Showing posts with label World War II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World War II. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

American Women - our National Treasures

In the quiet reflective moments of retirement, the clouds part on the questions of today, the war we seem to have between the sexes, (don't tell me we don't have one - we do), and I feel closer to the truth, as to why we fight between why we fight with women.
     And, we they resist men so much.
     I can only see and feel it in the quiet moments, without the distractions, yelling, name calling, the anger that we hear so much. As a descendant of two the women in American History who helped change the course of our Nation' history,nder - look her up in Google. When she died, there was a minor shift in the " space/time continuum" as the Star Trekees like to label. She ultimately contributed to an awareness to our nation's focusing on the dangers of booze. We're still fighting that one.
     Another ancestor of mine was a mistress of President of the United States Warren G Harding. Her full name had "Fulton" placed in the middle of her signature. It is pertinent to note here that history claims she blackmailed the President for some money, succeeded in getting a few dollars, the scandal forced Harding to leave the White House and never seek another elected office. (there were other women involved)
     Harding was quoted in the press as saying, " Boys, I'm glad I wasn't born a woman. I'd be pregnant ALL the time. I just can't say NO."  My ancestor passed away peacefully early in the 20th Century in upstate New York in a rest home.
     It is in this recent history, since women have entered their era of " equal rights" that they have experienced in what I term a Male Backlash.
    This is driven by a certain section of men who frankly, can't handle the independence of women who have chosen to go their own way in the world, inspite of what their male partners think, want, desire, or hope for in their intimate relationships.
    Fair? Of course not. But, you are asking for a seismic shift in what was a pattern of behavior most men were raised under, trained, and molded for by their parents, other men, and the traditions of countless culture norms. Now, "Mom" dons a uniform leaves the husband and kids and goes off to war??
    She EXPECTS hubby to house bound himself and shelve his career ( that maybe he loves, went to college for, and maybe was paying big bucks for?) And, what drives most men NUTZ, some guys do it.
    Recent FBI stats show an alarming trend of women arrests for drunk & disorderly, vehicle infractions, and various violent crimes. TV reality shows like COPS record arrests in police stations around America of increasing mothers drunk, violent and spending the night in the drunk tank.
    All of this is new, recent and trending downward since the era in which I was born during the World War II era. Television shows depict violent dramas almost always involving young women beaten, raped and murdered. It's always women. We are up to our hips in brutalizing women. It's infecting our culture and the way we think.
    Where is the respect for our women?  The gallantry borne from " Women and Children first!!" ?  Have we bred a new nation of callous cowards?  Our precious women are the bearers, the carriers of our future generations, and deserve our respect, admiration and protection now and in the future. Espectially from the cut-throat dogs in the Middle East who would gladly put them under the knife without a second's hesitation. We should be the first to defend them. Now and always. America, we are the cavalry.
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Wednesday, September 10, 2014

World War II - on the homefront

When the sirens went off at 11:30 at night, my mother grabbed my sister and I and dumped us into the bathtub on the second floor. " The Nazi bombers are coming, " she said quietly, as quietly as she might have announced the horse drawn milk truck was coming up the street. ("don't upset the kids")
     Tearing around the top floor of our three story southwest Philadelphia rowhouse in 1945, she ripped the curtains shut, rooms darkened as she flew through them, passed by our bathroom door like a maddened witch two, three times, then in with us, lit candle in hand.
     With the bathroom door shut, my kid sister asked in her adorable baby babble, "Mommy, why you scared?" So, mom said, kinda, I just want to protect you from the German bombers.
      "Germans gabobers" Pat answered. "Oh, never mind, honey. We lived like that during the war. No, the Germans never got like that, but the fear was there. All over.
      Vacations to the nearby sea-shore included fathers that helped man the Coast Guard watch-towers. At night, the eastern sky out at sea were lit with naval gunfire, and the morning, the tides would wash in the blood and refuse from the previous night's fighting. That onto American shores.
      My father was a Coast Guard Port Guide and carried a gun. My best friend's father worked at a naval shipyard building fighting ships that my father helped secure from spies. Everyone I knew during the war was a part time air raid warden - everyone.
      Nazis infiltrated America, not everyone supported the war. Charles Lindbergh was against it and fought like hell to keep us out. He alienated President Roosevelt in the process. The enemy infiltrated the transportation unions in Philadelphia and caused a strike crippling the city. The General in charge took over the system by force and fired most of the systems bosses and got the transportation system back functioning again.
      Almost everyone I knew during the war, had encounters with air raid wardens, military troops coming or going in the war efforts.
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