Here’s the best comment I’ve read about last week’s debate, “The only winners were the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes, which are hurtling away from Earth at 0ver 35,000 mph.”
She moved the boy and his father into her home and told others she was dating the father.
She bought groceries and paid phone bills for the boy’s family.
Her 6-year-old daughter called the boy “Dad.”
I’ve been devouring WWII documentaries as of late. There are so many things I wish I could ask my dad, who served in the war. And I’m not even talking about significant events; I want to know the mundane things that aren’t recorded in the history books. But the thing is, a lot of times, he was reluctant to talk about his experiences. I remember asking him where he was when JFK was assassinated, and he gave me a detailed answer about how things immediately changed at Fort Wolters and all the responsibilities suddenly thrust upon him. He would openly talk about his time at boot camp when he enlisted in the Navy. But if I asked him anything about the time his plane got shot down in the Pacific and was lost at sea with his crew, I couldn’t get anything out of him. That came about going through his mother’s things and finding paperwork from the government informing his parents that he was MIA.
Hmm. It just occurred to me that he’s the first thing I think about when I hear anything related to WWII. And at this stage in life and everything I’ve gone through, I’ve really missed hin and wish I could have his counsel. Maybe I’m devouring all this WWII stuff because I’m trying to connect with my father.
Netflix has a documentary about the rise of Hitler and the Nazi party that I have found fascinating. But what’s eerie is that I see a lot, and I mean a lot, of similarities between Trump and MAGA. I’m doing my best to be objective because I know I’m biased. We all are. That’s when I wish there were another adult in the house so I could talk through things like this.
Here’s something I didn’t know. President Truman appointed U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson to serve as United States Chief of Counsel to prosecute Nazi war criminals, and he delivered the trial’s opening statement to the four-nation International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg in November 1945. One person in the documentary referred to it as a masterpiece. I like how the justice realized it was an honor. It also made me think and ponder if Jackson ever considered the possibility he would serve as an attorney again after joining the Supreme Court. Life is crazy, and what history will call a person to do is unpredictable and incredible. FWIW, his seat is currently occupied by Chief Justice John Roberts.
Here are some notes he wrote about the experience:
The speech also seemed to have important public consequences because it would be the first full disclosure of the materials that we had captured and had at hand, and of the use we attempted to make of them. I had a rather strong sense of responsibility about the speech and recognized that it was probably the most important task of my life.
The first stop on my road trip with BoyGeeding was the Clinton Library in Little Rock, Arkansas. Y’all know how much I love presidential history, so it was a great experience for me, and I could have stayed there all day.
When we entered, we were told a free tour would start in 15 minutes. In the meantime, BoyGeeding just wanted to roam around. As soon as you get upstairs, you see a replica of the Cabinet Room. It was beautiful, and all bits of presidential trivia ran through my head like knowing the table was a gift donated by Richard Nixon. The title of each cabinet role (i.e., Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury) is on the back of each chair. What’s neat is that when one of the cabinet secretaries leaves, they have the option of purchasing their chair and take it with them. Several have done so, and when hired for another cabinet role with another administration, they brought it back.
No one was around; it was quiet. A security guard appeared—an older black gentleman. He pointed to the center chair and said, “You see that chair there? It’s two inches taller than all the others. That’s the president’s chair.” I smiled, nodded, and resisted the urge to add anything else. That’s a bad habit I’m working on. And I’m glad I did. He then pointed at BoyGeeding and said, “Young man, come here,” and pulled out the chair for Walter. My son sat in the chair and politely thanked the man after he pushed him in. As I stepped back to take a picture, he put his hand up and told me to hold up. “Let me straighten out these flags for ya.” I can’t express how much his act of kindness and grace touched me. When I prayed at the end of the day, I made sure to let God know how grateful I was for that man and experience. Heck, he made me want to be a better man. So, all that to say, that’s how I got these pictures.
