Swimming against a current can feel hopeless.  How can you make your way against the unrelenting forces around you.  Isn’t it just easier to drift (or even swim) along with the current.  After all, when you look around and all you see is everyone else moving the same direction, it must be right, right?…

Consider this letter to the editor published June 10, 2010 in the Alabama Press Register:

I am an 88-year-old veteran of World War II who served proudly with the 1st Marine Division in Okinawa and China.  As I viewed the recent series, “Pacific,” on HBO, I was angry and embarrassed at the constant use of the F-word while depicting Marines in battle.

I went into the front line in Okinawa on May 9, 1945, with the 1st Marine Division. The fighting could only be described as pure hell. I never heard the F-word.

We lost 70 of our 160 men in one push. I never heard the F-word. During six days of vicious fighting at Kunishi Ridge, I never heard the F-word.

It may be commonplace for people to use that word nowadays, but it was not commonplace during the 1940s (when most everyone went to church on Sundays). I resent the fact that modern movies shed a disrespectful light on the Marines and those of us who were actually there.

We have been called the “greatest generation” and given Honor Flights to Washington, D.C. We are not the generation who spoke the F-word in every other sentence — even when in battle.

Help me set the record straight for history.

H. PAUL BAILEY

Facts are the only reliable platform on which to build your viewpoint.

http://blog.al.com/press-register-commentary/2010/06/blue_ribbon_letter_plenty_of_bombs_during_wwii_but_they_werent_f-bombs.html

My daughter Rachel Guddat (wife of first baseman and all around nice guy Jason) informed me that I could only cheer for our team, no jeering of the other team allowed.  (I wonder why she might feel the need to coach me like this…)  Apparently, this is a church league where respect and nice play are the rules of the day – cross the wrong line and a fan could get his/her team disqualified.

It was eight innings of positive comments and fun from both sides of the field.  Terrific!

Yesterday, Jon Cobler mentioned today’s early morning game, reminding me it wold be broadcast around 6:30 a.m.   So I thought I’d tune in to see what the fuss is about.  The commentators mentioned a controversy about a referee’s call in a previous US game.  The ref disallowed a US goal late in a match.  It was  supposed to be the winning goal.  Instead the game ended in a 2-2 tie.  Lots of soccer games end in a tie.  After traveling thousands of miles and attracting thousands (millions) of viewers, tie’s are silly.  They are probably why more Americans do not watch professional soccer. They are against nature aren’t they?

What piqued my interest is the story about how our team had been wronged.  I became interested only after I heard about a controversy.  Where was my curiosity about the game itself?  What is it about me that wants to rise up when a perceived injustice is done – to my team.  Fair Play.

Oh no!  Our team just had another goal disallowed for “off sides”.  But the replay showed it was good.  Shouldn’t our coach run onto the field and kick dirt on the umpire’s feet – ala Lou Pinella?  Fair Play, right?

Guess I’ll have some Shredded Wheat and watch a bit more of this game.  It’s kind of interesting to watch…

Edit one hour later:  Scoring a goal at the very end of the match, the US won and advances in the World Cup. This is such an exciting sport!

When President John F. Kennedy challenged our nation to send a man to the moon by the end of the decade – it seemed  the obvious thing to do. Once accomplished, the moon landing became a point of national pride.

Retrospect gets warped by the more advanced capabilities present today.  Even an astounding accomplishment like landing on the moon seems less impressive than it actually was – because today’s technology creates higher expectations than were reasonable back then.

What kind of crazy challenge did President Kennedy lay down? Consider this: His challenge came in a speech in May of 1961. Only 34 years had passed (May of 1927) since Charles Lindbergh made the very first solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Mankind was only learning how to fly airplanes.   The challenge to go to the moon and back was an impossible dream.

I look back at the accomplishment with awe. Understanding the scope and scale of the challenge puts President Kennedy’s vision into the category of the extraordinary.  Personally and deeply affected because someone else had a vision and enough faith and guts to declare it, I’m grateful.