Which Generation?

I have become enamored with the time and events of the Second World War, with the time period and people who inhabited it. I guess the time span is a little more than the four years from 1941-1945. Historians look at as beginning with the Depression from 1929 to about 1950. I think of it as 1936 till I graduation high school about 1954. For Europe the War started in 1939 and Hitler's power was significant by 1933.

Tom Brokaw called it "The Greatest Generation." I look at it as a great generation. I am a product of that time and those events. I am not quite old enough to be included, just a Johnny-come-lately to the party or the depression or the war.

I reflect on the period in old movies and historical presentations about the depression and the war. They were phenomenal people. I remember my parents and the other adults that represented my world--aunts, uncles, family friends--who were the important people to me. I remember the ones who went to war and the ones who stayed home to operate the businesses and teach school and farm the land. We laughed about "meatless Tuesday" at the grocery store. The meat market was not in operation on Tuesdays. The butcher's counter was cleaned and spotless, but the saw and knives were stored pristine, and the cooler kept the meat safe until another day.  

Mama kept her ration stamps in a leather wallet to purchase sugar, meat, and other essentials that were in short supply. She was very proud that I qualified as a person but I didn't eat very much. It gave her and Daddy a little buffer in the usual allowance for two people.

Mama volunteered to help with some projects sponsored by the Red Cross and other agencies in town. I was very envious because I wasn't allowed in their meetings. I thought it was very short-sighted of them. Daddy worked at the bank, the only one in town. He received a commendation for selling War Bonds. I was impressed.

I think about the time and the people as just the way things were during my childhood until I see it set against the Holocaust, the devastation of Europe, and the changes that came after the War was over. The Atomic Bomb marked our world forever with the power of nuclear fusion. Of course I heard about it in 1945, but it took a long time for me to understand what it meant in the larger context. Maybe all of us were charged with a more challenging view of the world. Maybe I'm still learning it.  

A Day To Remember

English: “Surrender of Santa Anna” by William Huddle (1847–92), 1886 The painting "Surrender of Santa Anna" by William Huddle, shows the Mexican strong-man surrendering to a wounded Sam Houston. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

April 21 is A Day to Remember. I think I was counting it April 19, but I was wrong. Today is the anniversary of the Day in which 910 scruffy Texans beat 1200 Mexican troops in a short battle at San Jacinto and gave Texas freedom from Mexico. It's a day for Texans to claim and reverence. The Battle of the Alamo is the one everyone remembers. Even John Wayne celebrated it. But the Battle of San Jacinto is the one that counts in the record books and in the historical record.

This hallowed day is one to remember and to brag about. That's something Texas has a reputation for--bragging. We are a proud land and people. And we share a proud history. It's one I have claimed for my own. My ancestors were here in the early days, growing crops, raising cattle, buying and selling horses, building towns and families, making progress and putting down roots. I am so proud to have this heritage and to pass it to my children.

This is something that doesn't loose its luster as I get older. I am prouder of my Texas ancestry now than ever. I'm a Texan all year round, and life long. It's something that I'll never get over.  

Have You Made Your Vision Board?

On a TV Talk Show hosted by Steve Harvey the subjects were encouraged to make a board with visual reminders of their goals and aspirations. I think I've done it in a class or Vacation Bible School, or Girl Scouts. It was fun, but even then I didn't put it on the wall and meditate on it. I understand the principle and impact such a present stimulus is to keeping your goals in the forefront of your thoughts.

On the other hand, my goals are better fixed in my mind than any board made from magazine advertisements could ever match. My imagination carries those dreams and my heart beats with the rhythm of them daily.

The fact is, I'm old, so most of my dreams have been fulfilled or abandoned. The ones I still cherish are a permanent fixture in my 
existence so there is little chance that a Vision Board would enhance my efforts or the realization of long held dreams. 

More and more now I want to make a memory board to celebrate past victories and accomplishments. I want to remember the good times and enjoy the successes of earlier times. I do have another goal--I want to finish well. John Wesley talked about "a good death." I want that to be my final effort. Leaving 'em smiling. 

Easter--New Every Year

Christmas is the holiday that gets all the press about forgiveness, love, new chances, and starting over, but Easter is the one with the track record. Easter represents new birth, new life, forgiveness, and sacrifice. Easter is new every year, too.  We remember and rehearse the events and reclaim both the death and resurrection. And then we also re-claim our own forgiveness and walk in new life.

Every year this is an exciting, new experience; every year I come to Maundy Thursday, Black Friday and Holy Saturday with renewed terror and Easter Sunday with deeper joy and celebration. You'd think it would get old with the same hymns and scriptures, but resurrection life never loses it value. Every year I have grown in my understanding of God's love and deepened in my appreciation of the meaning of forgiveness.

It would be easy to get caught up in preparations, the egg dying and the clothes buying, the company and the dinner, but sacrifice and renewal is the main act. Easter Sunday brings release from the fear and dread of sin. It also provides an opportunity to look beyond death and enter new levels of joy with my risen Lord.  And I must remember that the joy is not in the day or the season or the Church service, but in my relationship with my Savior.

How to Beat The Blahs

Getting old has some unsuspected pitfalls. Perpetual idleness is a trap. It has some severe consequences that lead to worse problems.
I blame myself for feeling idle, useless, and unproductive. The cure for these problems is purposeful activity. Whining and excuses don't improve this picture, but there are some factors that contribute to the condition. I no longer drive. I blame this for much of my inactivity. (Don't whine.) 

The real cure lies in focusing on filling time with challenging and meaningful activity. Learn something new. Read a classic you never read before. Explore a subject you have avoided: physics or astronomy. 

I write this like it's advice to others who rare facing this boring extreme, but it's really realizations I have embraced. I may still watch the mind-numbing fare offered on TV, but when that becomes a drag, I do know the cure. I can read Winston Churchill or G. K. Chesterton or study calculus or work out, even just a pleasant walk beats boredom. Just do something, anything will do.

Did You Know That Today Is Pi Day?

I didn't, but now I'm enjoying that I even know what pi is. Oh, by the way, today is also Albert Einstien's birthday. Since he was a brilliant and renowned physicist and mathematician I think is an appropriate day to remember him and pi.

Pi is the ratio of the radius of a circle to the circumference. Aren't you impressed that I know that? Don't be. It took a very good teacher several years of algebra to impart that to my brain.

One of the exciting things about this being Pi Day is that it has all kinds of facts associated with it. For instance, Pi is an irrational number. That means it is an infinitely repeating decimal. It never decides on what it's value is. Maybe that's not the way to state it. 3.14 may be as close as it can get.

I'd be a little more certain of things if it was pie day. Pies are more common in my experience than pi.
 

I Love to Remember!

Sometimes remembering is hard. Sometimes I remember things that make me sad. Or shame me. Or overwhelm me. I remember when I was in the first grade, my mother was Santa Claus for my class. I don't guess she did it for any other classes. I felt very special that she did it for mine.

I didn't say anything to anybody, but I knew as soon as she gave me whatever she had as gifts for everybody. She had gotten the suit from somewhere and was covered completely by the wig and the red suit. But when I took the candy or trinket, I saw her rings. She wore a large opal ring that was very distinctive; I didn't say anything to her or the other kids until I got home. She thought she had fooled me. She didn't think about the rings, I guess. But it was a kind of secret we shared that made me feel very proud and honored to have her do this for my friends. 

Memories have special significance to each of us, and enjoying the memory gives the same special feeling the original event carried. Oh, I love to remember!