This picture reminds me of a couple of aunts, now deceased for several years.The reason, I guess, is that they were both pretty strong women, and both did their part during the second World War.
They were different in many ways. They had different life styles. They lived in different parts of the country. Aunt Lillian in Washington D.C. worked as a secretary at the Pentagon, and Aunt Lois worked at a ship yard in New Orleans.
Aunt Lillian, and my mother's brother, Uncle William, became millionaires before their lives were over.
Aunt Lois, my mother's sister, married a happy-go-lucky, motorcycle riding dude, and they were pretty well off, but never became millionaires.
As different as their lives were, they were much alike in a very special way. They were all very patriotic, and had a real love for their country. They all contributed to the well-being of it, in some way, and they were grateful for what they had
Neither couple ever had children of their own, and my Aunt Lillian and Uncle William left most of their wealth and property to the Children's Home in Georgia, and their residence now shelters homeless children.
I have very fond memories of that home, having spent a summer or two there with them as a little girl, dressing up in Aunt Lillian's fancy dresses, listening to her "Washington Tales," while eating her fancy cooking.
It was a different time then--not only during the war days that they told me about, but in the years afterwards, too.
It is a different world, now.
I said all of the above, to preface the following:
"You Ain't Gonna Like Losing"
President Bush did make a bad mistake in the war on terrorism. But the mistake was not his decision to go to war in Iraq.
Bush's mistake came in his belief that this country is the same one his father fought for in WWII.
It is not.
Back then, they had just come out of a vicious depression. The country was steeled by the hardship of that depression, but they still believed fervently in this country. They knew that the people had elected their leaders, so it was the people's duty to back those leaders.
Therefore, when the war broke out the people came together, rallied behind, and stuck with their leaders, whether they had voted for them or not or whether the war was going badly or not.
And war was just as distasteful and the anguish just as great then as it is today. Often there were more casualties in one day in WWII than we have had in the entire Iraq war. But that did not matter. The people stuck with the President because it was their patriotic duty. Americans put aside their differences in WWII and worked together to win that war.
Everyone from every strata of society, from young to old pitched in. Small children pulled little wagons around to gather scrap metal for the war effort. Grade school students saved their pennies to buy stamps for war bonds to help the effort.
Men who were too old or medically 4F lied about their age or condition trying their best to join the military. Women doubled their work to keep things going at home. Harsh rationing of everything from gasoline to soap, to butter was imposed, yet there was very little complaining.
You never heard prominent people on the radio belittling the President. Interestingly enough in those days there were no fat cat actors and entertainers who ran off to visit and fawn over dictators of hostile countries and complain to them about our President. Instead, they made upbeat films and entertained our troops to help the troops' morale. And a bunch even enlisted.
And imagine this: Teachers in schools actually started the day off with a Pledge of Allegiance, and with prayers for our country and our troops!
Back then, no newspaper would have dared point out certain weak spots in our cities where bombs could be set off to cause the maximum damage. No newspaper would have dared complain about what we were doing to catch spies.
A newspaper would have been laughed out of existence if it had complained that German or Japanese soldiers were being 'tortured' by being forced to wear women's underwear, or subjected to interrogation by a woman, or being scared by a dog or did not have air conditioning.
There were a lot of things different back then. We were not subjected to a constant bombardment of pornography, perversion and promiscuity in movies or on radio. We did not have legions of crack heads, dope pushers and armed gangs roaming our streets.
No, President Bush did not make a mistake in his handling of terrorism. He made the mistake of believing that we still had the courage and fortitude of our fathers. He believed that this was still the country that our fathers fought so dearly to preserve.
It is not the same country. It is now a cross between Sodom and Gomorrah and the land of Oz. We did unite for a short while after 9/11, but our attitude changed when we found out that defending our country would require some sacrifices.
We are in great danger. The terrorists are fanatic Muslims. They believe that it is okay, even their duty to kill anyone who will not convert to Islam. Europe will be essentially a Muslim theocracy in 50 years with Shira Law governing the people. Included in Shira Law are stoning, beheading, and chopping off the left hand of thieves. It has been estimated that about one third or over three hundred million Muslims are sympathetic to the terrorists cause...Hitler and Tojo combined did not have nearly that many potential recruits.
So....we either win it, or lose it -- and YOU AIN'T GONNA LIKE LOSING.
Here's the link to the essay.
