt crack and an accent somewhere between Spokane and Sirius the dog star. Wilbur is not Disneyland and if it worth traveling 8.6 light years to visit, I shudder to think about how amusing life must be on the home planet.
Until next week, folks, take care, stay well and God Bless. And thanks once again for the ear.
Mick
Aka Rusty
dragonflychild4@aol.com
North Carolina
Lara, between your letter and my response? There is no way to sanitize war. Despite the fact that this soldier has had the finest combat training in the world, there is no way to truly EMOTIONALLY prepare for battle, no more than there is for life in general because each person experiences it differently. I know this from my own experiences and the experiences of others.
The battlefield does not judge. It executes the judgments of others and it does not discriminate between the noble and the base, the brave or the timid, the honest or the immoral. A battlefield has no conscience, no compassion, so sense of justice. It is a place where people are killed and the last discrimination it does not make is between military and civilian.
This is the baseline reality of war and as much as I wish there was a way to soften that, I cannot because it only makes reality harder to face up the road.
It sounds like this soldier has a good family who will support him while he's there. I would urge his mother not to worry so much as to simply plan out the next few months and be in contact with him as time and circumstance allow.
This young man also has the backing of his nation. Even those who do not agree with any of the wars still support the Americans sent to fight them. Morale is a critical factor in any war and in these regards, this generation of American warriors is far better off than some past generations have been. Yes, to have the love of family and nation often does make heroes and survivors of every son and daughter who serves.
I would counsel the family of this soldier to put their son's life in the hands of God now and to continue to live as though he was coming home at the end of his tour. Statistically, he has a much better chance of making it than he does not. That's not a guarantee but it is realistic. How free are we to truly love someone if all we can see and feel is the tragedy of a loss that may not, in fact, occur? Is it not better to mourn when mourning is appropriate?
And until then to celebrate each moment, each day that is to be shared?
Mick
aka Rusty
Okay, take a second with that. I sure did. Maybe a couple more seconds because this next one involves an American veteran who swam across a lake in Rangoon and ended up getting the already house-arrested Burmese opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate and her housekeeper five more years in prison. They let him stay there two days and he got caught swimming back.
What really just pops the flipping lid off this particular jar of briny pickles is that this yo-yo would still be in prison had it not been for the intervention of one of the most respected men in this country, Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), who, for all his military, journalist, legal and legislative credentials and influence could not get Suu Kyi or her housekeeper released.
I respected Jim Webb when we served in some of the same theatres of operation and I respect him now. This American veteran was not a soldier and he had no business being over there in the first place. The idiot tried the same thing the year before.
Meanwhile, here’s the Asia living Statue of Liberty who has been under house arrest for the last fourteen years and is not in the best of health but whose stand earned her the Nobel Peace Prize, frail in health, and facing five years in prison.
To me, it’s not a matter of leaving no one behind. Someone got left behind and she was far more a soldier than this rescued American was. What got left behind? WHO got left behind? A frail, softspoken symbol of Burmese freedom got left behind. I’m hoping Captain Webb’s not quite done with this yet. I wouldn’t be.
Well, under critter stories this week, we’ve got a couple of them which strongly suggest that humans are NOT at the top of the evolutionary ladder, but a rather loose and precarious rung in it.
Bobcats have joined black bears and cougar in wandering Seattle’s suburbs as if they owned the place. Local residents are not real thrilled with this newest wave of immigration but appeals to State Fish and Game are to no avail because the bobcat is not classified the same way cougars and black bear are.
The bobcat is considered a nuisance, which means, “deal with them but don’t kill ‘em.” And because there are also rabbits, squirrels and a host of other natural prey in the area, these small wild cats are not going after pets or small children. As Darwin has suggested, survival is not about the strongest but the most adaptable. Yep, I’m leaving that one just hanging there.
This other one involves a Canadian couple on vacation and a squirrel popping up in a photo these humans had taken with a self-timer. There seems to be some controversy about whether this photo was enhanced and my experience tells me it probably wasn’t. I got mugged by an American/Seattle squirrel several years ago while taking lunch at the Convention Center, where I was also working at the time.
It wanted my peanut butter sandwich and I was so stunned and yet somehow refreshed by the straight forward and unvarnished single mindedness of purpose of this creature that I did not put up much resistance.
I did not, however, eat lunch in the same place again. Until I figure out where that squirrel’s going with this, I’m not feeding it. Human being of some 6’3 and 170 versus a creature about six inches long and maybe three pounds. The squirrel took the round and probably the match.
And what’s really weird is that I am really okay with that. Just like I am having bald eagles, black bear, bobcats, cougars, raccoons, Republicans, rich folks, two mountain ranges and three volcanoes for neighbours.
Speaking of which and NOT something I need to be reminded of daily, the Cascade Volcano Observatory is getting $2.4-million in federal funding to upgrade its monitoring system. We’re being told that this is just to provide us earlier warning in the event of an eruption, not necessarily that one is anticipated. Yet in this same story is a reminder that Mount St. Helens still rumbles to life occasionally. And get this. Washington’s not the only state getting this kind of money.
According to the KING 5 story, “There is also $7.56 million for the Alaska Volcano Observatory, $3.3 million for the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, $950,000 for Yellowstone Volcano Observatory, $800,000 for upgrading networks in the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas, and $200,000 for the Long Valley Observatory in California."
Yep, you can run like a hyper-caffeinated hamster in an exercise wheel but you can’t hide. If there’s a volcano with your name on it, right? Sometimes you really pay a lot for the good view up here.
Well, this last one sort of redefines “weird” to me but there’s a possibility than extraterrestrials may be vacationing in a tiny wheat farming community 65 miles west of Spokane, Washington. Last week, five new rings and a circle were found impressed into a wheat field out there and this is the second time ~ not the same field ~ that this has happened in as many years.
So, a lot of people from University of Washington scientists to folks wearing tinfoil hats to at least one naked dancing troup have been flocking to Wilbur again, spending their money and going home. This despite the fact that some crop circles have been proven hoaxes in the past. It’s got to be real entertainment for this village of some 900. It’s also a good weekend vacation getaway from most of the Northwest what with the oscillating cost of gasoline and limited discretionary funds.
Are we making the trip “east of the mountains”? Ummm, nope. Something tells me UFOs really are visiting Wilbur, Washington. I’m not so sure some of them aren’t staying. I know my luck. I’d meet one of them.
And I honestly can’t imagine what I’d say to someone in a John Deere t-shirt, denim jeans with a butt crack and an accent somewhere between Spokane and Sirius the dog star. Wilbur is not Disneyland and if it worth traveling 8.6 light years to visit, I shudder to think about how amusing life must be on the home planet.
Until next week, folks, take care, stay well and God Bless. And thanks once again for the ear.
Mick
Aka Rusty
NORTHSTAR RECOMMENDS
To Your Health
If you’d like to know how your eating habits are either adding years to your life or taking them off, take this RealAge quiz. It will not only score your real age against your health age but give you a program for improvement. I’ve been working this one for about a month now and yep, I feel a lot better.
Want to know how to live to be 100? Try this one.
Other Blogs
The Tomatoman Times – a life commentary blog with the blended stylings of John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, Jack London and Will Rogers. Poignant, at times rancorous but very contemporary and ultimate celebration.
Lords and Ladies of Leisure is sooooo misnamed and it’s an example of the humour with which a Seattle high tech victim deals with the wonderful world of unemployment. Kerri Marshall’s admittedly offbeat sense of humour spices up a blog also rich in practical advice. The comments from her readers are almost as entertaining of she is. If you’ve got a few minutes and want a little perspective on your own hard times, I highly recommend this one.
Ask Barbie, Advice Columnist. -- a blog that delivers the amiable maternalism of Ms. Landers, the slightly off-centre humour of Erma Bombeck and the ingenuousness of an unreconstructed romantic with no axes to grind.
Media
Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean – Live from the smallest record store in North America. Canadian humor, entertainment and commentary at its maple leaf best. Popular on National Public Radio in the States.
Sightline Daily (formerly Tidepool) – The “United Press International/Reuters of the American West/ Updated and informative news shorts with links to the source. Its editors draw from a coverage area which includes Alaska, British Columbia, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Update and informative collected news shorts from those sources. They also put out an excellent weekly environmental edition.
U Got Style is a monthly ezine dedicated to independent films. Fully illustrated, it features hard news, interviews, reviews and a wide variety of other information. It’s also fun to read.
The Vancouver Sun, outstanding source for Canadian and world news.
Online Tools for the Kit
Free People Search – This is an American online White Pages that I found really simple, quick and user friendly. I looked for myself under the several versions of my name and it found them all. It’s also free and doesn’t involve anything to download.
Talent For Hire
Rusty Miller, Freelance Photojournalist -- Yep, a little self-promotion here to help pay for the blog. Take a look at the services offered menu on my writer-for-hire homepage and samples of my digital lens work on my photography website. If you see something you like, email me and we’ll get together on it.
Are you a travel editor looking for colour shots of Seattle? Are you an art dealer looking for new work to carry on consignment? You might enjoy checking out a gallery of my work for sale.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
In the weeks to come, we’re going to create ~ in addition to Northstar Recommends ~ a Northstar General Store in which you, the readers, will have an opportunity to market your own goods and services and, as well, to shop here. We’re going to get real creative with this and whenever possible, we’ll have tried what we’re carrying on the shelves, as it were. We’ll be taking a straight ten percent for this, via Paypal. We’ll also consider barter and trade.
If you’ve got any recommendations of your own and are interested in the General Store, email me and we’ll talk.
1 comment:
Dearest Mick,
Thank you for your words of wisdom and kindness. Your article will touch many hearts in this same situation. May God Bless and keep you and we "Americans" salute you for your GREAT work on this Northstar Journal and for your time Serverd for OUR GREAT COUNTRY. Again as alway's a fan of your's, Lara
Post a Comment