Memorial Day: Honoring Sacrifice
Some lives are lost, and some lives are taken. Others are given. This weekend we pause our schedules as a nation to remember and honor the sacrifice of those who decided to commit their lives to our freedom, our future, our way of life.
These heroes, never to be forgotten, left classrooms and workplaces and loved ones to get on buses and planes. They arrived in camps to be transformed through grueling training. Millions of those soldiers then landed in unknown combat zones halfway around the world where conditions were often so horrendous they could only be described as hell on earth, realities terrifying enough that some anticipated death as a release.
Since the opening of the American Revolution, over 1 million have been mortally wounded in service to our country. More than that have survived wounds. The stories of these men and women may often go unrealized but are impossible to ignore once they are encountered. As time rolls on we lose many of these accounts to the vacuum of history. Yet new conflicts unfold, and new heroes rise up, leaders willing to stand in the gap between freedom and tyranny for you and me.
In the 21st century, phrases like Medal of Honor and call of duty often bring to mind hi-tech video games. The appeal of these games is the intensity of the action, the conviction that there are bad guys battling for evil, and the desire to be a hero. Gamers inherently understand these things, but screen graphics are enjoyable and pose no threat. The true stories that captivate and stir us are borne of pain and love.
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The highest tribute a soldier can receive is the Medal of Honor. Recipients of this exclusive recognition perform feats summed up this way by their nation.
“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.”
That specific language has evolved since George Washington began awarding a Badge of Military Merit in 1782. You may have recently seen the HBO series The Pacific. I’m fascinated by the events of that dreadful theater and the sacrifices of so many. I often wonder who in our time is continuing this proud legacy of heroism. Who will be portrayed in movies about Iraq and the War on Terrorism decades from now?
Consider what these modern heroes have done and how their actions powerfully match the meaning of the Medal of Honor description. Read more »
Vivien Leigh & Gone With The Wind
Tough week as the old computer crashed and burned. Be back on track soon, but here’s a little something to chew on in the meantime.
On May 3, 1937, the novel Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. I really don’t care about the award, but why not exploit a chance to show Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara in the role for which she won an Oscar as best actress. Again, these awards couldn’t be more meaningless, but it gives the kids something to shoot for.
Anyway, here’s Ms. Leigh doing her best imitation of a modern politician with their head in the sand about the reality of our world.
The Assassination of Jesse James
April 3rd is the day they finally got Jesse James. Actually, it was only one man, Robert Ford with the help of his brother Charlie. A couple of years ago Hollywood took yet another crack at the life of this infamous criminal. We just can’t get enough of these 19th century outlaws.
Here’s the opening scene to that film. Somehow the movie maintains a slow pace yet keeps tension throughout.
The Brave Heart of Robert The Bruce
The human heart can soar and be lifted or fall shattered and broken. It can be open or cold, trusting or wicked. Thanks to the film Braveheart we also know that a heart can be brave, but did you know that the historical reference never referred to Mel Gibson’s heroic character William Wallace? I’m no Milton, but if it’s poetry you seek, consider the tale of a heart taken from the chest of a fallen
king only to journey for seven centuries before finally reaching its intended resting place. Legends are most amazing when they’re true, as this story is.
You see, today’s a big anniversary in my family; although none of us have ever really thought about it much. March 27th was a great day for my 27th great-grandfather. Yes, that’s a long time ago, over 700 years to be exact. On this date in 1306, Robert the Bruce was crowned King Robert I of Scotland.
This legendary figure came to international attention after the movie Braveheart was released in 1995. For as much as I love that film (best movie ever on my criminally inaccurate list), the story is more fiction than fact. That’s good news for those upset at the thought of Robert the Bruce’s dastardly betrayal of William Wallace at Falkirk. In real history, no such treason ever took place. The Bruce was, however, a brutal warrior.
Like William Wallace, Robert’s rival was the powerful King Edward I (“Longshanks”) of England. Robert became king only a few months after Wallace was executed by Longshanks in 1305 (the movie actually watered that scene down. Seriously…). For the new Scottish king, the fight for Scottish independence would last years longer. Longshanks arrested and imprisoned Robert’s wife, daughter, and sisters. His brother Nigel was captured and executed in the same manner as Wallace.
Longshanks died in 1
307 and left the kingdom to his son, Edward II. Unfortunately for Scottish rebels, the son wasn’t quite as incompetent as the movie makes out. The fight for freedom lasted until 1314 when the Scottish warriors “fought like warrior poets and won their freedom” at Bannockburn.
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Robert I ruled until his death in 1329. His dying wish was requested of longtime companion Sir James Douglas–a supporter of William Wallace and the knight in charge of the army’s left-wing at Bannockburn. King Robert asked that his heart be removed and carried “against the enemies of the name of Christ.” The heart was placed in a casket and carried by Douglas, a legend in his own right, to Granada in Spain.
While carrying the chest, Douglas was ambushed as he tried to aid a fellow warrior. About to be slain, the courageous knight held out the casket and said, “Onward brave heart, Douglas shall follow thee or die.” He didn’t make it. Read more »
Almost A Century Of Reagan
The last man to win the presidency by capturing 49 states would have turned 99 today. The anti-Reagan movement has tossed and turned over the past two decades, but it’s quite okay to call the 40th president what he was: Super Awesome.
Here’s a small dose from a healthy batch of the kind of medicine America could use these days. The first clip is taken from his farewell address of January 1989. The second shortie comes from an old-fashioned press conference when reporters challenged political leaders.
History Haters In The House
There’s a lot of reasons certain people hate history. Those reasons usually have something to do with stupid teachers who could bore children at a birthday party. Apparently some of these brainless yahoos are in charge of educating the youth of North Caroli
na.
Some Tar Heel State educators don’t think much of George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson or any other historical figures before 1877. According to proposed curriculum changes, teenagers shouldn’t have to bother with trivial little events from the past like the American Revolution or the Civil War or like, you know, irrelevant stuff like that.
In other news, the North
Carolina Department of Public Instruction is apparently hiring idiots just in case you are in the job market, completely clueless, and eager to contribute to another bloated government agency that uses tax dollars to issue moronic and dangerous initiatives.
In a nutshell, the idea is to teach high school juniors and seniors American history from 1877 on. Instead of getting the story before that time period, freshman would take a global studies course, ostensibly to learn about the environment and what makes polar bears cry. I guess this plan will remove the challenges of explaining slavery and the war it caused; although, good luck explaining every Founding Father reference Martin Luther King Jr. ever made. Does this make LBJ the new Abraham Lincoln? Yuck. My fingers just threw up in their mouth a little.
The goal of this flubtubbery* is to help students learn about recent history in greater depth. And to think, for years I’ve been explaining to students how impossible it is to understand our current world without the proper context of the past.
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Don’t just take my word for it. Listen to what Rebecca Garland, chief executive officer for the aforem
entioned N.C. Dept. of Public Instruction, has to say. She’s left plenty of slack here to strangle her own logic. You’ll have to pardon my interruptions.
“We are certainly not trying to go away from American history,” she began in a recent interview. TRANSLATION: We are trying to go away from American history.
“What we are trying to do is figure out a way to teach it where students are connected to it…” TRANSLATION: The reason teachers (oh, I’m sorry, educators) like me are boring is because we are so bored. REALITY: Why don’t these people call me? I’ll gladly charge the government exorbitant consulting fees to teach teachers how to impact students. It’s a wild strategy I’ve developed called teaching the freaking American Revolution through the eyes of people who were actually there! One recent problem has been using guesswork texts from modern blowhards who write boring and self-serving books about history. They are boring, not Thomas Paine and Ben Franklin. Read more »
What About Emmett Till?
I’m always amazed 
at how America ranks its national heroes. Since President Ronald Reagan’s 1983 bill-signing and Pres. George H.W. Bush’s 1992 proclamation, all 50 states have used this day to honor Martin Luther King Jr. for his leadership and sacrifice during the modern civil rights movement. Today will give way to a month of focusing on black history and folks like Rosa Parks. Despite all these remembrances, speeches and textbooks across the country will continue to ignore the most important spark that motivated these honored icons.
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In 1954, a 14-year-old boy left Chicago for a trip to Mississippi. Within a few days, he was abducted and brutally murdered for “talking fresh” to a white woman. This “violation” consisted of little more than a light-hearted whistle and a wink. His killers, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant, beat and shot him then attached a cotton gin fan to the body with barbed wire and sank the corpse in the Tallahatchie River. A local boy found the body three days later.
Emmett’s mother Mamie, another strong woman often left out of the history books, ordered the caretaker to open the coffin. Horrific
sights and smells escaped. She then demanded that no attempt be made to fix her boy. The funeral would be open casket. The pictures were also run by Jet magazine and are easy enough to find with Google but be forewarned if you don’t handle that type of thing well.
The impact of the images and assistance of media helped bring the story into a national light by September 1955 when the trial took place. In a segregated courtroom, eyewitnesses identified the accused men. The jury listened to the testimony but also heard the judge say, “I’m sure every last Anglo-Saxon one of you has the courage to free these men.” They did and even took an hour to grab a cola across the street before delivering the verdict. Not guilty.
Shortly after the trial, Milam and Bryant accepted $4,000 each to give the true account of what really happened. Thanks to our double jeopardy law, they could not be tried again even upon admitting guilt. In a blow-by-blow account, they detailed the murder including how enraged they became when Emmett refused to properly fear them. Blacks and civil rights supporters were outraged. They took action. Read more »
Defining Generation X
In 2003, the original print version of EduClaytion appeared in the Pittsburgh E Resource, a bi-weekly publication of Infinity Broadcasting. After the capture of Saddam Hussein on December 15th of that year, I ran a story titled “Saddam’s Role In Defining A Generation” which chronicled the biggest events in the lifetime of Generati
on X. What were the defining moments of the first generation to grow up on television and where did the capture of Hussein rank?
Although the article wasn’t intended to rile people up, the next week I received the best hate mail ever complete with pseudo-death threat, the only one I recall receiving to date. “You will die devil man,” or something to that effect. He also called me “Hitler-Stalin-KKK man,” which gave us a few laughs around the office. M
aybe he was most angry about the illustration my artist came up with, Saddam’s head munching cheese atop the body of a rat whose tail curved down the page. He pleads, “Don’t shoot me pleeease!” Hey, even CNN agreed. We never understood what set that guy off other than the fact he was a semi-literate buffoon.
After perusing the old article recently, I got to wondering how we’ve changed. Does the list hold up? What incidents have made the most powerful impact on a generation that succeeded the Baby Boomers and (according to some) goes back as far as 1961?
Because of television, I wrote, “Gen Xers have grown up witnessing history in the making like no other generation.” We are all historians because we pass on memories formed from our visual perspective when these world-changing moments occur.
Tragic moments defined the list. I already disagree with some of these picks from six years ago, and you probably will too. I hope to hear some feedback. By the way, the cut off originally used was people born around 1970-71.
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1. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 topped the list. That won’t change. I concluded:
“The experience was prolonged, close to home, and unfolding in front of our eyes. The incredible spirit of resiliency displayed by this country was empowering but not without a dangerous side effect. The magnitude was enormous, the fear so real, and when it was over a national desensitization was inevitable. Nothing in our lives will ever shock us as it would have before the infamous attack.”
No other event held a greater significance for more people.
3. The Explosion of the Challenger Shuttle
The 2003 version of me is trying to convince v. 2009 here. I wrote:
“The historical impact of the Challenger tragedy may not equal these other events but was the quintessential moment of tragedy in the memory of Gen X…Like a first kiss, there is only one event to serve as the first time something happened in the world and we know where we were and what we were doing.”
I see what I mean but am not sure if I buy that lofty ranking.
4. The Gulf War (Persian Gulf War of 1991)
“A war on TV was not new to the country but was new to those born in the 70s. We knew men and women risking their lives…”
5. The War In Iraq
(2003)
The soldiers fighting went from older relatives to peers. I have a hunch that many people would drop this down the list, but I’m not sure.
6. The Capture of Saddam
He’s been dead for a while now, but don’t forget his record of genocide and murder. What dictator committed more atrocities in our lifetime? By December 2003, it seemed he would never be captured, but there he was cowering in a hole, a “coward’s hideout.” The serviceman who shone a light into Hussein’s face reportedly said, “President Bush sends his regards.” Later, President Bush said, “Good riddance, the world is better off without you.” What an imperialist pig. I love happy endings. Read more »
I Just Shot John Lennon
Doesn’t get much more random than this. December 8th is a bad day for Beatles fans. What modern icon today would be the equivalent of John Lennon if he were to be murdered? Bono from U2? Speaking of the Irish, here’s Dolores O’Riordan and Co. Remember the Cranberries? Guess I’m a sucker for punky Irish girls although she looked out there in this clip from Letterman.
Veterans Day 2009
Thank you for your service. We don’t just say it because it sounds good, and you don’t serve just because it looks good. This site is about truth, and there can be nowhere on earth where the truth is as real and powerful as in war. Many men and women have served and are serving away from battlegrounds. They sacrifice so we can be safe. They are ready when we aren’t. They lose while we live.
Thank you.
20th Anniversary Of The Wall’s Fall: Thanks For Playing Communism
Let’s see if I can slip one past the censors here like Adrian Cronauer in Good Morning Vietnam. The Berlin Wall–the very symbol of the Cold War between capitalism and communism–came down twenty years ago today. You won’t hear too much about this monstrously historic day from media types hell-bent on leading America towards some of the same failed ideas symbolized by that wa
ll. You also won’t hear about it from President Obama who is skipping the international celebration of the event! What?
Well, forgive me if I’d like to celebrate the failure of the Soviet Union and the victory, yes victory, of America and the free world in the Cold War led by President Reagan. Such statements may shock your American sensibilities, so let’s check in on Europe where they are prominently celebrating this historic anniversary, the commemoration of the day freedom won out, when our open system conquered the veiled evil, yes evil, of the Soviet’s communist empire.
The Berlin celebration will balance glitz with sobriety. World leaders such as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Sarkozy, Russian President Medvedev, and more will be there to speak. Yet Obama won’t. As the German news publication Der Spiegel put it, “Barrack is too busy.”
Obama has already made more international trips in his first year than Bush and Clinton combined, yet he doesn’t have time to go to Berlin. Now, thanks to a little something called high school, I know a thing or two about getting blown off. I’ve heard plenty of excuses in the “I have to wash my hair all weekend” mode. So I feel qualified to say that Obama is full of it. Sorry Berlin. Like Molly Ringwald in Pretty In Pink, you can keep putting on all the makeup you want, but sometimes he just isn’t going to show no matter what he says.
This just in from the Not Speaking Of Makeup department: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is attending in Obama’s place. Oh goodie. Read more »
Obama Get Nobel Peace Prize, Plans War In Middle East
The AP headline this morning read “In A Surprise, Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize.” In related news, other shocking announcements reveal that the sun rose, the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers again, and David Letterman isn’t perfect. Quite frankly, I was more surprised this morning at how much Fruity Pebbles we had left.
A white-knuckled, teeth clenched Chelsea Clinton told reporters that “No, really, mom and dad are thrilled for the president. They have in no way turned the living room into an MMA fighting arena.”
Many observers won’t be stunned that Obama was given a Nobel. He has gone to great pains to hook up with the rest of the world, but you’re not gonna have to find Glenn Beck on the radio to hear someone question the merits of this award. Questions are already popping this week about Obama’s relationship with the left-wing media. Wolf Blitzer’s beard almost came off as he condemned Saturday Night Live’s sendup of the president’s year one lack of accomplishments. Early reaction to this morning’s announcement is drawing more criticism.
Newsweek blogger David A. Graham doesn’t share the Prize Committee’s zeal. In an article detailing some other controversial selections, Graham points out that it’s a bit early for such acclaim. After all, didn’t Arizona State University feel Obama shouldn’t even get an honorary degree? Furthermore, the author notes, “Obama is likely to order thousands more troops into a warzone within weeks.”
The president’s support
ers have been picking up criticism lately over Obama’s escalation of the war in Afghanistan and his failure to close Guantanamo or even release prisoners anywhere near the rate of the Bush administration. While Obama draws ire from his base, he ain’t exactly gathering new supporters from the right. One might suggest that Obama could end up a man without a country, but that’s not the case. Tons of countries love him; he just isn’t doing so well in America.
You can expect a parade of skepticism from all over the world similar to that of Lech Walesa, former President of Poland, the baddest Pole I’ve ever met, and 1983 Nobel Peace laureate. “So soon? Too early. [Obama] has no contribution so far. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act.”
I can’t seem to find any lines in there to read between.
The AP makes this business sound like dog training. The peace prize committe meant to scold former President Bush while luring the young president with a Nobel bone. “Come on Obama. You’re doing good! Keep it up!” If the criticism ever gets too tough, die-hards can always fall back on the comforting knowledge that Obama only makes mistakes because of what George Bush did to America. Read more »
How Should We Remember?
“You ever have that feeling where you’re not sure if you’re awake or still dreaming?”
Neo–The Matrix
It happened eight years ago today and just about every reporter and web scribbler had a sentimental anniversary piece ready to go to commemorate the day our whole world changed.
I’m not going to recount the details of what took place. I’m not going to remind you how evil exists in this world or even how heroism emerges in the face of that darkness. I’m not here to pay tribute to the American spirit, and I certainly won’t offer up hollow platitudes. I’m not going political either. I won’t reexamine the Bush legacy in this the first anniversary of 9/11 under a new Commander-In-Chief. I’m not going to attempt to get you angry or sad or sentimental, and I won’t even tell you to hold your kids a little tighter tonight.
I’m not going to tell you that we need to remember. In my world, as a historian who gets paid to remember for a living, that’s a given. I will ask how should we remember?
A Slate.Com article by Jack Shafer two days ago preempted the anniversary coverage we knew we’d all see and hear today. Shafer took a pessimistic slant against this sort of coverage. He’s correct that many of these pieces are put together lazily and quickly as easy ratings grabbers. His article is what it is, but the fundamental question in the end becomes how much reminding do we need?
I believe the answer to that question is a matter of perspective. Those who lost loved ones in the attacks live with the memory of what happened every day. Many people, including young adults now in college, have virtually no recollection of the day.
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Stripped down, history is a combination of memory and recollection. Sometimes our memories fail. Sometimes we don’t want to remember the truth. Sometimes we lie because, after all, the heart is deceitfully wicked. We’re real good at coming up with better versions of our lives for folks who don’t know any better. We tell different versions of the same event than others who were there. We manipulate the facts and do what we can to put ourselves in the best light. All this before we get to the part where our personal beliefs shade our vision and our political leanings tempt integrity.
I know these things about human nature as I watch months and years melt from calendars and the anniversary number of my lifetime’s defining event climb towards double digits. I know that the myth often trumps reality, yet how does that apply to what took place in 2001?
Images and sounds replayed over and over don’t lie. No one can deny an event so well documented. That’s why General Dwight Eisenhower ordered available troops to tour Hitler’s concentration camps. One day, he said, people will claim that this (the Holocaust) never happened. In his time, he understood human nature. He was right.
Just like the December attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Americans are in no hurry to forget what happened in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C. See, we all look at the same event but with so many different interpretations. That’s why I say it’s a matter of perspective. One person says “that’s terrible,” another says “that’s crazy,” and still another says “my husband was in that building.” Some said we were doomed, others said we would prevail, and still more said America deserved it. Just a few days ago, someone on this blog posted a reply to an article written in May that maybe we deserve another similar attack! Read more »
Happy Fourth of July
Long time no read here at EduClaytion, but those days are coming to an end. Today we celebrate America’s 233rd birthday. Independence Day is rarely recognized for the religious holiday it is, but we’ll save all that for another time.
Enjoy your day and read this nice offering from Ol’ Mr. Pink Eyes.
Do You Understand D-Day?
If you were to rank the most important days in American history, June 6 would be near the top of the list. Next to some work by the Founding Fathers and Abraham Lincoln, perhaps no event means more in American history than D-Day, the successful Allied invasion of Europe in 1944 that signaled the beginning of the end for Hitler’s evil regime. June 6 marks the anniversary of that amazing surge 65 years ago today.
The majority of the men who made that brave push were young, kids really. Many of them are gone today. The grizzled few that remain reflect only faint traces of the courageously clueless boys who took the next step because they had to. All they did was save the world, an achievement usually reserved for superheroes. 
I never care much for hero sandwich style writing when it comes to sports stars or corporate tycoons, but I don’t know any other way to describe what took place on the desolate beaches of France during that decisive summer.
Twenty-five years have passed since President Reagan commemorated the event at Normandy. In 1984, he spoke on the 40th anniversary of the invasion. He spoke of efforts by groups like the Rangers who climbed the cliffs in the face of machine gun fire and grenades to win the foothold position necessary for advancing through Europe. He spoke of individual sacrifices, those that risked their lives, those that gave them.
You can watch movies like Saving Private Ryan or Band Of Brothers or even documentaries with live footage. None of that does justice to the reality of what those troops faced. We can only listen to the words of those who fought to try to grab onto something we can understand. That will never be enough either though. In the end, all we are left with is how to respond. Like the astounding beauty of the universe we can not understand what it is w
e are seeing, we can only feel the awe that strikes anyone who takes the time to consider this rarest of scenes in a time of challenge that required sacrifice from all, selfishness from none.
Not to inject bitterness into these thoughts, but why is so little done on this day? In America, most people under the age of 40 are clueless until they stumble across a special on TV or see an article in passing. I believe June 6 should be a national holiday.
I’m amazed at how millions of people will spend a day planting trees and thinking about how much they love earth, yet those same people couldn’t find Europe on a map and think Normandy has something to do with wine or fashion. Don’t get me wrong, when the kids come home with baby plants we go nuts and find the perfect spot for it to bathe in the sun and slowly die over the coming weeks. But school is also in session every June 6 in my family when we remember the ultimate sacrifice of thousands. Read more »
Welcome To Here
In The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo he can take the blue pill and go on believing whatever he wants to believe. Or he can take the red pill to stay in Wonderland and find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.
This is a red pill type site with a weekly column (and some extras in between) that provides information in an entertaining way. It’s about clear thinking and good writing. It’s about truth.
I’m a writer/speaker who teaches history and political science at a local college by day. Where is local, you say? Well, that would be Wonderland of course.
From pop culture to pop politics, this is my column.
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