Odd year, of course, going directly from winter into summer. It's discouraging because we'd like to anticipate a spring that gives us some hope for getting out of the clutches of winter. Very little if any kind of transition like that this year.
Minnesotans are so resilient. It defines us to a degree. We keep the annoyances with the weather at back of mind. It's good for a little small talk of course. But, we just do what we have to do to continue with life.
Normally we'd wait until around July 4 to experience the real heart-of-summer weather. Well my goodness, we got the intense stuff as if inflicted with a sledgehammer already. And maybe we like bathing in it to a degree, based on the drawn-out nature of winter. I mean, even into April.
April showers bring May flowers? Cute little expression anyway.
The quick and intense onset of heat meant we could all plant our flower seeds around Memorial Day weekend and be confident. I can recall other years that were not like that. I did not attend the Memorial Day program. I covered it for years for the Morris newspaper when the program was at the old school auditorium.
Need I remind you that the "old school" is no longer even there? Years pass and more people will require a primer. Generations or kids went through school at the old building. It's sad that it was not torn down very soon after it was abandoned. As I recall, the local tree hugger types, i.e. the NPR crowd, were holding out to try to get a "green community" established on the old school property. Someone drew up a formal plan and it even won an award. And oh my, the award was trumpeted in our Morris paper when the paper had Forum ownership.
Our paper was owned out of Fargo ND. Didn't that make you proud? Well no, I don't think it should have.
In my mind, Eleanor Killoran is always playing the piano for the Memorial Day program. Always. Ken Beseman leads the singing.
Frankly I wonder if Memorial Day is going to start losing some support now. A good thing? In a sense, yes. Who wants to fixate their thoughts on something so horrific as war? It's important to remember? Of course it is, and how could we ever forget the commitment made during times when it seemed war was unavoidable. But can we truly be certain about when war is unavoidable? How many of his own generals did Hitler have killed?
And yet Donald Trump has been quoted on how Hitler's generals were so "loyal," as if that was an exemplary thing in the Third Reich. Wouldn't the whole Hitler thing have collapsed under its own weight, its own moral bankruptcy? It's at least a valid theory.
We hear from war's survivors at the time of Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
I have the same reservations about these holidays as Chris Hayes, the long-time prime time host on MSNBC. Many of you when reading "MSNBC" will have the knee-jerk reaction "oh, that's liberal," said with the inference that it's somehow poison or something.
Why can't we all get over that? Hayes expressed reservations about the war remembrance holidays several years ago. There was sharp pushback from the usual places. I sensed he was in danger of losing his show. He's on at 7 p.m. Central Time. That's when Bill O'Reilly was once on the air. O'Reilly had to leave after paying $32 million to a woman to avoid a sexual harassment lawsuit. So that's the kind of celebrity a certain portion of our population gravitates to.
I hear the guys talking at DeToy's Restaurant in early morning sometimes. Yes they fit right in here: "red" country or "Trump" country. Their minds cannot be changed. And life goes on. Although, it seems I'm not hearing Trump's name quite as often these days. Hmmm. It has been like pulling teeth trying to get that cheerleading suppressed.
Frankly it's all about tribalism. The guys I'm referring to have signed up for a tribe, have pledged eternal hatred of "wokeness." Look out y'all, it's "Pride Month." What's wrong with feeling pride? I enjoy the colorful rainbow symbol. If you don't like it, ignore it. But matters are not so simple these days.
Fortunately I sit on the other side of a partition at DeToy's. The building was designed nicely that way when it was first established by "Country Kitchen." I even remember the first manager, Rich Meiss. Smiling Rich was of the rare breed of oboe players. He and I were in the UMM band for a portion of the school year back in the late '60s. My, it was at the very heart of the Vietnam war protest times.
There's no nostalgia there - it was unpleasant. I have no pleasant thoughts reflecting on any war. That even includes the "good war" of WWII - a perverse term to be sure. All war is hell. Or, as the National Guard commander in the movie "Taps" said to the rebellious young man (actor Timothy Hutton): "War is just one thing, and that's bad."
How can we ever forget WWII? And yet on the Memorial Day and Veterans Day holidays we hear speakers who feel they must remind us. I would suggest there's a sanctimonious air sometimes.
The bias is that we don't get to hear from the young men who got killed in war. Their perspective on the necessity of war might offer a contrast.
And in these days when our society is so multi-cultural with so many Asian-Americans among us, maybe we should tamp down all the talk about triumphing in WWII. Leave it in the history books. The Asian-Americans of today do not have to answer for all that went on in the 1930s and '40s.
My late father who served in the Navy in WWII would say it's all "politics," the way war developed. Politics as opposed to the population of regular people making conscious decisions.
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| Chris Hayes (npr) |
Oh, there are lots of Germans among us too. Somehow they fit in better.
Will Memorial Day keep drawing its audience in a time when the U.S. really does not engage in foreign wars, at least not like we used to? I cannot see the Iraq and Afghanistan ventures leading to the kind of reflective speeches that were prompted by WWII. What was Korea all about? I'd have a hard time pinpointing that.
I know what Vietnam was all about: total unjustifiable tragedy. That war colored by growing-up years, infused a kind of cynicism within me that continues today. It will never let go of me.
I would not mind at all if "Memorial Day" shrivels up in the years to come. One good thing is that it's a chance to hear the Morris Community Band. Why can't Morris host a big music event during summer months?
An invitation
Monday was Juneteenth and also my late father's birthday. He would have been 107. I wrote a reflective piece for my "Morris of Course" blog site. You all are invited to sit a spell at our bench monument at Summit Cemetery. The black bench is in the new portion. Here is the link to what I wrote Monday, and thanks.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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