Happy Memorial Day

But what does that really mean? Happiness? Bar-B-Ques? Picnics? The beginning of Summer? Families and friends? Memorial Day is celebrated in many ways but often the intent, the importance, and the pain and sorrow it has brought are often avoided or forgotten!

Memorial Day, begun in 1868, is a federal holiday in the United States for honoring and mourning the military personnel who had died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

For many years I would post a photo on Facebook trying to commemorate the day and make a comment or two. But it took many years and perhaps a maturity that comes with age, to be able to say (hopefully without offending anyone) "I support our troops and those who have sacrificed their lives on our behalf ... but I DO NOT support war in any way for any reason."

Last night I got to thinking as I drifted off to sleep, and I get most of my ideas for these posts from that period of the day, about the number of deaths due to war, not only soldiers but also civilians. This thinking is paired, I am sure, with all the deaths we have been hearing about due to COVID 19 and more to come.

What is war? War is defined as an active conflict that has claimed more than 1,000 lives. Has the world ever been at peace? Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history.

Why do we go to war? A question well worth asking but not going to be addressed here :-)

How many people have died in war? At least 108 million people were killed in wars in the twentieth century. Estimates for the total number killed in wars throughout all of human history range from 150 million to 1 billion. 

To use a comparison I previously used in a post about COVID 19, the common yellow school bus we are used to seeing holds approximately 100 seats. To transport the dead of twentieth-century wars, it would take a line of one million and eighty thousand yellow busses. 

To transport the dead from the high range of people killed throughout all of human history, there would be a highway of ten million yellow busses.

And that is not to count all those who died as civilians or not directly but as the result of war.

Again, I say, "I support our troops and those who have sacrificed their lives on our behalf ... but I DO NOT support war in any way for any reason."

In Reality, We Are At War !

A vision came to me this morning that the United States of America has survived many wars but we may be facing, if not being in the middle of, a war that has the potential to destroy the republic, our democracy, and maybe our very existence.

Since leaving England, The United States of America has been at war every twenty to thirty years and sometimes more often.

My "vision" named itself ... the Second American Civil War! There are many causes that led to the First American Civil War and in many ways, the nation is at least as divided again. We just might already be involved in Civil War II. 

This time it is not the North vs the South, Slavery, Industry vs Farming, State's Rights, or Succession but rather a division presenting itself all across the geography of the entire nation and the nature of this "war" is a social, philosophical, political, ideological, intellectual one.

Our country is divided as it disagrees and often comes to fisticuffs over many mirrored issues: wealth vs poverty, educated vs ignorant, white vs black, haves vs have nots, fair vs unfair incarceration, freedom to bear arms vs mass shootings, health care vs illness, native-born vs immigrants, straight vs LGBTQ+, science vs religion, church vs state, religious vs non-religious beliefs, male vs female, entitlement vs rights, city vs rural vs farm, etc

But how will the Second American Civil War escalate and eventually end? Will American's take to wearing gray vs blue uniforms, will fighting erupt on every street corner, will family fight against family, will the red states or the blue state secede from the Union

It seems to me that the First American Civil War was about governance issues in a newly founded republic. It seems to me that the Second American Civil War is about PEOPLE vs PEOPLE: Black vs Brown vs White, conflicting ideologies, respect for one another, acceptance of different ways of life, divergence in beliefs, hostilities towards those who are different, poverty vs affluence, and anger. Maybe it all boils down to fear of the different

When I was young and studying history in school, the United States was referred to as a "Melting Pot," with many people from divergent backgrounds, belief systems, religions, and countries coming together to create one new nation.

When I was older and teaching young people history, the United States was referred to as a "Salad" or "Stew," made up of many different entities creating a new type of dish with each item able to retain its original identity yet contribute greatly to a new entity.

How would you describe our country today? I am usually not a negative person and am optimistic about most things, but this time I am worried!

Last Night in Bed

No this is not a sexual activity report but rather a recounting of two amazing dreams I had last night.

The first dream took a lot of energy. It was what are known as "Work Oppressive Dreams" but the problem is that this no longer is my "work" and hasn't been for over 20 years.

I was once again Coordinator of Gifted Education for the Glenview Public Schools and I was having to defend my program, my behavior, and my stand on Gifted Education to all the nay-sayers I came across in my close to 20 years in the role of teacher, consultant to teachers and parents, and administrator of the TAG Program.

For the most part my relationships with students and parents were wonderful, it is the administrators at all levels and district politics that caused me the most grief (with the exception of only a few fellow administrators.) So we are talking about close to 40 years (20 in the role, 20 retired from the role) and I am still having nightmares about my experience.

I finally woke up and while going to the bathroom repeatedly said aloud, "Why are you having this dream? You do not need to have this dream! Stop having this dream." It worked and when I fell asleep, I had a more frightening dream.

Details of exactly where I was and what was happening were not clear. But I would compare it to a usual day, surrounded by family and friends, when suddenly something like a nuclear attack took place. The earth shook, explosions were loud, and a huge cloud of "whatever" slowly came towards us and engulfed us.

I knew I was going to die and slowly lost conscientiousness. Next part of the dream we are not dead but alive in this devastated environment, no sun, dark sky but during the day. Thick air not pleasant to breath without difficulty. No electricity, nothing taking place around us, not much food.

I awoke from this dream with a fright and lie there for a while, half asleep and half awake, thinking what would I do today if I was involved in some type of major calamity and had to escape the condo?

Would I fill my pockets with the twenty dollar bills I have stashed away in case the ATM's go down in a global space war, would I take a flashlight and batteries, would I take water and/or food and how would I carry everything?

Would my cell phone work? I would need to make sure I took my IDs and medications. I guess the cats would be on their own. What about clothing, to keep cool or to keep warm depending on the season.

Should I put together a "survival" kit or box so I could just grab it on the way out the door?

Finally I drifted off into an unbothered sleep until my alarm woke. I was exhausted but happy to be alive and looking forward to beginning my boring, usual, mundane day.