Skip to main content

Lest We Forget











While it is true that I wish all my readers a Happy Memorial Day weekend, I also wish you a conflicted one, as well.  There is a place for relaxation, family get-togethers and grilling.  There is also a place to reflect.  To think about our nation, our responsibilities and our soon-to-be 17th year of war.  The bloody remains of soldiers lie in every cemetery in the area.  Newer ones in Keithsburg, Wataga, and Monmouth.  Older ones in every town and village.  Our politics may be strained, and our country may see the ravages of slow decline, but the one constant has been the sacrifice of American youth. 

 They have always stood tall against the authoritarianism of the British, the Constitutional crisis of the Civil War, the imperialism of the Germans in WWI and the cruel transgressions of the Axis nations in WWII.  From Mexican invasions to the Indian wars to Grenada the American Armed Forces have been a bulwark against those who change or destroy our "way of life", whatever that may mean to us as individuals.  

 Please spend a minute or many to those who have fallen, or sacrificed their well-being so that we may continue as a nation.  In battles large and small, forgotten and remembered, in far-off lands or in places down the road, our men and women have given so much, sometimes all they have, for us and our children.  We owe them our immeasurable thanks and appreciation.           



Let's make them proud of their sacrifices and strive to be better Americans, kinder citizens and with a renewed sense of who we are and what we have created here.  Not just on this weekend, but everyday. 

   

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Flashback Friday

Class, Or Lack Thereof The Dwight Vice gravestone in Oquawka, Illinois. I bring this old chestnut out every so often just to remind me that class is classless.  Dwight Vice was killed in his home near Oquawka in 2001.  It was one of those things that can generate crime:  two guys thought Dwight had a lot of money stashed at home because of his pot-selling sideline to supplement his fishing job.   Not really one of those big drug deals gone-bad things.  Marijuana was, according to the trial, about the only stuff Dwight sold.   But these two guys barge into the house and killed Dwight and attempted to kill his 11 year old kid, Darryl, before they took off with what money they could find.   His son, now 23, was stabbed in the back and left for dead.  He survived and is wheelchair bound and has undergone several surgeries to repair his wounds.  He will be paralyzed for life.   None of this is pleasant.  Reading the f...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Mary Davis Home - Part 2

None of these pictures were taken by me,  they came right from the MDH website.  I am posting these so that friends who have never seen inside where I worked can gain access.  After 27 years I have many stories, tales and acquaintances.  But, I wouldn't know how to express them appropriately in a few paragraphs.  I enjoyed 98% of my stay there and hope I made a difference in the lives of a fraction of the kids who entered.  The original MDH at this site was just the front part.  The large red-roofed area in back was added on in the 90's. This is the Jerry Carlton library.  It was unofficially named after one of the counselors who truly loved the place.   He passed away around 2002, I think.  Mr. Farber looks like he is explaining a few things to a client. The classroom. Activity area with the gym behind the windows. Another shot of the classroom. It was a little different area to teach since we had 2 classes and 2 teachers i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Flashback Friday - Cold Case - Part One

53 years ago today, Gordon "Peel" Duncan walked into the dark post office in Seaton Illinois and was brutally assaulted by an individual or individuals.  He died two days later.  The murder was never solved.     Gordon Duncan was one of the publishers of the Seaton Independent, a weekly newspaper in town that started in the late 1800's and stopped publishing in the 60's.     We  boys were just young children when this took place, but we have been fascinated by it ever since.  The imagination of kids, I suppose or maybe the fact that it was unsolved.  Regardless, this was a big deal in our little lives.  For our parents it tended to shatter the idea that Seaton, our town, was safe.  That it could fend off the forces of evil in the world, that in our little universe we would be impervious to harm was gone forever.  For us kids I don't suppose we were old enough to know real fear.  Fear for us was not getting our list ...
2 comments
Read more