A Little Known...Amazing Story

Earlier this month the world celebrated the the one-hundred year anniversary of World War One ending. Even though I wasn't born until the 1960s, I feel a connection to earlier generations. My father was born six years after that war ended. Many of my adult role models lived through the Great Depression and several wars.

I spent the weekend before Veterans Day this year on the internet looking at sites, checking out stories. One story popped up on Twitter that I had never heard of before. It involved the WWI flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker.

But something embedded inside the story caught my attention and made me think about more than just the war, more than just the story of a pilot witnessing the end of a horrible time in humanity's history.

What struck me most about the story is the way the soldiers acted once the war had officially ended. One moment they were killing each other, and because of a decision made by others, they emerged from their trenches they began hugging and dancing and celebrating. I find it amazing that humans have the capacity to both love each other and kill each other. It's all a matter of choice.

The story reminded me of not just the evil in us, but also the good and that we can be good. Hopefully, given the choice, we'll choose good.

Veterans Day, 2018...It's All About Time

I've been alive for a few big anniversaries. I remember watching TV on July 4th, 1976, and, of course, the whole world watched as the calendar changed from 1999 to the year 2000. Today we celebrated the one-hundred year anniversary of the first great war ending.

I think this one means more to me than the other two.

One could argue which has more meaning, but to me, the Bicentennial was neat, but I was a ten-year old kid. I didn't understand the significance of the United States in the history of the world. And the Year 2000 event was amazing, but it's just a number. If you're a non-Christian, I don't know why you'd celebrate it, and if you are a Christian, many experts agree that it wasn't exactly two-thousand years since Christ was born.

But today means more, because it involves family, and by extension, all of us.

I love watches and I've been fortunate enough to have inherited several from both my father and father-in-law. Since my dad passed away two and a half years before the Bicentennial, his watches are old. My father-in-law had both old and new. At precisely 11am this morning, I pulled out my father-in-law's newest (and most favorite...) watch and filmed it hit 11am exactly. I also took pictures of the two older Bulovas owned by each of them and photographed them, too.

Both men, Dad and Blaine, served their country, my father in WWII, and father-in-law in the Korean War. Both sacrificed. Both survived. I never heard stories about either of their experiences--one because he passed away decades ago, and the other because he didn't like to talk about it. He, too, has left us.

A hundred years ago today a chapter of humanity's darkest history closed, only to be re-opened again and again since. We celebrate the day, express our thanks, then do it all over again a few years later. In the end, it's about time. It's about how we use that time, how we think and treat others. I have watches that are reminders of two great men who gave their time so me and my family could live the life we live now. Thank you Harry and Blaine, and thank you everyone and their families that continue to give of their time for us.