Uncle Thor's Lessons, Anecdotes and Humor

The “Occupy” movement is winding down. In several cities, the camps are being removed by force. Problems are creeping into their camps. For example, the homeless and street creeps are moving into several of the camps. Disease is also a problem as we enter the cold and flu season. The various Occupy camps have made a ruckus, but they have not made a difference.

The only known figure from the camps is an Iraq war veteran who was badly injured by police. None of the Occupy camps have produced recognized leaders or spokesmen. While they are fueled by economic discontent, none have actually put pressure on the financial entities. They should have made some kind of wider impact by now. Instead, the adherents of the Occupy movement content themselves to keep their camps going.

The purpose of the movement is a good one. They want to call attention to the economic woes and how the financial leaders have run roughshod over the people. In this time of dashed economies with no end in sight, the Occupy movement calls attention to something that affects all of us. They have a good idea but they do not have effective ways to implement it. For instance, they have not put a face to either side of the issue. There are no leaders of such impact as to put a face on the movement. On the other hand, they have not identified opponents who put a face on their adversaries.

The Occupy camps have become more of a neighborhood nuisance than a challenge to the institutions and individuals they oppose. Their marches and other activities do more to hinder average folks than the people behind our financial difficulties.

The Occupy movement lacks leadership, focus, direction and a personal appeal. Time is running out. The movement is losing the battle of attrition. It has already lost the initiative. They had a lot of people and energy. In order for energy to do anything, it has to be focused and directed into productive directions.

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One of the bogeymen of the current crisis is the Bank of America. Its policies, such as new fees, have angered people because the bank had taken bail-out money. People feel betrayed. Another betrayal is that the Bank of America allows illegal aliens to get accounts. In some towns, such as mine, the Bank of America looks more like Banco Mexico. It is pretty weird to feel like a foreigner in your own bank. Bank of America is no longer my bank.

Most of the people holding Bank of America accounts had used other banks that were acquired by Bank of America.

My wife and I took our money out of Bank of America and put our money in a credit union that supports military personnel and veterans. Frankly, I have a feeling things are only going to get worse with Bank of America, and I sincerely doubt it will remain intact. My prediction is that Bank of America will be crumbling by six months and will be a non-entity within two years.

I own a few combat knives and bayonets. Missing was the bayonet from my era. That would be the M7. I bid on one on Ebay earlier this past week. Something drew me to that particular bayonet as there were several offered.

The bayonet arrived and brought a coincidence. Stenciled on the back of the scabbard was B 1/113. That meant B company of the 1st battalion of the 1113th Infantry. The 1st of the 113th was in Jersey City. The unit was mechanized infantry and served as part of the 50th Armored Division. It has since been disbanded due to reorganization.

After my regular Army service from `72 to `74, I had joined the 1st Battalion of the 113th Infantry of the New Jersey National Guard. I stayed there until early 1980.

There was no mention of the stencil on the item description, nor was it visible in the photograph.

Coincidence? I contacted the seller to ask where he acquired it. He replied that he bought it at a government auction. He was pleased intrigued to learn of the situation. BTW – the item had been in Syracuse, New York when I bid on it.
My American Legion post provided one of the color guards for yesterday’s ceremony in Freehold Township to honor Veterans’ Day. After the ceremony ended, I had been talking to someone about the 113th. Strange coincidence, is it not?

Our oldest cat, Leif, died last night. I found him on the floor this morning, as if he were resting. He was at least 13 years old. Last night he looked like he was having a little trouble with something, but it passed. Ironically, he was scheduled to go to trhe vet Saturday. Leif was a great old cat. Our second cat to pass in the last four months. We got him in the Tinton Falls shelter in 2000. He will be missed.

World war II from the Ground. My latest book – this one was to coincide with a talk I gave at my American Legion post. The topic is not Heathen, but the author certainly is. Please take a look.

http://www.thortrains.net/toysoldierart/ww2-from-the-ground.htm
Hilse!

Uncle Thor

Moammar Qaddafi was killed today. For a man who ruled a nation for 42 years, his end was particularly ignominious. Qaddafi’s convoy had been attacked by NATO jets. He ran and hid inside a culvert. A ragtag army of rebels dragged him from the pipe, beat him, and pushed him. Someone shot him with a pistol. They rolled his body on the pavement, and then propped it on a truck. The rebels rode about displaying the dead dictator.

Should he have been held and put on trial? Perhaps. However, there are many kinds of justice. Sometimes justice is a brawl in the sand and a bullet to the head. Under other circumstances, we might call it a form of street justice. This particular brand of North African street justice had been filmed for the world to see.

Perhaps one of them had read Hranfnkel’s Saga and realized that a capable adversary cannot be left alive to cause more trouble.

Street justice is not always just. Back in the late 1980s I had dealt briefly with one of the boys from the Howard Beach incident. This was in a professional capacity. He knew that I understood matters of the street and the kind of nonsense it engenders. He said, “You know how it is. One bunch of guys starts yelling at another bunch of guys, and they yell back and then it happens.” Yes, it can happen like that. It is not justice, street or otherwise. It is just a stupid confrontation over nothing. There are lots of them among young men, but the difference in Howard Beach is that someone got killed. These are the mindless altercations fought with baseball bats, broken tree limbs, pipes, broke bottles and cheap knives.

Ironically, I had occasion to speak to one of the fellows who was a friend of the man who died at Howard Beach. There was no justice for anyone. Howard Beach became a political show. Once the media and politicians got involved, nothing useful was done.

There are many things we might call justice. Some are just, some are crude justice, and some are no justice at all. What happened in Libya was the result of the outrage of the people. On the other hand, street justice is usually nothing more than bad attitudes and retaliation. Learn to discern the difference.

When I gave my lecture on World War II last week, I mentioned something that puts the times in perspective. Seven decades ago, the picture of a Japanese soldier evoked feelings of hostility. We were at war. When the atom bomb was dropped on Japan, many people here though they deserved it.

Time and attitudes have changed.

Last year, in the days after the Japanese tsunami, a picture of a smiling Japanese soldier was published around the world. He was holding an infant. His patrol found the infant alive amid all the death and destruction around him. The picture evoked good feelings worldwide.

When the tsunami hit Japan, we were horrified. .Most of us were mortified when we saw the destruction. We were saddened to see the Japanese people suffer like that.

World War II is over a very long time ago. Some of us study it as a hobby. The war itself is over. The old hatreds are gone. The old politics are defunct. Humanity has moved on. We can use the past as a distant aiming point from which to plot our course, but we cannot make it the factor that determines how we live today. We must live in these times according to the necessities of this day.

Like most of you, we are facing hard economic times. We have been hit, and hit hard. This is a hostile economy. The political leaders of all parties have been ineffective in blunting the financial follies. Bank and credit card companies have contributed to the mess. I mention this because you are likely feeling the same economic crush as us.
This economic crash was not caused by folks like you and us. Its cause was the greed of financial institutions and the connivance of a few politicians. We see that. We see the continuing pattern of greed as banks raise their rates and find new ways to charge fees. (I have dodged the bullet of fees by switching to USAA. If you are a veteran, you might want to check them out.)
Life happens for good and bad. For most, it can make or break them. For us, we make it. No matter what comes, we always have the choice of how to respond. Win, lose or draw, we decide how we will stand when all is said and done. Living victoriously is a matter of choice.
One of the things I like to reference is a paper Japanese doll. It is printed with the image of a rather stern looking fellow named Daruma. The doll is egg-shaped and its bottom is weighted. When it is thrown, it bobbles and rolls, but always ends upright. There is a slogan that goes with the doll: “Fall down seven times, rise eight!”
That is a wonderful attitude. It certainly fits these times. We can all take to heart the message of the paper Daruma doll. Take wisdom where we find it. A paper Japanese doll is an allegory to the attitude for living victoriously.
Fall down seven times, rise eight.

“Over the years, I have been asked many questions about World War II by people who have little or no military knowledge. Most of them are individuals who enjoy war movies, documentaries and casual reading. They are not seeking minute details or lengthy explanations. They just want to know that plain facts. And I have always given them the answers they wanted.

“World War II from the Ground is a primer for understanding the mechanics of soldiering, weapons and combat techniques of the individual soldier. It explains a multitude of items and their use, from field gear to mortars, jeeps to heavy tanks. The heavily-illustrated book puts all the facts in the reader’s hands. It explains the items and how they are used.

“If you are one of the folks mentioned above, World War II from the Ground is the book you need. You will understand everything you see onscreen on the documentaries and videos. You will know what they are doing, why, and how they are doing it. The odd routines and strange vehicles will no longer be alien. They will be familiar. Better yet, you will know exactly what they are doing.

“World War II from the Ground is our latest work. Please tale a look. We are justifiably proud of it and hope that you will enjoy it, too.”

http://www.thortrains.net/toysoldierart/ww2-from-the-ground.htm

When you examine spiritual things with cold objectivity, you get an extremely different perspective. Things become clear. All of the nonsense of religious guilt, fanaticism and concepts of divine retribution fade into nothingness. What emerges is not an answer, but a new set of questions. These inquiries are rational.

In their search for divinity, the people had invented a gallery of implacable beings whose personalities are a mix of grandfatherly doting and irrational pettiness. They are a collection of extremes, of rewarding small deeds with great largess on one hand and punishing small misdeeds with harsh punishments all out of proportion to the offense. Reason reveals that genuine spiritual entities are not given to such caprice and temperamental instability. The angry, greedy, irrational Gods are the result of human misunderstanding.

Spiritual progress demands a clear route of investigation. This is only possible when we dispense with the old superstitions and let reason lead the way. it is the height of stupidity to believe in angry or needy or malicious deities just because others tell us to do so. We cannot afford to join their folly. There comes a time when we must choose to seek truth, knowing full well that we cannot control the answers our search will reveal. What we believe may have to change in light of new facts. This can happen for those bold enough to step outside the bounds of old beliefs. Better a truth of any kind than living a falsehood, no matter how convenient.

We cannot buy our way into a cushy afterlife by following the guidance of old superstitions. We make our way in this life by letting reason guide us to the facts. If we do that in this life, than the afterlife will take care of itself. Our focus should be on where we live today. A thousand tales of the future are nothing compared to living fully where we are today.

Many years ago, I read a quirky, lengthy science fiction book entitled A Canticle for Liebowitz.

It was about a society that had emerged from nuclear disaster. A result was the people’s condemnation of scientists and other thinkers. In their society, “simpleton” was a compliment. To be thought ignorant was a good thing.

When it comes to religious faith, there are many who prefer ignorance to reason. They take pride in ignoring facts so as to adhere to tenets that have been proven wrong. An obvious example is Creationism wherein people willingly ignore and distort science so as to make it coincide with their beliefs.

Life proves that ignorance is not bliss. Those who persist in tying their trust to old superstitions are holding themselves back. It is the people who are willing to adjust their beliefs to reality that succeed. Those who willingly ignore the facts in favor of something else are setting themselves up for failure.

For one thing, reason does not need to be the antithesis of religion. When we take myth as allegory, we see a recurring theme that extols reason. With few exceptions, the heroes of myth win because they use their intellect. They think, they plan, they use intelligence to overcome their adversaries. Obviously, the religions of old prized reason. When we look at the accomplishments of the polytheistic Greeks, we see that reason led the way.

Once we apply our reason to religion, it becomes obvious that many of the old myths accepted by our current society are foolish. We can get past the silly notion of a “God” sitting in an Astral throne room demanding fawning obeisance while making edicts for the entire universe. Equally silly is the more refined notion of a “Universal engineer” controlling the entire Universe from some cosmic control booth out past the umpteenth galaxy. It becomes obvious that if the term “supreme” means the ultimate and everything, then Supreme Being is an action, not an entity. That being the case, then those beings which polytheists know as “Gods” must be something other than the end all of the Universe.

We have to ask how a vastly superior being could take umbrage at the foibles and follies of mere humans. We have to wonder how anyone could believe that such a being would be offended if we failed to give it the attention it wanted. After all, a sign of maturity is that one does not need attention. If a better person is not egotistical, would we not expect the same of a superior being? The answers are obvious when held to the light of reason. They again reveal the silliness of petty beliefs and petty minds.