pre-introduction to the wars

Rosalie Lepowski, an old friend has asked me to talk about the Vietnam War and its similarity to the present war in Iraq and Afghanistan. That's going to take some time to think out.

There are certain things that are familiar. Both wars were started from faulty intelligence and bad interpretation of it. In both, by entering, we upset the balance of power and made sure that if we left too soon, there would be very undesirable results.

But there are also some non-congruencies too. In Vietnam, we were supporting a strong, but corrupt government. We paid little attention to establishing real democracy there. Our troops were despised when they came home. In Iraq and Afghanistan, non of these are true. We have tried to establish working democracies in both countries. Each government is weak, not having even enough power to control their capitals, much less the rest of the country. And our soldiers are greeted as heros when they return. Sadly, their return is all too short with many of them starting their third tour in less than five years.

I'm going to think and write more about this.

Changes

As we come into a new year, change should be on everyone's mind. While some change is good and beneficial, other is not. The change that I noticed is in the country, not the United States, but the rural lands that support agriculture.

35 years ago, when I first drove on back roads, everyone I waved to waved back. Some even waved without a start from me. One pathetic specimen saw my beard and gave me the finger. I was on those same roads last week. Not one in five folk responded to my waves, neither the drivers nor the folks on the side of the road. What's happening?

Rural communities are losing their young people. There aren't enough jobs or possibilities to hold them. They leave to seek life elsewhere and seldom return. Even farmers are affected by the current trends... especially that of demanding instant gratification of wishes. Farming just doesn't give a person instant gratification.

There has been a trend toward the idea that a business that doesn't grow dies. That's just not true. Small stores and restaurants have stayed in business for years without needing to grow. They keep their customers by giving them quality products and good service. People come back to them time after time; and their children do it too. The drive to constant growth is mostly driven by the stock market and those who invest in it. It is that drive that has changed business' outlook from the long haul to the next quarter's bottom line. That kind of short sightedness can only hurt, eventually.

None of this is new. An ancient Roman once moaned, "Ah tempore, ah mores." Our mistakes haven't changed much in two thousand years. But then, neither have we.

Happy New Year, 2008

From Christmas to the first of this year, we were in New Mexico with our daughter and grandchildren. We did drive to Phoenix as a family to watch our grandson play hockey as a New Mexico Peewee state teammate. While there, we did some shopping in Scottsdale and went to a Coyote's game to see professional hockey. The Peewees are very good in comparison to the pros. They skate fast and have begun to learn teamwork. It was plenty of fun to see.

Driving home, we did a leisurely, two day trip. The first day was pretty slow since we shopped in the trading and Nambe' stores of Pojoaque. We left New Mexico poorer in wallet, but richer in art.

Since we came back to Little Rock, we have been busy sorting and answering mail. I am almost caught up on the bills which arrived while we were out of town. I have also trimmed my phone messages down to just three for action. I suppose that I should be grateful that people want to talk to me. Alas, so many of them want to propose ways of transferring money from my bank account to theirs.

Little Kitty has been most solicitous since my return. In fact, he has tried to stay near me or on me since I rescued him from durance vile (the kennel). You can see from the picture that he is a handsome fellow. He also has long, soft fur. When I go to bed, he lies on the pillow with my head. When I sit, he bounces into my lap. He likes to drink from the faucet in the bathroom, but doesn't bother with the kitchen tap. Right now, he's purring in my lap, with his chin resting on my right arm as I type.

Our garden survived the brief spell of very cold weather quite well. One Indian blanket flower is still blooming. I thought that they were strictly summer flowers. Alas, our camelia blossoms were frost burned. This is the third year that they have been damaged before we got a chance to see them. The evergreens, like rosemary are still green, but most of the blooms are waiting for warmer weather to show.

In the hopes that you, gentle reader, had a delightful holiday season, please accept my best wishes for the new year.