#193 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Thursday November 11)
Good morning,
VETERANS DAY / ARMISTICE DAY
Today is Veterans Day, commemorating the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, when The Great War (what World War I was referred to before we began numbering these human calamities) ended in 1918. The Treaty of Versailles ended the war and led toward the peace that was so retributory to Germany as to make the ground rich for the rise of Hitler. Compare and contrast to the handling of Germany after World War II. Retribution doesn’t work; magnanimity does.
Even though the Treaty of Versailles ended the war, it didn’t end deaths from disease at the time—the Spanish Influenza Pandemic. One-third of all World War I deaths were the result of the pandemic, when humanity wasn’t smart enough to realize how masking could stem the disease and hadn’t yet developed a vaccine to combat the virus. Now, we are smart enough to understand the sacrifices we all must make to address the virus. Well, most of us…
STATISTIC OF THE MONTH
Notwithstanding the 24-hour a day work at the Port of Los Angeles, the average ship awaiting a dock still must sit for over 12 days. And, ironically, the greatest contributor to the delays is there are not enough truckers.
DEAN STOCKWELL AND QUANTUM LEAP
Dean Stockwell, a career character actor, died this week. It may not seem particularly noteworthy, yet his passing is particularly moving to me. Stockwell starred in the TV series Quantum Leap. The show’s basic premise was the hero (played by Scott Bakula) “leapt” from body to body throughout history, living a day in the life of a different person—in different challenging circumstances—each week. We watched this show together as a family; and it delivered powerful messages. The protagonists were both scientists and not action heroes. Every person “visited” in the past had a life story and their lives had value. The travels into the recent past taught valuable lessons and provided some context for the present. That they tried to “right wrongs” from the past spoke of choices, redemption and the ability to correct mistakes. And as one watched, one got the sense, both through the humor written into the script and their general demeanor, that the actors had fun doing it.
STUPID JOKE, REDUX
Marc Rosenbach has another spin on the joke a couple of weeks ago about what constitutes the inception of life:
A priest, a Minister and a Rabbi are debating the question when does life begin. Without hesitation, the Priest declares, “At conception.” The Minster politely looks at the priest and says, “I mean no disrespect, but it’s reasonable to assume that life begins at birth.” The Rabbi strokes his chin and says very thoughtfully, “Life begins when the last kid goes to college and the dog dies.”
Happy day!
Glenn
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