Time to Think

Memorial Day By Hank Silverberg (Note to readers: Portions of this Memorial Day blog are reworked from the Memorial Day blog from last year.  Memorial Day 2020. The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for 19 years. Including the war in neighboring Iraq, more than 6,900 members of the American military have been killed, and more than 52,000 have been wounded in this country’s longest war.  But if you ask most Americans what sacrifices they have made during the so called “war on terror,” you will get a quizzical look.  Unless they have served or have a close friend or relative who has served in the last two decades, they can’t answer the question. Memorial Day began after the Civil War as Decoration Day. Individual communities would place flags or wreaths on the graves of their war dead, mostly in northern states. The first official Decoration Day was in upstate New York on May 5th, 1866. It was in a town, ironically called Wat...

The Messenger by Hank Silverberg  "Kill the messenger!"  The origin of that concept is in dispute.  Greek historian Sophocles referred to it in 446 B.C.E., and so did Shakespeare in  Henry IV   in 1598. But the idea that the bearer of bad news should take the blame for that news has never been right.  (Shakespeare) The messenger is just that, a messenger.  He didn't create the bad event he is heralding, nor in most instances could he or she have changed it.  The trouble is, leaders, especially those with big egos or self-centered ideology, never quite understand that. In ancient times, a messenger who brought a King bad news was often beheaded.   Today we have  Donald J. Trump who acts like a King sometimes even though he does NOT have the power of one.  His cry of "fake news" is centered on the concept that he can do no wrong and therefore the messenger is to be blamed for a bad message. He has called jour...