locked in time

  I put together a small photo album from pictures that belonged to my dad. These photographs were taken while he served in WW2 as a crew member on B-24 bombers. A few have a name written on the back but the majority of them do not. Dad never talked about that time, never really shared those photographs or memories with me. As a result the names are lost to time. Still I felt obligated to preserve them, my fathers memories that is. That is how I view that little collection. I, of course, recognize him and see him with these unknown men, men that he flew combat missions with. Surely there were bonds created. I did hear, from my mother, that there was one man in particular that stayed in contact after the war. That contact was in the form of a Christmas card. One year, my mom tells me, the card came from that mans wife telling of his passing. 

 Dad did have lots of pictures of airplanes that displayed that "nose art" we have all seen in the movies and heard about. Very creative and some quite risqué but it is war. In the 1940's men where men and no one was concerned with "marginalizing or sexualizing" anyone. Pin ups abounded and were expected. I expect today the brass would have something to say about all of that. Even during my time in the service, 1971-1993, that wasn't allowed. We were still in the don't ask, don't tell mindset. I gathered all those pictures together and sent them to my sisters son. His father retired from the Air Force and he was still serving. It just seemed appropriate that he should keep those pictures. But, the other pictures, those personal to my dad, I felt like I should retain. That's why I kept them, placing them in an album labeled, "My fathers memories" along with a brief description of what they are. 

  I sometimes look through those old pictures and wonder. What were they doing and where were they. Were these photos taken before missions or after they returned? I look closely at the background for clues. In the picture I am including on this post you can see the bombs lined up on the ground, waiting to be loaded. I'm guessing they were getting the plane ready. My father stands next to one of the engines. You can see the size of those propellers as my dad stood six foot, tall for his time. He was the flight engineer and so responsible for the operation of the mechanical and hydraulic systems. Those engines were his! I look at the pictures of all those others and think about them. Who was the pilot, who was this or that. What are their stories? They are all in my fathers memories, locked in time. A time before my time. But I know who one person is anyway and will pass that along. I expect they have all gone "into the wild blue yonder.

" 

  

Protected

  I was talking with my wife yesterday, just shooting the breeze as they say, when the topic of vaccines came up. I keep hearing about a newer one, something for RSV that will kill old people in particular. Well, if it isn't children it will be the elderly. Strange how both are treasured in one sentence and aborted or euthanized in the next. Yeah, all of that is supported by science and the medical community. But whatever the case may be the amount of vaccines being injected into our bodies is most definitely on the rise. When I was born it was four, today it is at least 15. They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I'm guessing a gallon of vaccine is worth more than your immune system. 

 Now I'm not saying vaccines are a bad thing, they are medical miracles in some instances. That vaccines have saved many lives isn't in dispute. I just subscribe to the advice given in my Bible, moderation in all things. "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything." That's good sound advice whether you believe in God or not. It applies to everyone regardless. Lots of stuff like that in the bible. It does cause me to wonder if we aren't getting carried away a bit. I don't believe we can vaccinate ourselves into immortality. Maybe with enough we will preserve the body but I'm thinking we will all still die from something. 

  As the wife and I talked about this I began to wonder. Has any scientist ever studied that white paste we all had in kindergarten. I mean from a viral standpoint. It seems to me it must have provided a great of protection. We didn't use hand sanitizer twelve tines a day, we ate lunches our moms had packed, mayo sat for a few hours unrefrigerated, we played on the playground crawling in the dirt, and I don't recall a single kid having a peanut allergy requiring a complete isolation of peanut butter sandwiches. I do remember the doctor coming to the school at the beginning of the year and we all got an exam. That was all that was necessary. Of course it could be that we were just subjected to fresh air and exercise at least twice a day. Our classes weren't air conditioned and the windows were open when it was warm enough for that. We did go outside regardless of the temperature, we just stayed indoors if it was raining. 

  Is this all progress? 15 vaccines and counting. Wearing masks, social distancing and all of that? There are warning signs on all our food products, like this is peanut butter, it may contain nuts. Yes, I've seen that. We have lots of warning to not ingest things like battery acid or super glue. Warning hot coffee may be hot! Can we be far from wearing O2 generators on our waists to protect us from air pollution. I heard cow farts are a big problem, destroying the atmosphere. And we can't say Al Gore hasn't warned us all about global warming! No vaccine for that, not yet anyway. Have you heard about the Oropouche virus? Well, you soon will and it's deadly, mostly to child and old people. No vaccine for that. How can you protect yourself from that? I don't know. 

                                                                         

How it works

  We are told independent thought is the best that there is. Then we spend years and thousands of dollars learning what is already known, calling that an education. We provide the proof of that in the form of degrees issued by institutions. Then you are held in high regard as learned. I believe that is so simply because all the others that did the same agree with you. You have been taught the correct answers and repeated them dutifully. Perhaps you have even expanded upon those ideas to further validate them. Independent thought isn't welcomed in those circles, but no one will admit to that. No, it is only the educated that are truly progressive and enlightened. The smart folks, by their own admission. 

  There is no debate about the value of a good education. We do need to be taught how to read, write and do arithmetic. Those skills are the cornerstones to learning. They also have nothing to do with thought. They are simply the means to express your thinking. I wonder what knowledge was lost and had to be relearned because of that. What I mean is, no one could write it down. We all know word of mouth isn't really very effective for that purpose. Like playing a game of post office the story/meaning will change with each telling. I took a leadership course while in the Navy. The exercise was to tell others how to build a "house" using index cards. It had to be exactly the same with the lines going the correct direction. It sounds simple enough until you attempt to do it. I could write it all down and that was effective, or draw a picture, then it wasn't so difficult. That wasn't allowed. Explaining the thought is very difficult indeed. 

  I've said it many times, and still believe it to be a true statement, there is little that can be said that hasn't been said before. There are very few original ideas. The ones that figure out how to transfer an idea into an object will get the credit. It doesn't matter if it is an actual physical object or words on a paper. What matters is expressing that idea in a way no one has heard it before. That's the original thought, independent of any "education" you may have received. That's why we say you receive an education, it is something given to you, it isn't something you get on your own. That sort of "education" will not be accepted or acknowledged unless it benefits someone else. The purpose of education is to teach you how something works. That's how I think of that. Whether it is a trade or a profession isn't important, the purpose is understanding how it works. 

  I have always found it amusing that having a trade isn't viewed as highly as being a professional. What's the difference between the two? Simply put a professional has a college degree and a tradesman does not. We all hear about the cost of getting an education and in some "professions" the years of training and apprenticeship required before becoming that professional. Well, the same is true of becoming an expert in a trade, just without the cost of paying someone to teach you that stuff from a book. I don't have any papers to prove it, but I have had plenty of education over the years. I'm glad I didn't have to pay for it. The major advantage being I only learned what I needed to know, saving space for more useful knowledge. I really don't need to know Greek mythology or the meaning behind Beyonce songs. I'm thinking gender studies is another course that has no real useful function. Will there be a demand for those "professionals" ten years from now? I doubt that but we are going to need a plumber, or a carpenter, depending on the state of civilization we are in. Some things never change.

  The one thing we are all trying to learn is, how the world works. We call that philosophy. It's an attempt to explain a thought. But beyond that, convince others that that thought is the correct answer to the question. We all want our answer to be the correct one, no one wants to be wrong. Some will go to the university and colleges to obtain the proof. See, I have a degree so I must be right, I provided the correct answers to obtain this degree. Today we can obtain that degree online, although I'm thinking those won't be viewed in quite the same light. Remember when we used to ask, were did you get your license, Sears and Roebuck? I got my degree with Pheonix on line! 

 Well, okay then. Is that how that works. Yes, it does work that way. It's the big unspoken secret. You have to purchase your credentials to be a member of the club. To become a "professional" you have to pay. For the rest of us an honorary degree is about as good as it gets. The professionals rule the world and the rest of us simply work for a living. That's how it works. " when a man tells you he got rich through hard work: ask him, whose?" (Don Marquis) 

                                                                                 

the best years

  Starting with the obvious it is a new year, 2025. I haven't been waiting for it and so it arrived rather quickly. What's that saying, a watched pot never boils. I recall my time in the Navy and how slowly time moved then, twenty years seemed like a lifetime, in fact, if you stayed past six years you were called a lifer. It's been thirty years since I retired and it sure doesn't seem like it at all. I'll become a great grandfather in a couple weeks. The kids have that scheduled, Bailey goes in the hospital on the 16th and plans on giving birth on the 17th. Apparently that's how it is done in these modern times. I wasn't aware of that option. 

  I'm old enough to remember when the changing of the year caused some issues, namely writing the correct year on your school papers or writing a check. I remember writing checks for everything and mailing them. Of course I remember when you had to go in the bank to get cash or deposit funds into your savings account. It was satisfying seeing those entries in that little book. Remember how you could post date a check? Getting the year correct was a problem for most of January anyway. That's how long it usually took me anyway. Once we reached 2000 that was another issue. It still just doesn't sound right. Many people thought the banks were going to crash, computers failing and it was going to be a disaster! Y2K was the buzzword. Kids today wouldn't know what that meant.

  Being born in 1953 the number 53 stands out. 2025 isn't that far away from 2053. In 2053 I'll be a hundred years old! Now those numbers get my attention. Hopefully I continue to pay attention and so the time will go very slowly. I'm in no hurry to reach the end, or start again for that matter. The older I get the more ridiculous things seem to get. Non-binary, gender fluidity and being a survivor top the list for me. 

 It does make me want to see what's next. I recall my mother wearing a campaign pin that said, "I like Ike." She told how that was the first time she voted and IKE was Eisenhower. He was president in 1953. In 2025 we will have Donald Trump for the second time. I'm already wondering, who is next? Today there is talk of just allowing everyone and anyone to vote, no citizenship requirement, age 16 is good enough, five if you just want to choose your gender, and illegal migrants can also vote. Like I said, ridiculous stuff. And there is this. 

  I've always wanted to be a really old guy for a very simple reason. You get to say exactly what you think or feel and no one says a thing about it. At least not to your face. I do have to rethink that however, as in todays world age doesn't guarantee safety or respect. It's 2025 not 1965 when my great grandfather would sit in a chair outside the local gas station and make his comments on everything and anything. He would say whatever to those men working there and they would just smile and say, yes sir. When they were out of earshot they had a different opinion. But gramp just sat there, chewing on his cigar dispensing advise and wisdom in what can only be described as a forthright manner. 

  They say what goes around comes around. I'm hoping that time will come around again. A time when things made a whole lot more sense than the do today. Back when everyone agreed there were just boys and girls and you had to work for a living. You respected your elders and respected each other, even when you felt the need to just punch someone in the face. A fair fight was a good thing, held you accountable. Yes, they were the good days in America. What happened? The politicians decided to increase our "quality of life." Yeah, that's what happened. 

 Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards and concerns" In other words, life is whatever you make it. It's on you. If you rely on others for your "quality of life" you will always get second best. Make this year the best year for you. I'm reminded of this saying I heard often growing up, "good, better, best, never let it rest, until your good is better, and your better is best." Sounds a bit hokey but it's great advice. 

                                                                                   

                                            Great Grandfather Floyd P Lester ( 1878-1968)