Hi:
Friday night, Timmy had his bridging over ceremony with the scouts. He officially went from being a Cub Scout to a Boy Scout. It was one of those real proud parent moments. But for more than just the usual reasons.
I met Tim's den leader, Paul Lehner, through our mutual friend Dan (No Shot) Unverzagt. I had pictured Tim being at least a two sport athlete and never thought about signing him up for the scouts. But over a few glasses of personality at JPauls, Paul convinced Danny and I to sign our kids up for his den. Also that night at JPaul's another friend of ours was there, Dennis Jenkins, whose daughter had gone to kindergarten with Timmy. When I asked him what he was doing out that night he said, My son is in Paul's den." That sold it for me.
Of course it didn't matter that the den was made up of the kids of my Oceanside drinking buddies* if Timmy didn't like it, I would have told him he didn't have to go. But he loved it. He became real good buddies with the other boys in the den, and he loved the creativity of the projects he worked on.
But most importantly, the scouts came around at a very tough time in Timmy's life....
Timmy started in the scouts just as Tara's dad's cancer had taken a turn for the worse. To say this was a necessary diversion for Tim is an understatement. Building his boat for the regalia and his car for the Pinewood Derby kept his mind off his Pop's illness. And the fact that Tim's father is all thumbs and considers changing a light bulb do it yourself home repair, made his work all the more special.
It was the scouts that helped Timmy get through losing his Pop, and then again last year when he lost cousin Becky. The first pack meeting was the third Friday of September, and the Boy Scouts were there, showing the youngins how to pitch a tent, and fold an American Flag, and use knives and other tools. Tim was right in there, asking questions, good questions too. Questions that let the older boys know he was serious about this.
I don't know if he will end up becoming an eagle scout like he says he wants to, but I wouldn't bet against him, or any of the other boys in his den. I will always be grateful to Paul and his wife Kelly Ann for all they did for these kids. There were several lights in the dark times we had these past two years. The scouts, and everybody involved were as bright as any.
Remembering D-Day.
I tried to catch as many of the 75th anniversary of D-Day celebrations as I could. It's mind blowing to me, considering how many men we lost that day and how old those men are today the number of heroes that made it to the remembrances. Someone who was 18 that day is 93 now.
There were some guys on the radio the other day talking about how many of us younger people only know about D-Day because of the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, but I have to admit, it really took that opening scene to drive home for me what a horror that day was. As a kid, I always knew it was a great military victory for America and it's allies. But my mind could never wrap itself around the cost of that victory.
I mean, to be on a barge coming onto the Normandy shore, hearing the German bullets hitting the steel barge, knowing the odds were as soon as that door opened you were going to get shot? Could you blame any of those guys for saying, "This is a suicide mission, what's the point?"
And not one of them did. If there were 10 men to a barge and eight of them got cut down, the two that made it to the shore were there to take back France from the Nazis. And somehow they did.
I watched the beginning of Saving Private Ryan again the other day, and it still leaves me awestruck. It's the easiest thing in the world to say they don't make men like that anymore, but the fact of the matter is they do. We still have men and now women, who are willing to do that, in Iraq, Afghanistan, taking on al-Qaeda and ISIS.
I just think back them there were more of them. Maybe I'm wrong.
President Trump was asked in an interview with his old buddy Piers Morgan about not serving in Vietnam for amongst other reasons, bone spurs in his feet, Trump's response?
Well I was never a fan of that war. I'll be honest with you. I thought it was a terrible war. I thought it was very far away. Nobody ever -- you're talking about Vietnam at that time and nobody ever heard of the country,"
But, uh, nobody heard of Vietnam and then say well what are we doing. So many people dying. So I was never a fan of -- this isn't like I'm fighting against Nazi Germany. I'm fighting -- we're fighting against Hitler. And I was like a lot of people. Now I wasn't out in the streets marching. I wasn't saying, you know, I'm going to move to Canada, which a lot of people did. But no, I was not a fan of that war. That war was not something that we should have been involved in."
Well thanks for clearing that up Don.
Next week, for a Father's Day Special, I'll tell you about another guy who wasn't a fan of that war either, but went anyway.
EDUCATION:
If you took all my friends and family, and grouped them by occupation, the overwhelming number of them are teachers. So I don't like to pick on teachers that much.
But there were a couple of stories this week that made me do a double take.
First there was the teacher in Bay County Florida who wrote "WTF is this?" on the top of a students homework.
I had a couple of teachers that dropped F-bombs, but none of them were dumb enough to write them on our homework or tests. That's just asking for trouble. And of course, the kid's mother is demanding apologies and reprimands. and is no doubt consulting with their team of attorneys.
I.m curious to see what the hell work this kid turned in to provoke such potty mouth. But I guess that's besides the point.
Next we head to Gary, Indiana where a teacher gave an 11 year old autistic child a trophy as most annoying male. What's worse, the father, who deserves a trophy himself for Mr. Rogers-like restraint, left the trophy there, the teacher chased after him and said "Wait, you forgot your trophy."
Talk about WTF!
This would be cruel to do to any 11 year old child, much less one with special needs. And again God bless this poor baby's parents. If they did that to my child, the teacher would have to have said trophy removed from their a$$. And since both Tara and I work at the two closest hospitals to Tim's school, that might pose a problem.
Finally we have the 4 teachers in Akron, Ohio who allegedly were doing jello shots during school hours. This one I can almost forgive. I mean, I hear some of the horror stories these poor teachers have to deal with and I think a three martini lunch should be in order.
But alas, teachers, like almost any other profession, needs to lay off the booze during the day. And jello-shots with a bunch of kids around is just wrong for myriad other reasons too.
School year is almost over my teacher friends. You have all summer to tie one on, swear up and down and make fun of the pains in the a$$. For the love of all things holy, hang in there.
Next week, we’ll have a Father’s Day Special
Have a Great Week
No comments:
Post a Comment