ISRAEL MUNI AND D-DAY
Today’s
newspapers tell us Israel is building new settlements on disputed territory in
response to the Palestinians unifying their government with Hamas and alleged
terrorist organization. The Israeli government does all in its power to keep
the Palestinians weak and divided. Fortunately world leaders for their cruel
action have condemned the Israeli government.
The SF Muni sick out has
apparently ceased to the relief of the commuters. A new contract is to be
worked out. The Muni system is
reportedly badly broken. Why doesn’t the city really overhaul the system and
improve it? The answer is that it would
take a lot of money. The no tax-averse attitude
of the citizens prevents the needed overhaul. As usual people would rather
complain, suffer inconvenience and blame the drivers than do the obvious, which
is fix what is broken, the Muni.
Today is the 70th
anniversary of D-Day the invasion of France by Allied forces to begin and
finish the war against Germany in 1944. The war ended a year later. As a boy I
remember reading about the invasion and the carnage that took place on both
sides. It did not have any impact except the exhilaration that that our soldiers
were winning. The pain and sorrow of so many killed and wounded did not impact
me until years later when I began to realize the horrors of war and the
suffering physical, mental and emotional of the people who did the fighting.
We visited one of the beaches
a couple of years ago and it was a beach with sun and water bathers, peaceful,
calm and beautiful. We also visited the
American Cemetery with gleaming white crosses and stars of David, green lawn
and the Red, White and Blue everywhere. It is a celebratory cemetery. We also visited the cemetery where German
soldiers were buried. It was dark, ochre and somber. The effect elicited
sadness and the pain visited on the troops buried there.
posted by RWC | 8:44 AM
1 Comments:
I visited Normandy and the American cemetery eons ago. Sad to think of the deaths of all the, mostly young, people, not only Americans.
My father flew bombers in World War II. He always said there was nothing like being in a war to make you a Pacifist. When he was in his mid sixties, we took a trip to Thailand. On a river cruise we got to talking to a German couple around his age. Turns out the husband had been a military physician in the war. I hoped they wouldn't feel anger toward each other. They ended up talking about how they were each so young and simply did what they were told to do for their countries. My father hated the Nazis and their SS, the elite corps of the Party, but he had nothing bad to say about the rank and file pilots and infantry men; he identified with them.
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