Tag: Patriotism

Can you hear it? Faint sounds of shovels into dirt, nails into wood, sandbags hoisted into place.

They’re growing faint with time. It’s been an even century now. Yes, during the autumn of 1914 soldiers dug trenches. They prepared for winter. They prepared for defense.

During September 1914, French and British troops halted the German advance toward Paris. They managed to force a retreat — but not a great long one.

A trench was not a new defense. Both sides used them during the American Civil War. Moats and trenches around castles spotted the European battlefields centuries before that.

But the Great War, now known as WWI, brought trench warfare to it’s pinnacle. (Or low point if you were an infantryman.)

Trenches defined the front lines. No-man’s land came to mean the killing field between the opposing army trenches. Yes, lines shifted at times. Trenches would be captured with their supplies, communication equipment, and soldiers.

And the trenches killed men. They killed with a portion would collapse. They killed with wet and penetrating cold in winter. They killed with disease.

Can you hear something else? The silence. Four long, deadly years after those first trenches were constructed outside of Paris — the guns go silent. Armistice. Peace. A generation will grow to manhood and pick up arms to fight armies across many of the same miles.

Salute a veteran today. Remember a veteran today. Pause for a minute at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month.

From 1793 until 1933, a span of 140 years and 36 United States presidential election cycles, this was Inauguration Day. I went looking for a few fun facts to mark the occasion. I won’t attempt to be inclusive.

The most popular location for the ceremony was the East Portico, US Capitol, Washington, DC. Andrew Jackson in 1829 was the first to be sworn in at that location. Other sites within Washington DC have been the Senate Chamber, House of Representative Chamber and two outdoor sites – The Front of the Old Brick Capital in 1817 and In front of the Original Senate Wing with McKinley in 1897. Jefferson in 1805 was the final president to take the oath in Philadelphia. Washington was the only one – first term only – to be sworn in in New York.

Washington, a name that should be familiar, also made the shortest speech. In 1793 when taking the oath for his second term his speech began with “Fellow Citizens” and contained two paragraphs. A total of 133 words.

Wm. H. Harrison, on the other hand, is a presidential name familiar to less of the population. He took the oath in 1841 on the East Portico and spoke at length. A total of 8443 words according to my source. I skimmed the text and counted twenty-five paragraphs (some near a page in length). His final paragraph began “Fellow-citizens.” Perhaps he should have skipped the first portion and delivered only the last paragraph. Would that have prevented the pneumonia which killed him one month later?

Note to politicians giving outdoor speeches in winter: Be brief and concise.

Today’s the day!

Have you cast your ballot yet? Did you vote absentee? Or do you live where early voting is allowed?

My first presidental ballot was cast absentee as a twenty-one year old college student. My roommate voted also and we witnessed each others ballots. I think our votes cancelled each other.

The first time in my life when a presidental election fell on Nov 6 I was just becoming aware of politics. I remember asking my father after I came home from school if he’d voted. Yes, he did.

Who did you vote for? The loser, he replied. How do you know? The votes haven’t been counted yet. I could see this mountain of paper ballots that needed counting in my mind and the polls just now closing.

It was years later, during another election cycle when I began to understand about projections, polls, and landslide victory in 1956.

Twenty-eight years later I cast my ballot again. By this time our family – two sons added to the husband – had moved several times and changed economic status but not opinions. This was the fourth state I’d lived in and the third where I’d cast a presidential vote along with state and local officials. (Our stay in one state didn’t include a leap year.) My losing streak remained intact.

Today is twenty-eight years later. I’m in a different state now. The sons are grown and will cast ballots in their own juristictions. The husband is an ex and I suspect he will vote – veterans tend to. My plans for the day put a walk to the polling place as a diversion on my regular morning walk.

My reward? I think I’ll continue that morning walk to a restaurant that serves breakfast. Tonight will find me watching the results. Winner or loser – I’ve exercised my civic muscle.