kc bob: November 2015

American Sniper | ★★★★★★★★★☆

I cried as the movie ended. I deeply resonated with this American hero. My son spent 28 months on the front lines in Iraq. This movie told a story of what serving in the Iraq War looked like. It is a hard movie because the viewer is confronted with how much our soldiers sacrifice and how little we think about them.

I think that Bradley Cooper did a wonderful job playing Chris Kyle, a decorated Navy SEAL who was known among his SEAL brethren as The Legend and to his enemies as al-Shaitan, “the devil.” Here is Kyle's perspective in his own words.

"It was my duty to shoot the enemy, and I don't regret it. My regrets are for the people I couldn't save: Marines, soldiers, buddies. I'm not naive, and I don't romanticize war. The worst moments of my life have come as a SEAL. But I can stand before God with a clear conscience about doing my job."

The movie was a bit long but worth the viewing. It helped me to engage a bit with the struggles of our soldiers while at the same time it presented an unflattering image of war. On a scale of ten, I give it ★★★★★★★★★☆.

Catch my other mini-reviews by selecting the Movies link in the menu bar above.

US Presidents on War

Mankind must put an end to war before war puts an end to mankind. -John F. Kennedy

Great is the guilt of an unnecessary war. -John Adams

I have never advocated war except as a means of peace. -Ulysses S. Grant

Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die. -Herbert Hoover

War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today. -John F. Kennedy

My first wish is to see this plague of mankind, war, banished from the earth. -George Washington

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. -Thomas Jefferson

Don't forget what I discovered that over ninety percent of all national deficits from 1921 to 1939 were caused by payments for past, present, and future wars. -Franklin D. Roosevelt

There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America. -Barack Obama

Turkey 101

Interesting 'facts' emailed to me by Johnny's Pizza of all places.

I had no clue that people will eat one to two pounds of the stuff on Thursday. 600 million pounds is a boatload of bird.

Can you imagine having the turkey as out national bird? Sometimes I think the image fits more than the eagle.

This year we are, for the first time ever, going out to eat on Thanksgiving with our adult kids.

What are your plans for Thanksgiving?

Gobble! Gobble!

... originally posted in 2010

Clown U and the Thanksgiving Parade

Clowning around is serious work! I spent a recent Saturday morning at “Clown U”, the training session for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade clowns. It was held at the Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center and is a crash course in clowning (which is a lot harder than it looks).
...
The clowns are volunteers, and not just anyone gets to do the job. The clown ranks are made up of Macy’s employees, as well as employee friends and family members. Employees can recommend potential clowns, which is how Betty Regan joined the group this year. Betty told me it’s been a dream of hers for decades. How long? “Fifty years”, she said. “I’m so excited.” Her kids gave her the gift of being a Macy’s Clown this year for her 83rd birthday. “They searched, they were working on it all year.” Betty said she saw her first parade when she was six or seven years old, but wasn’t able to go every year. “We didn’t go often when I was a kid…we had too many kids. I really got crazy about it when I got to be about 55. Everybody I saw (I’d ask) do you work for Macy’s?” Betty told me people ask her why she wants to be in the parade. “I think it’s not a very good question, because I thought everybody wanted to be in the parade!”

... excerpted from an article by Tonya J. Powers ... read it here.

The Note on Justine's Car

To person that left this on my car last week at Mitcham Shopping Centre - I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis when I was 35. Not just MS but the worst one that never goes away and is slowly crippling my life. My kids have had to deal with things that kids shouldn't ever have to deal with and all of our futures are forever changed. On the day you saw me I was having a good day, I was walking with my daughter unaided having a nice day. Thank you for ruining that. You made me feel like people were looking at me, the exact way I feel when I can't walk properly. I am sick of people like yourself abusing me on my good days for using a facility I am entitled to. A disability doesn't always mean a person has to be wheelchair bound but lucky for you I one day will be. Right now my focus is to walk into my best friends wedding next September and not have to be pushed. I will be 42. Before you ruin another persons day remember you don't know everything and just because you can't see it it doesn't mean a person isn't struggling to put one foot in front of the other.

-shared on Facebook by Justine Van Den Borne

Unkind on Random Act of Kindness Day

Did you know that today is a day that encourages the doing of a random act of kindness. Sadly, I blew an opportunity already this morning when I charged ahead of a young gal and her small kids at the bagel shop. If only I knew that today was the day I was supposed to be kind. :(

Guess that is the troubling point. Today impatience got in the way of kindness. Other days selfishness trumps kindness. So many obstacles to kindness. Small wonder that I need to be reminded to do something kind.

What things do you think get in your way when it comes to being kind?

Perhaps if we become self aware we will be kinder and do kind things?

Royals Fever

The party has already started in Kansas City! Tried to get Ann to therapy at the Rehab Institute and had to turn back as the streets were locked up solid. So cool that so many people (100s of thousands) are already downtown waiting for the Royals parade. Loved seeing so many families with little kids walking towards the parade route. Looked out my deck and saw folks walking across the Broadway Bridge heading towards the parade route. Not even traffic jams and the Missouri River can keep these fans away. The city is burning up with Royals fever! Even those of us watching at home are burning up with World Series excitement!

Royals crowned Champions of Baseball

Our city is lit up. Fireworks going off after midnight this morning. 30 years after we won the series in 1985. Sweetness.

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