300th??

Mindlessly passingby again. Which wiseacre put these watercress sandwiches on the buffet?

"Not many of these guys left." After Mrs Ww and I watched the Chicago one (I won't re-post it; YouTube zSF0S50c9c0), we were noting the same thing, the all-too-rapidly dwindling numbers, all those wheelchairs & canes, and I recalled, when we were children, there were still a few Civil War vets alive.

Measured by short human lifespans, WW2 or the Civil War especially were a long time ago, but I remember, as a kid reading war comics, being impressed by how WW2 had only ended so few years back. Europe was still rebuilding! Lots of modern folks have a perspective about as long as the last TV season, if that, but I think we ought to have the perspective that the Cold War, the World Wars, historically, they just happened. The dangers are not long ago and far away. They're still here and now.

I've watched this three times now, and I just can't keep from getting all teary. Why try?

http://youtu.be/FgecqttxoQg

Of all the horrors of war and national division during my high school and college years, over Viet Nam and the Draft and all, one of the most lingering, sickening memories was the abuse heaped on returning soldiers. It's hard to convey to my kids, it's so unbelievable. I wasn't clear about all the issues (in an era when our main source of information was Walter Cronkite), but I was always clear on this: It didn't matter what you thought about the war or politics or the draft, these returning men and women deserved congratulations, thanks, and to be given good jobs, and they got spit, derision, and ostracism.

That abominable history just makes scenes like this all the more sweet to watch, though.

But we don't need this primitive idea anymore. It's so last century. We have those giant long-wave weapons that can cause earthquakes and volcanoes anywhere on earth, doncha know.

You can't pronounce Suoicilacitenikeicnegnitnocsaesrevo!