25 May 15

Memorial Day

My Lady had a chance to fill a long held desire this past week when she had an opportunity to be an escort for a Veteran on an Honor Flight and tour of Washington. For those of you who are not familiar with the Honor Flight project it’s a nationwide program that gives elderly veterans an opportunity to tour the military monuments in the DC area and to receive the accolades of those of us who are not of “The Greatest Generation”.

 

There were about 28 Veterans on the flight My Lady volunteered for and each one of them was accompanied by one or two escorts who sole duty was to take care of their charge and to assure that he or she (they were mostly male) came to no harm. It was a long day for all, with an airport assemble at 0400 hours (That’s oh dark awful time) and a return to the local airport at 0030 the following morning (that’s really oh dark awful), since the Veterans were all in in their late eighty’s and ninety’s it was a long, long day. And the escorts, although they are generally younger were more than ready to get home and get some rest. In one day they had visited the monuments, been honored by all the military services, attended a wreath laying at Arlington Cemetery and had suffered the indignity of a cancelled air flight and bus breakdowns that should never have happened.

 

On a side note, when the bus they were riding in expired at the side of the road, the Marines jumped in and not only provided a VIP bus, they staffed it with strong and willing troopers to help the Veterans. And the Marines were not alone, the Air Force provided an active duty member to accompany one old gentleman whose escort could not make the trip and the Army provided the Army Band and an Honor Guard welcome and the Metro government of DC gave the arriving plane a water cannon welcome. It was a long and busy day, but it demonstrated the reality that the people of this country appreciate the effort given by those who came before and fought to maintain the country we have.

 

My Lady is impressed by the resiliency of those who served in prior wars and their willingness to put up with the heat, humidity and the length of the day. These are not people who gripe and moan and complain about the minor events of the day, like the Timex watch they took a licking and keep on ticking. WW II and Korea made them into upright and resilient people who are today enjoying each day as it comes and we lose some of them each and every day. They will be missed by those who care.

 

This weekend is the Memorial Day weekend and it was created for us, all of us, to remember those who previously served and suffered in prior wars. It is not National BBQ day, it’s a day to give thanks for the Veterans and the liberties we enjoy. Enjoy a BBQ with friends and family, but when you say grace before eating remember the Veterans who made it possible.

LGBT

 

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community is a politically active part of our social structure because they see the only way to get social acceptance is by altering the political environment to their advantage. The LGBT community is a minority one, and like all minorities has been abused in varying degree by the majority population. In some parts of the world being “different” is a capital crime and I can’t fault any minority that wants to assure its wellbeing in any way it can.

 

The focus issue, for LGBT’s these days is to legislatively allow for civil marriage, and they are becoming increasingly successful on a state by state basis in meeting their goal of legal and social acceptance of their vison of a more equal social order. I applaud their success and would like to see all states, and the federal government accept the fact that people who have other sexual desires are free to engage if their actions don’t cause harm to other people. Recent studies indicate that as a portion of population the LGBT advocates comprise slightly less than 2% of the population and are certainly not a threat to the rest of the population. As a result the burden for the rest of us is to finally decide if marriage is a social, political or religious institution. The answer might also be “none of the above” but we must have finally resolve the noisy conversation that blinds us to more important social issues that face us.

 

If marriage between same sex couples is now ok I can’t help but look forward to a push to also allow polygamist and polyandrous families, and I anticipate watching, and listening to arguments why one individual should not have multiple spouses. It’s only a matter of time before someone from the Church of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons) advances the argument that allowing same sex marriage is no different in the eyes of the law than allowing one person to have multiple partners of the opposite (or even the same) sex.

 

As a people watcher the next few years will be very interesting!

PEOPLE

3 May 15

Over the years, we have lived in many homes, most of them larger than the home we currently live in. Because we are reluctant to just abandon “our stuff” we rent climate controlled space in a local storage facility where we keep excess furniture from previous years and new items we have purchased for the Staging business My Lady operates.  A typical week will find us utilizing the storage area several times and often at odd hours.

Yesterday we had to retrieve a refrigerator dolly from the unit prior to buying a file card cabinet we intend to convert to a small parts storage unit for her sewing room. A two minute pickup went away when I walked into the isle where our unit is located only to find the isle blocked by trash. A pile about 5 feet wide, 3 feet deep and 25 feet long was filled with empty boxes, broken glass and furniture and sundry other stuff the person obviously considered too unimportant for them to take care of.  Whoever made the mess just left it for someone else to clean up, since obviously they considered themselves too important to care about their trash?

What should have been a short visit turned into an extended effort while we cleared the way to our unit, informed storage unit management and finally got the dolly into the truck. By the time we arrived at the sale site for the cabinet it had been sold and we were out of luck.

If I could find the person who left the trash for others to pick up I’d most likely have some harsh words for him, but I know I’d be talking to empty air since the level of narcissism I see as a court mediator is increasing. So we will grumble about such people and write blog reports and get on with our lives in the hope we don’t run into such people too often.