It seems only yesterday...
Bensblurb #583 1/1/11
It seems only yesterday...
If you think today’s “lame duck” political squabbles in Washington are a disgraceful way to end the first decade of our 21st century, just remember that it initially dawned shortly after a huge month-long fight over who would become our President, Bush or Gore.
Then that contentious election had hardly subsided when the Islamic terrorists flew our airliners into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon , and a field in Pennsylvania.
It still seems like yesterday, especially to someone who has already experienced several such momentous decades. One of which yielded World War II with its incredible devastation. So from my perspective, 9/11/01, while awful, was a piece of cake compared with Pearl Harbor. As were our recent battles, compared with the conquest of Germany and Japan--plus the atomic bomb.
It was deemed so awful in its devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that world leaders decided that nuclear war must be banned. However, all such horrible memories gradually subside. True, we still cannot imagine a nuclear blast leveling a major U.S. city. But from the perspective of several decades, it needn’t be the end. Indeed, a recent circulating email depicts stunning aerial views of modern-day Hiroshima compared with 65 years ago. Civilizations indeed survive despite all, even today’s bugaboo, global “warming.”
Thus, as we face a troubling new decade, remember that it’s just one of many, and we’ve done all right so far, ignoring (ahem) our nation’s crushing debt load.
In retrospect, closer to home I’d like to tip my hat to two local people, for both of them have made the end of this decade much happier for me.
In politics, bless Stafford supervisor Cord Sterling. Only months ago, his adopted compromise allowed Bill Hoyt’s SPCA pet shelter to proceed with development. And just the other day, he engineered another compromise that resulted in all his fellow supervisors approving the county’s controversial comprehensive plan. That is a big feather in his cap.
And personally, again just the other day, my family’s long-term friend and care giver was dining at Sam’s Pizza on 610 with Carole Lee, my wife, who has been mostly wheelchair bound for the past several years.
Fran Milligan noticed my wife was having trouble swallowing, which led to choking. She did the Heimlich maneuver, quickly permitting Carole Lee to breathe again. “She saved my life,” Carole Lee later exclaimed. God bless Fran.
Out in the county, it seems only yesterday--but nearly a decade ago--that the new airport finally won approval. That despite opposition from former resident, friend and long-time state senator, John Chichester. I teased him that we should name the airport after him. No way. Back then, the shameful failure of another Stafford project--to open the “northwest leg” of a proposed circumferential around Fredericksburg has kept I-95 travel grid-locked around here unnecessarily.
Remember too that a decade ago our nearby Aquia Towne Center was thriving. Gargoyles Coffee Shop and Fitness University were favorite places...gone. But the barbershop, led by Korean-born Sue Lantier, still thrives there despite being moved a few times by the crawling pace of the center’s promised renovation.
So bring on the next decade already.
--Ben Blankenship
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It seems only yesterday...
If you think today’s “lame duck” political squabbles in Washington are a disgraceful way to end the first decade of our 21st century, just remember that it initially dawned shortly after a huge month-long fight over who would become our President, Bush or Gore.
Then that contentious election had hardly subsided when the Islamic terrorists flew our airliners into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon , and a field in Pennsylvania.
It still seems like yesterday, especially to someone who has already experienced several such momentous decades. One of which yielded World War II with its incredible devastation. So from my perspective, 9/11/01, while awful, was a piece of cake compared with Pearl Harbor. As were our recent battles, compared with the conquest of Germany and Japan--plus the atomic bomb.
It was deemed so awful in its devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that world leaders decided that nuclear war must be banned. However, all such horrible memories gradually subside. True, we still cannot imagine a nuclear blast leveling a major U.S. city. But from the perspective of several decades, it needn’t be the end. Indeed, a recent circulating email depicts stunning aerial views of modern-day Hiroshima compared with 65 years ago. Civilizations indeed survive despite all, even today’s bugaboo, global “warming.”
Thus, as we face a troubling new decade, remember that it’s just one of many, and we’ve done all right so far, ignoring (ahem) our nation’s crushing debt load.
In retrospect, closer to home I’d like to tip my hat to two local people, for both of them have made the end of this decade much happier for me.
In politics, bless Stafford supervisor Cord Sterling. Only months ago, his adopted compromise allowed Bill Hoyt’s SPCA pet shelter to proceed with development. And just the other day, he engineered another compromise that resulted in all his fellow supervisors approving the county’s controversial comprehensive plan. That is a big feather in his cap.
And personally, again just the other day, my family’s long-term friend and care giver was dining at Sam’s Pizza on 610 with Carole Lee, my wife, who has been mostly wheelchair bound for the past several years.
Fran Milligan noticed my wife was having trouble swallowing, which led to choking. She did the Heimlich maneuver, quickly permitting Carole Lee to breathe again. “She saved my life,” Carole Lee later exclaimed. God bless Fran.
Out in the county, it seems only yesterday--but nearly a decade ago--that the new airport finally won approval. That despite opposition from former resident, friend and long-time state senator, John Chichester. I teased him that we should name the airport after him. No way. Back then, the shameful failure of another Stafford project--to open the “northwest leg” of a proposed circumferential around Fredericksburg has kept I-95 travel grid-locked around here unnecessarily.
Remember too that a decade ago our nearby Aquia Towne Center was thriving. Gargoyles Coffee Shop and Fitness University were favorite places...gone. But the barbershop, led by Korean-born Sue Lantier, still thrives there despite being moved a few times by the crawling pace of the center’s promised renovation.
So bring on the next decade already.
--Ben Blankenship
#############
posted by Ben Blankenship at
9:36 AM
