Time to Think

Are the times changing?  By Hank Silverberg (Washington, DC March, 24, 2018)                                                                                            C ome senators, congressmen                                              Please heed the call                                             Don't stand in the doorway               ...

Monuments and Myths By Hank Silverberg            There it is again. My trip to work up and down I-95 takes me past a great big flagpole displaying the Stars and Bars--what most people call the Confederate Flag. It towers above the highway and with some irony is easier to see going southbound. The location of that oversized flag has been the subject of  controversy for a few years now, but it’s not going anywhere. It’s displayed on private property and several attempts to have it removed have failed despite its offensive message for many people. The First Amendment protects the property owner's right to display it. If you visit Virginia’s state capital and travel down Monument Avenue you will find more tributes to the insurrection that led to four years of Civil War. There’s Robert E Lee, Stonewall Jackson, J.E.B. Stuart and Jefferson Davis. Visit any courthouse in Virginia and throughout the south and you will see monuments ...

Echoes of 68 By Hank Silverberg “What we need in the United states is not division. What we need in the United States is not hatred. What we need in the United States is not violence and lawlessness. But its love and wisdom and compassion towards one another --a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country . ”          Those words were spoken 50 years ago by Robert F. Kennedy, on April 4 ,1968. He was   running for President and heading for a campaign stop in inner city Indianapolis, Indiana, when word came that Martin Luther King, Jr. had been assassinated in Memphis. The local police and his security detail advised Kennedy to cancel the appearance, fearing that as word spread there would be violence.  Kennedy chose instead to mount the back of a flat-bed truck, and tell the mostly black audience about Dr. King ’s murder. His tone was somber, his words cautious. You could see to genuine sorrow in his face...

Time to Think By Hank Silverberg Talkin’ Baseball        Can you hear it? The crack of the bat? The smack of the ball in the glove? The chatter of the infielders? The boys of summer are back at it in Florida and Arizona getting ready for the start of a new baseball season ,  and that has made my heart flutter.        Like millions of people across the country, America’s pastime brings out the good things in life:  s itting in the bleacher seats with your d ad or your high school buddies , the smell of the fresh cut grass , the taste of a steamed hot   dog and some C racker J acks.     If you played the game on any level like I did,   from 8 to 62 , the renewal each spring reminds you of that great catch you made to save the game at 15, that bonehead play you made to lose a game at 21, or the dive to catch a fly ball that resulted in a separated shoulder at 55 years old . What happ...