Cattle Cars

by on November 15, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Humanity has a long tradition of being cruel to fellow humans. Sometimes it is because we don’t care about our fellow man. Sometimes it is because we care too much. The last few weeks have proven that some of us care far too much. Some of us hate too much. If you ever read about the history of the 1930s and wondered what it must have felt like to live then, look at now. Right now. What is happening right now leads to what happened then. To people rounded up, packed into cattle cars, and placed in camps, with their property given to political friends. To undesirables sent to the gas chambers. What is happening right now leads to that. We can still stop it. We still have time. But the time runs short.

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Home

by on November 14, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I am home now. The place I’ve hung my hat up in for the last 30 years. Literally the exact house. I lived in more houses than I can remember the first 16 years of my life. I went to 13 schools. Kennedy in Hays was the one school I went to for 3 years. Every other school was at best a year at a time. I went to 3 schools in second grade. So when me and Mom put down roots, we sunk them deep. It is good to be home and sleeping in my own bed. And getting ready to go back to my own job. It is good.

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Home

by on November 13, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I’m on the way home now. The third place I have called home in my life. The first was Northern Minnesota where I was born and spent the first years of my life. The second is Western Kansas where I spent my formative years growing from a child to a young adult. And the third is Southeastern Minnesota where I grew from a young adult to an adult. Though there are many who may argue that I never truly grew up. Hehehe. The point is that I am going home. After seeing the home I grew up in for the first time in 30 years. And realizing just how beautiful it was and is. Yes, it is a harsh land, and now I return to a land that is far more comfortable. Far more livable for a Northman such as myself. But I found beauty, and I will not forget it.

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Funeral

by on November 12, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I went to a funeral yesterday. It took place back where I grew up but haven’t seen in thirty years. And I visited with family I haven’t seen in years. It has been both a good and a hard trip. The grief is real. Sons lost their father. A wife lost her husband. It will always be hard. But there will always be good in there as well. The key is to mix as much good as possible into the grief, and know that nothing will wipe the grief away. It has to be endured. And that is both good and hard.

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Veterans Day

by on November 11, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 111th month, we remember the end of The Great War. The War To End All Wars. This is Armistice Day. This has been folded into Veterans Day here in America as more wars have joined the pantheon of conflict, a remembrance of all Veterans who have served in defense of America. I have not served, but my cousins and uncles and other family members have served in the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and Marines. My family all came home, so we are able to celebrate their service and return. We should all seek to remember them today. So we never forget what they served to protect.

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