We could not have conceived of our 50-year reunion, back at the time of our ten-year. Heavens, to be that old! Time indeed passes, we make the necessary adjustments and we end up being thankful to be alive. We're so thankful for our friends and family who made it all through the years, or a good portion of the years.
Each year is something to be savored, to thank God for. We thank God too for whatever semblance of normal health we can maintain.
In the ten years after high school, it is such a shock to learn of the death of a classmate. I believe my class lost three in that span. Par for the course maybe? How wonderful if it could have been zero. I think we all permanently remember the names of classmates who are lost so young. After that we begin accepting the grim reality, the inevitability of such things happening. The names might get filed more in the back of our minds. We say a prayer for these souls.
RIP again
My class has lost three members in the recent past. This is the extent to my knowledge. Word spreads among our peers when such tragedy happens. You all remember Allen Anderson. A rather ubiquitous person at community events. Never turned away a free meal. We were amused by his proclivity for that. Then amusement gave way to more serious concern over the last stages of his life. Let's just say he faced challenges for getting around in public.
He passed on. Despite his problems and social limitations, his funeral drew a "packed house" at his church. That always says something.
Age can be hard on nearly all of us. It was moreso in Allen's case. God rest his soul. May God also rest the souls of Mike Eul and Dave Gausman. Mike would have needed no introduction, even though he did not stick around in these parts after high school. "Eul" gives us instant realization of his niche in the community with the hardware store family. His obit underscores what a tech geek he became. I could have foreseen that.
Say the name "Gausman" and it rings of great familiarity with long-time Morris residents. Dave was in my high school class, Morris High '73. His obit described him as one of the four "rambunctious" sons in the family. That may be overstated but they had energy and have made their mark. I seem to recall that a brother of Dave was instrumental in designing the newest portion of our county museum.
Dave was a photography buff when young. My, this was in the age long before digital, when photography could be so complicated and expensive, you'd have a hard time believing it. Now all of that has gone the way of horses and buggies. Dave was active in the little photo "darkroom" that was located behind Jean Peterson's desk at the school library. The library was in a different place then.
It was a big deal when the library began offering cassette music for the kids to check out and listen to with headphones. Tape cassettes! Right in the same category with the old analog photography stuff. Jean Peterson let us kids listen to pop music on the headphones, probably just so we'd stay subdued and out of trouble. Many of us were "rambunctious."
Not really uplifting
School could be unpleasant in those days. Many courses could be difficult and the "honor rolls" were nothing like today. Many were called, few were chosen, that is for the 'A' grades and maybe even the B's. So were we stupid? Of course that's not the point.
School was set up in ways to be a difficult regimen much like being in the military. Well, the WWII generation was at its peak of influence then. They could have stood up to power with regard to the Vietnam war. But I sensed that a lot of them were in a trance about wars, thinking that it was necessary every so often for the U.S. to do that sort of thing. Shockingly, you could be stigmatized or vilified for even being a war skeptic.
And today in the age of Trump, his vast following has suddenly done a reversal from the traditional so-called "conservative" ethos and decided that foreign wars are a crock for the U.S. You might be branded a peacenik, communist, hippie or low-life slacker in an earlier time. This scared off many people, I feel, from coming forward with their genuine thoughts about the war.
Imagine wanting "peace!"
The war was a huge backdrop in the growing-up years for the Class of '73. Four months before we graduated, the Paris Peace Accords were signed which ended the direct U.S. involvement in the war. The "fall of Saigon" did not happen until 1975. Today the U.S. has favorable relations with the same people who we thought it so important to fight.
The bottom line: it was none of our business being over there. But the older generation was fueled by memories of "the good war" of WWII which the U.S. so gallantly won. I guess that's what it was all about. And my generation got dragged along, miserably, in the wake.
Makes us wonder if the human species is really that intelligent.
To get an appreciation of what my generation had to deal with in terms of the zeitgeist, consider the song "Okee from Muskogie," Merle Haggard. The song criticized the young people who were protesting war, on the basis that we needed to support the troops who were "fighting to make others free."
Where can we begin in deconstructing that?
My, our U.S. leaders had so much pride in its military, it directed the soldiers not to wear their uniforms on the way home at the end. As far as soldiers being "spit on" at airports, that is largely if not entirely myth. This has been documented. It's what you'd call a popular meme.
Do you recall welcome-home celebrations for the returning troops from Vietnam? I mean, like the huge celebration here in Morris for the National Guardsmen when they got back from Iraq? What an unnecessary event. What an unnecessary commitment to even have these young men sent to Iraq. If nothing else, why could not the U.S. have used its regular military? George W. Bush ordered the whole thing and tapped into the old Merle Haggard ethos: let's brand the protesters as college counterculture types - that'll do it.
Leading conservative commentator Laura Ingraham says today she "retracts her support for the Iraq war." War or invasion, whatever. Hey Laura, you can't "retract" that. More recently she has attacked the capitol police offers who testified for the Jan. 6 committee. So strange: I thought "conservatives" support law enforcement. And now they seek to demonize the FBI and DOJ. We are so human an animal.
We step aside and let this elderly man named Rupert Murdoch control public opinion so much. Why do we allow that? We are fallible human beings. Might the very existence of the USA crumble because of that? We came so close to having an autocratic form of government take over in 2021. Our own congressperson Michelle Fischbach helped push that effort along, as she was seemingly in a trance of devotion to Trump. She refuses to answer my questions about whether she's proud of her public statement on Jan. 6.
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| Michelle Fischbach |
Think things through
You see, there are so many dangers inherent in just letting democracy die. Most Trump supporters have barely thought of that. Once democracy is gone, all bets are off, really truly. And the people would lose their license for recourse, whether the preferred prescription would be conservative or liberal. It's gone.
And Fischbach was good with having a dagger applied to democracy. We might still have elections but they would be of the sham kind. Trump and his acolytes would cleverly pull the strings. He has "lawyers" do his bidding with every little thing. Like Rudy Giuliani, who appears too unstable to even serve as a local city attorney anywhere. Didn't this erratic person with alcohol issues go out like an attack dog for the former president?
My Class of '73 was hearing about Watergate when we got our diplomas. A big difference was that Nixon in his fading period never stopped respecting the rule of law. Now? Heaven help us.
My MHS Class of '73 is having its 50-year reunion this September. We pray we do not lose any more from our ranks before then. I had to survive my own rather serious health issues a few months ago. My presence at the reunion, if I choose to attend, would be credited to "Dr. Sam." I should write a song about him.
Addendum: Here's a comment that I posted with a Yahoo News article on Wednesday:
Why do some of us allow this fellow named Rupert Murdoch to be a "kingmaker?" Can't we all think for ourselves? Let's see, so many Republicans have an issue with Joe Biden's age. What is Murdoch's status on that count? What's wrong with just enjoying a nice comfortable retirement at that age? Biden too? Well touche. But Murdoch aggravates me. He is not elected.
"Eddie" shared a response. Thanks Eddie.
Exactly. Why are we allowing an old wrinkled Australian billionaire steer the Electorate to HIS candidate pick? You can thank Reagan for fast tracking his immigration to the US. Enough already.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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