February 2007 Archives

In an office conversation today someone said that their nine month old baby was boring. Wow! On impulse I said that I would gladly give up one year of my life in exchange for one more hour to hold my infant children again. After thinking about it, I would do that even if that hour included several diaper changes.

I'm not sure I felt that way when my children were young. I know I had my moments of frustration in the course of learning to be a good father. There were times I lost my temper. Therefore, we need to be careful in criticizing parents of young children. I know that, even now, parenting is the hardest thing I've ever done and it is the most important thing my wife and I will ever do in our time on this planet. Nothing else we do will effect as many people as deeply and dramatically as what we do as parents.

Parenting is hard but to the new parents, a word of observation. There will come a day when you will wish that you could give everything you own for one more hour with your children and your wife. Enjoy them while you got them.

aloha

Technorati Tags: family, life, philosophy, psychology , parenting, sociology

"World Trade Center (Widescreen Edition)" (Oliver Stone)

The character I most identified with in the movie was a fairly minor, supporting role in the movie. However, the man was absolutely critical to the story. Without him, the two police officers would be listed among the dead instead of being survivors 18 and 19.

Dave Karnes, upon seeing the collapse of the World Trade Center, walked out of his accounting office, got a haircut, put on his uniform and drove to Ground Zero. He walked into the pile of rubble that other rescue workers were being restricted from and started looking for survivors. In the course of his search, he met up with another Marine, Jason Thomas, and they searched together. They found the two police officers. And then they refused to leave until they saw them pulled from the ground. Lastly, they walked away. No glory, no praise. Mission complete, move on. Staff Sergeant Dave Karnes, having already served 23 years in the Corps, re-enlisted and served two tours in Iraq.

I enjoyed the movie a lot. I can't imagine what it must have felt like to be trapped for so long. The DVD Extras tells the rest of the story. The surgeries and recovery of the two officers. As is often the case, the two got worse before they got better. Both survived.

Great movie. I recommend it. I think it is good to remember that day. We don't want to believe it but that enemy is still out there. Given an opportunity, that enemy will do September 11 again and worse. "You may not realize it but this country is at war."

aloha

Technorati Tags: military, movie, review

Anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr fled Iraq for Iran ahead of a security crackdown in Baghdad and the arrival of 21,500 U.S. troops sent by President Bush to quell sectarian violence, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday (source). At least one major insurgent component is now reacting to us instead of us reacting to them. Most of my military training says that it is better to be on the offensive than the defensive.

aloha

Technorati Tags: iraq, military, politics, sociology

So, the Dixie Chicks won five Grammy Awards. So now, they're ready to 'make nice' or so says the headline of this article. I'm sure that politics had nothing to do with it. I am sure the song, 'Not Ready to Make Nice' was absolutely the best song recorded this year. It is purely coincidental that the song is a response to the country music community's shunning of the Dixie Chicks after their commment, "We're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

Best song of the year. Wow. Interesting.

aloha