What Would Jimmy Do?

If you’ve been paying much attention to the news lately, you’ve obviously heard the term “loyalty” used a lot. The President uses it often and a lot of people believe he means it solely as it applies to him and that he’s not of the opinion that loyalty is a two-way street.

Anyhow, I decided to do a little extensive research on the subject and discovered that loyalty is apparently pretty important to the United States because May 1st has been designated as Loyalty Day by Congress.
Congress passed a resolution May 1, 1955 proclaiming that day as Loyalty Day. In 1958, Congress made it an annual “day.” The resolution set aside a special day (May 1) for “the reaffirmation of loyalty to the United States of America and for the recognition of the heritage of American freedom.” It called for the President to sign a proclamation each year calling for the display of the American flag and inviting observances at schools and “other suitable places.”
True to form, President Trump signed a proclamation this past May 1st. He described it as a day meant to express our country’s loyalty to individual liberties, to limited government and to the inherent dignity of every human being.”
The entire proclamation is just one short paragraph (you can look it up if you’re interested) and it’s not particularly politically laced like much of the information coming from the Oval Office. It does mention ISIS by name, and I thought that was a little strange, but I think the thought is pure.

I got to wondering how much do we really value loyalty today? Does it have the same meaning to us as honesty or integrity? It’s always been a little suspect to expect loyalty from our politicians, but lately I’ve noticed that athletes don’t seem to be particularly loyal to their team, their country, their fans and sometimes even to the rules of the game. And loyalty in the workplace certainly takes a different form than it did when I was among the working class.

General Colin Powell defined loyalty as: “Loyalty means giving me your honest opinion, whether you think I’ll like it or not. Disagreement, at this state, stimulates me. But once a decision is made, the debate ends. From that point on, loyalty means executing the decision as if it were your own.” I guess that kind of sums up my idea of loyalty during my working years. Maybe it still does, but without a common “mission” that was always present in the work environment, I probably think of loyalty a little differently… I’ve kind of moved loyalty into my category of things that you can’t buy — it’s something that has to be earned.
— 30 —

My dad was a pretty neat guy — although we never had the kind of relationship where we’d go out and have a few beers together, we did manage to have a few “private” conversations. I certainly wish there could have been more of those, but it “is what it is” as they say.

Of course our grandkids never got to know their great-grandad and someday in the future, if they’re interested in learning about their ancestors, I’d like them to have a little more insight to their great-grandad than when he was born, when and who he married and other rather mundane things that they might find on ancestry.com… I’d like them to learn that he was a real person, not just a name on the family tree.

One of the stories he told me once (that probably would have been even better over a couple of beers) happened when he was in his late teens just before he graduated from high school. My dad and couple of his friends had been to Oklahoma City and didn’t get back to Maysville until about 2:00-2:30 in the morning. Now Maysville Oklahoma had a sheriff during the day and also a “night watchman” sheriff during the night. The main street in Maysville was about 2 or 3 blocks long, and near one end of the street there was a gas station built on the “corner” of the block. The pumps were covered by a roof and so during nice weather, the “night watchman” would sit in a cane-bottomed chair, leaning up against the side of the building. That gave him a pretty much unobstructed view of the entire main street.

Anyhow, when my dad and his friends got back into town that night/morning, they decided to drive up and down main street a few (or more) times. I know that sounds dumb now, but back then, that’s what you did if you were lucky enough to have a car — it was called “dragging main.” I forgot to mention that directly across the street from the gas station on the opposite corner, was the town’s only bank and unknown to the night watchman and my dad and his friends, the bank was going to be robbed that night. The robbers were about to make their move when the “Williamson gang” roared into town and disrupted their plans. The robbers waited for things to settle down before proceeding, but dad and his friends, rather than going home, stopped to “bs” with the nighttime sheriff (everyone knew everyone in Maysville.) Apparently the robbers got tired of waiting and approached the group with guns drawn. They herded dad, his two friends and the sheriff into the bank. Back in those days, sometimes the bank locked the vault and sometimes they didn’t. (This was before all the fancy time-locks they have today.) Well, on this particular night the vault hadn’t been locked, and it was “easy pickings” for the robbers. But they put their “hostages” in the vault and did lock it. When the bank opened at 9:00 o’clock the next morning and they unlocked the vault, it was the first time anyone knew the bank had been robbed.

According to my dad, he and his two friends spent the next day chasing bank robbers. He said he didn’t remember how or where they came up with a couple of shotguns but he remembered not finding any bank robbers, but shooting ducks down by the river.
I don’t remember all the details of the story, but evidently the robbers were caught sometime later and they were apparently unknown to anyone living in or around Maysville.

So someday, if this blog survives and our grandkids are looking around for information about their ancestors, they may conclude there was more to their great-grandad …than he was the son of George and Josephine….
— 30 —

Both the faithful readers of this blog know that I’ve written about my dad having the first television set in Maysville, Oklahoma. He sold furniture and appliances (including radios) and for some reason he had gotten a Motorola TV along with a shipment of Motorola radios.
Anyhow, I have often talked about how I was lucky enough to catch probably the first TV pictures ever broadcast over the air in Oklahoma….

The TV station was WKY-TV and it first officially signed on the air on June 6, 1949 – I was eleven years old. The station was owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company that published the two Oklahoma City newspapers at the time (The Daily Oklahoman, published in the morning, and the Oklahoma Times, published in the afternoon.) As I’ve mentioned before, their first studio was housed in the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Oklahoma City. Because of a freeze on broadcast licenses imposed by the FCC, WKY-TV was the only television station in Oklahoma City until 1953.

All of this is well and good, but it wasn’t what I started to blog about…. the subject of this blog was going to be weather and weather warnings. I got to thinking about this a couple of nights ago when a “banner” came across the TV screen warning of severe weather in several locations around us. When I lived in Oklahoma, we had severe weather (tornados) all the time. People just looked at the sky and if it looked like there was going to be a tornado, they went to their (or a neighbor’s) storm cellar. We didn’t have people to tell us the weather was going to get bad.

But back to my first years with television… WKY-TV came up with another “first,” when on March 21, 1952 it aired the first tornado warning ever broadcast on television. The station had hired a meteorologist by the name of Harry Volkman who broke into the regular programming with a bulletin about a thunderstorm containing a tornado approaching Oklahoma City. That seemed like a nice thing to do — except — at that time, the FCC prohibited broadcasters from disseminating public tornado alerts because they believed that relaying them to the public would cause panic. Volkman was at risk of losing his job for a while, but the station received a number of letters sent by “survivors” of the tornado thanking him and the station for the warning.

I’m not sure why I thought of this the other evening… it just popped into my head. If you’re one that grew up in the age of “breaking news” it’s hard to believe that in 1952, telling people (especially in Oklahoma) that a tornado was coming would spark panic….
— 30 —

Although the weather was nice, today started out a little slow for me… I could just never get going and for some unknown reason seemed to be a little depressed or something. I sat down to watch some of the Sunday morning “news” programs and read the news of the day and that didn’t help my mood at all. I’m sure I’ll feel better by tomorrow, but today I couldn’t help but think of something one of my favorite authors ( Dr. Seuss) wrote one time….

My uncle ordered popovers
from the restaurant’s bill of fare.
And when they were served,
he regarded them
with a penetrating stare…

Then he spoke great Words of Wisdom
as he sat there on that chair:
“To eat these things,”
said my uncle,
“you must exercise great care.
You may swallow down what’s solid…
BUT…
You must spit out the air!”

And…
As you partake of the world’s bill of fare,
that’s darned good advice to follow.
Do a lot of spitting out the hot air,
And be careful what you swallow.

Advice from Theodore Seuss Geisel is always good, but it seemed especially appropriate to me today…
— 30 —

A lot, or at least some, of Claire’s friends are fond of cats. I have stated (correctly) that I’m not a big fan of cats. When I tell people that, they usually assume, or say, that I must be a dog person. That’s not necessarily true… I do like dogs, but I wouldn’t say I’m a dog person. When I’m asked what my favorite animal is, my answer is always a mongoose. Then I invariably get the question, “why a mongoose?”

Well, not that I have to have a reason, but I have a couple… the plural of mongoose is mongooses and I like to say that word. Mongooses aren’t afraid of snakes and battle them to the death, with the mongoose usually winning… even against the king cobra. Who wouldn’t like somebody that could do that? And… even before the immigration ban, mongooses were banned from the United states — you can’t even see one in a zoo. that makes me a little sad and enhances my sympathy vote for my favorite animal.

I’ve only seen a real mongoose in a couple of zoos in foreign countries, but probably the real reason I’ve always liked them started in about the second or third grade, when I read a story about a mongoose, named Rikki-tikki-tavi (The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.) That was always one of my favorite stories… I don’t remember either one of our kids being especially interested in it, but it always was (and is) one of my favorites.

Anyhow, mongooses don’t get the respect and credit they deserve… Egyptian tombs contained mummified mongooses along with mummified human bodies. If you’re an artist, a really good artist, you probably have some paint brushes made from the fur of mongooses. They are very expensive and can’t (legally) be sold in the US. Add to all this the fact that mongooses have horizontal pupils and it’s easy to see why I chose them as my favorite animal….
— 30 —

I try to stay away from discussing the news on this blog, but it’s becoming harder and harder to ignore some of the insanity that seems to be going on all around us. I read an article yesterday about a poll that had been taken asking people to pick the first word (one word) that came to mind when the President’s name was mentioned. I’m sure this poll, like most, was biased to some degree, but the list of words was pretty extensive, and none of them was flattering. One word that didn’t make the list was “truth.”

Of course that got me to thinking about truth… what the heck is truth anyhow? Usually I go to the dictionary for a definition and then go from there, but it seems to me that truth is simply the way things really are. Obviously, that’s an over simplification, especially today… some people think there is no absolute truth — truth for them is simply what they think. Actually, we all live our lives based on things we think, or believe, are true. We get into elevators that we believe will go up — or down, we get on airplanes we believe will fly, we go to stadiums believing the game will be played….
Time magazine published an issue fairly recently with no picture on the cover, only the words “Is Truth Dead?”  One of the articles in that issue was titled, “Can Trump Handle the Truth” and contained an itemized list of a lot of the untruths tweeted by the President and floating around his administration. Seems like since January, we’ve read and heard mostly about “fake” news almost constantly… so much so, that it’s truly hard to distinguish “real” from “fake.” The TV program 60 Minutes devoted part of a recent program to fake news and interviewed a number of people that deliberately distribute fake news. Obviously Facebook and social media sites are a prime target of fake news, but some amount makes its way into the mainstream media. Interestingly, the program concluded that it wasn’t the uneducated that were most likely to believe these things, it was the college educated!

It appears to me that one of the problems facing politics and the news media today is, for lack of a better word, ideology. The news media often simply omits any news that they don’t like or agree with.
I took a couple of journalism courses in college and one of the first basic rules that was stressed, was the necessity to distinguish between reporting and editorializing. That line seems to have become very, very blurred lately.

So I think answer to the question on Time’s cover (Is Truth Dead?) is no, but it’s maybe close to being on life support…
I ran across a quote a few days ago and I’m sorry I don’t know who to contribute it to, but I think it’s very appropriate for today: “Above all, don’t lie to yourself. the man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others…..”

I guess truth, like most other things, will remain subjective, even though I don’t believe truth is subjective. Winston Churchill once stated, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.” That seems to be about where we are…
— 30 —

The last entry in this blog discussed friends and good friends. Eleven years ago today, I lost one of, if not the, best friends I’ve ever had. Some friends develop over time… my friendship with Al Chura was instantaneous. From the first time I met him to the last time I saw him, our relationship was always the same — we just seemed to connect. Over the years we did a lot of things together and sometimes we just did nothing together, but I always felt better having been with him.

It turns out that all the best things in life are not things at all…they’re friends. And when someone like Al comes along, you’re never quite the same… because you’ve met the ultimate good friend.
My Indian heritage believes that there is no death, only a change of worlds… I’m sure that world is better because of Al….
— 30 —

We attended a party to celebrate Independence Day and saw a lot of friends that we hadn’t seen in a while. Friends are a pretty important part of our lives. Some friends you see almost every day, some maybe once a year — or less. Friends come and go in our lives… so I got to wondering, what makes a good friend? Most of us have a number, or a lot, of friends. But is there a distinction between a friend and a good friend? I think there is — I know a lot of people that I consider friends and some that I consider good friends. I think it’s accurate to say that Claire has more good friends than I do. So, again, what moves a friend into the “good” category? I guess you could say a good friend is someone that you can trust and who won’t judge you, or someone whose company you enjoy, or someone that sticks around when things get tough, or someone that just makes you smile.

Those all seem like good attributes to look for in a friend…. the dictionary definition of a good friend is a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. I suppose that’s true enough. Aristotle once describe a true friend as a single soul dwelling in two bodies. That sounds good too, but what differentiates a true, lasting friendship from other relationships? Most of us have at least one friend that is someone that knows us better than others and that we can count on when the need arises.

Recently I’ve started paying a little more attention to the news than in the past. I tend to read more articles and look for information that supports, or doesn’t support, the subject in question. Of course, a lot of the news is political…. even more so than in the past, and much of it is oriented towards personalities and personal attacks rather than real issues. This brings to mind something I once heard — when the character of a man is not clear to you, look at this friends. I’m not trying to make anything of this, it’s just difficult to keep it from popping into my head when I read/listen to all the Washington name calling and jockeying….

Of course, all this rambling hasn’t answered the question of what makes a good friend…. maybe there is no answer, or the answer is different for every single person. Good friends expect and endure the good, the bad and the ugly. Family can be, and often are, friends and sometimes friends are more “family” than our own families. The “gift that keeps on giving” is a well known marketing catch-phrase… maybe that’s what good friends are.
— 30 —

Well, here it is the 4th of July again — when, in my mind, summer seems to begin winding down. The days are getting shorter, the trees are starting to lose some leaves, and all the back-to-school sales are in full swing.
But every year (or at least some years) about this time I try to write something about the 4th. Often I try to concentrate on things that aren’t universally known about the holiday. I’ve probably mentioned some of these before, but I’m old and my memory ain’t what it used to be, so bear with me… but keep in mind that while I believe these things to be true, they could very well have been created by the “fake news” of the time.

I think it’s interesting that one President (Calvin Coolidge) was born on July 4, but three Presidents (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe) died on July 4. In fact, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died on the same day — July 4, 1826. That just happened to be the 50th birthday of the United States of America. I suppose if you’re into “signs” you could make something of that….

On July 4, 1778, George Washington ordered a double ration of rum for this soldiers to celebrate the holiday — I’m not sure how this figures into American history, but it was a nice gesture.

We lived in the Philippines and there was always a big celebration on the 4th… not only because it was America’s Independence Day, but also because the Philippines gained their own independence from the US on July 4, 1946 with the signing of the Treaty of Manila.

I’ve been in a number of countries on the 4th of July and many of them celebrate the holiday — probably because a lot of their citizens moved to the US — and — to attract American tourists.

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but only two people (John Hancock and Charles Thomson) actually signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4 — most of the others signed on August 2nd.

The day that Congress actually voted for independence was July 2, not July 4.

Even though July 4 has been celebrated for a long time, it wasn’t officially declared a federal holiday until 1870… almost 100 years after the nation was founded.

Ok, enough… your head probably hurts from all the fascinating information you’ve absorbed. Go have a hot dog and a beer — Happy 4th!!
— 30 —

Almost every year, I start the year off by making New Years Resolutions… this year was no different — I again made some very challenging resolutions. Usually at the end of the year I report on how I did, but since we’re about half way through the year, I thought I’d take a look and give myself a mid-term grade.
So here’s were I stand….
These are my resolutions for 2017, simply stated. If you’re at all interested, the rationale for making each one can be found in the original blog… just look in the December 2016 archives.

•I resolve to not send a text to someone sitting in the same room… or even the same house.
Well, I had the best of intentions, but I haven’t lived up to my resolve — I’ve only done it a couple of times and it was to share a picture that I’d received… but I’m still trying

• I will take a selfie this year
I still have the best of intentions, but I haven’t been able to pull it off yet — but, there’s still a lot of time left, so I’m optimistic.

• I will not save my fortune cookie message in my wallet
So far I’ve accomplished this one bigly… maybe some of the reasons are that I no longer carry a wallet, only a credit card holder — and — I’m not sure we’ve been to a totally Chinese restaurant yet this year….

• I will not come up with any new cool social media acronyms
I’ve lived up to this one “big league” — haven’t come up with a single one

• I resolve to be accepting
Well… can we just say this one’s in work?

• I will not buy bright colored sneakers or tennis shoes or golf shoes
Home run! I have been 100% successful — only got a pair of white sneakers. They are kind of bright, but I’m working on getting them dirty.

• I resolve, every day, to (try) to be better than I was yesterday… and today
Well, luckily I added the parenthetical expression to this one… I have honestly tried — maybe I’ll try to quantify it by the end of the year.

I keep saying that a very low percentage of people that make resolutions actually keep them and every year I say something like, “why bother?” But every year I conclude that even if you’re jut a little bit serious about wanting to make a change, the “new year” can be used as a clean slate to do just that….
Obviously most of my resolutions aren’t world changing, but I usually try to list a couple that I really would like to live up to. This is the first time I’ve stopped to take a mid-term review, so maybe I can improve on some things. Stay tuned for the “final” in December/January….
— 30 —