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Veteran’s Day 2024

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On this Veteran’s Day 2024, I thought I should write a short post honoring those who have served. Many, like me served during peacetime or were lucky enough to not be deployed to a battle zone. I say lucky because anyone who is a veteran made a commitment to serve our country. They agreed to possibly make the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the freedoms and rights of all Americans – even those who refused to serve our country and those who refused to honor the service of those serving.

I’m not sure how many veteran’s there are, or were, in my extended family. I know that my father (pictured below) served, I served, and my son served. I also had uncles who served along with cousins. I don’t believe that either of my grandfathers served, not out of a lack of patriotism but instead because they were to young for some times of crisis or too old for others. Even so, they made sacrifices because their children served.

My father before his deployment in World War II. He served in the Army Air Corps, later known as the U.S. Air Force. He served in the Pacific Theater on the islands north of Australia and south of Japan.

I also have many friends who are veterans. Many served at the same time I did. Others served either before or after I served. We expected nothing special for our service nor do we expect nothing today. I suspect this is true for those serving today.

Veterans share common bonds, no matter when they served, where they served, or their branch of service. When they gather, they may talk about their service, places they shared, and the trials and tribulations they may have faced – separation from loved ones, injuries they or others may have experienced, and things they learned. Seldom do they share feelings or thoughts about those who refused to serve – at least not publicly.

So while I did not get this posted by the exact time, let us all honor those who have served or are serving today, especially at this the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the official end of World War I – what was then known as Armistice Day and is now known as Veteran’s Day.

The Fourth Estate

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It has now been two days since the 2024 election yet rather than accept the election results and moving forward, the mainstream press seems affixed on continually creating discord. They seem to continually publish or air statements regarding how things were unfair, biased, etc., and supporting many of those who were not elected by a majority of American voters.

According to Merriam-Webster’s web site, “The term fourth estate has been around for centuries. In Europe, going back to medieval times, the people who participated in the political life of a country were generally divided into three classes or estates. In England they were the three groups with representation in Parliament, namely, the nobility, the clergy, and the common people. Some other group, like the mob or the public press, that had an unofficial but often great influence on public affairs, was called the fourth estate. In the 19th century, fourth estate came to refer exclusively to the press, and now it’s applied to all branches of the news media.”

In other sources, there was also an emphasis that the press had a responsibility to do this in an unbiased manner, without interference by either the government or personal views. The term press has been popularly expanded to include other forms of the media, including social media. What I could not find anywhere was the inclusion of celebrities such as television and movie stars, professional athletes and coaches, or even former government officials, elected or appointed, were part of the fourth estate.

Unfortunately, when viewing the press (or media) today, it seems that these celebrities are represented as smarter or more qualified than the average American to make election decisions. This seems to be supported by the media when publishing headlines stressing the views of these celebrities. Is this actually a lack of bias?

I respect the decision of the press to provide an opportunity for opinions and editorials which offer opposing views. I do question whether any of these should be headlined by the press without being identified as opinions.

I believe the role of the press is to report the news for public consumption without telling the public how to think. I also believe that many people have come to distrust the mainline media. And, that as a result, people have put themselves in harm’s way because of this distrust. I’m not sure that we will ever return to the level of trust that existed in the era shortly after World War II where the news was reported, not interpreted.

Election Day 2024

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Today is Election Day 2024. Today we have the opportunity to do something that only happens once every four years – cast our vote for President of the United States. This election has been described in many different ways by the media, the candidates, and others more than willing to share their “expertise”. Until the last few years, votes would be counted within a few days and then we would know the winners and the losers. Unfortunately, recent elections have shown this not to be the case.

In my memory, the desire to challenge election results first arose, at least on the national level, during the Gore campaign’s challenge to results based on “hanging chads” or possible errors due to the method used to record and count votes on computer cards. The next big challenge was during the last election where the Trump campaign challenged the validity of results based on how election officials counted votes and the procedures that were applied inconsistently or correctly.

Interestingly, in neither case were the challenges upheld but in one case the challenges were applauded while in the other state and local officials used the challenges as a reason to bring legal charges against the candidate. One can only hope that neither the challenges nor the court cases are needed this year.

It also seems that this year citizenship is no longer important in our elections. Instead, it seems that we have an effort to allow voting by anyone in the country – whether they are citizens or not, whether they have entered our country legally or not, whether they actually reside here or somewhere else.

Our country was founded on the right of citizens to elect our government officials. I’m not sure that is still the case. Instead, officials are selected by a few “select” individuals who are not bound to support the desires of the average citizen. This was made clear this year when one of the two presidential candidates did not face a single general election prior to be named as the party’s candidate by these “select” individuals.

All of this is only to say all citizens should get out and vote today. Vote not on what some celebrity or media expert has recommended but instead on their personal beliefs and knowledge consider important. And, hope that our country can move forward as it has since the first elections and provide our children a safe and happy place to live.

Castles

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When I was a child we did not have castles in the United States, something that is still true today. For most of us, castles were something that was read to us in fairy tales, fables, and, later, in a few books. A castle might be this beautiful building in the clouds or high on a mountain top. Or they might be strong fortresses built for protection or battles. Castles often had evil queens and beautiful princesses. They had a strong king and a handsome prince. There were gorgeous and glamorous ballrooms and dark and dirty dungeons. And every castle had two common features – a large moat surrounding the castle and a huge bridge and door to protect each entrance. We could only use our imaginations to see these castles. A lucky few might have been able to see the “castle” at Disneyland while most of us only saw it on television with Tinkerbelle in the foreground.

When I reached my mid-twenties I was lucky enough to live in West Germany for a few years. There I was able to see several actual castles there along with an opportunity to actually stay in an Austrian castle for a few days. I saw my first castle when a fellow soldier invited me for a day of photography of a castle near Stuttgart. I don’t remember much about the castle other than it was a bit of a disappointment – nothing like the fairy tale castles of the past. In fact, it was only the ruins of an ancient castle. It was perched on a small hill overlooking a German village. I’m not sure why it was in ruins – age, a victim of war, or some other cause. But there were enough ruins that you could tell what it was and get some reasonably good photos.

My next opportunity was far better. I was able to see two of King Ludwig’s castles – Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Linderhof. Neuschwanstein is said to be the model for the Disneyland castle and there are many similarities. It is posed on a wooded mountain in the Bavarian Alps. A beautiful white castle with golden roofs on its towers. It is within sight of Ludwig’s boyhood home, Schloss Hohenschwangau. Linderhof on the other hand, has a more subtle beauty. There are no huge towers and it is not posed on top of a mountain. It has wonderful gardens and fountains but is built lower to the ground. One of the best parts is in Ludwig’s bedroom where the windows open to a fantastic view of a cascading, man-made, waterfall that looks like it could flow directly into the room. There is also a grotto where swan shaped boats rest. Both Neuschwanstein and Linderhof have tours for the public on most days.

In the winter of 1977-1978 I was able to take a ski trip to Austria with the base recreation services department and other soldiers. One of the best parts of this trip was the opportunity to spend a night in Schloss Itter pictured above, near the village of Itter in the Austrian Alps. At that time, the Schloss had been converted into a hotel. It was decorated with artifacts of the past including suits of armor, weapons, and other things which we seldom see today. Given that it was winter, the snow highlighted both the Schloss and the village.

While I was near several other castles during my time in Germany, duty other demands did not allow visits to them all. I was also unable to visit castles in other countries like France and the United Kingdom which I now wish I had done

There were two things missing from all of the castles I visited or even viewed from a distance – there were no moats nor any huge gates and doors. I wonder where they went.