Point of view ...

I don't know about you, but I've been up to my belt loops in crap before and I was serving myself a heaping helping of "woe is me" when I realized that where I was and what I was experiencing was just a matter of perspective. 

"Once you've seen there is another perspective, you can never not see that there's another point of view." (Ellen Langer)
 Hooah

One of life's ironies...

February 23, 1945.  

Does that date ring a bell? I think it does for a lot of Marines -- it was the day that the US Flag was raised on Iwo Jima in World War II. 

                      

 Three divisions of Marines (about 10,000 troops per division) landed on Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945 and gradually fought their way inland.They faced heavy resistance, but captured the island on February 23 and succeeded in raising the flag on top of Mount Suribachi. True, this was only the capture of the southern tip of the island and the Marines continued the fight, often foot at a time, until the island was finally secured. Approximately 20,000 Japanese soldiers were killed in this fight, and the Marines suffered 6,000 killed and approximately 25,000 wounded.

So what did I mean by this being ironic? Well, guess who owns the island today -- of course -- Japan.  It was returned to the Japanese in 1968 by Lyndon Johnson as a gesture of good will.

It is pretty much a closed island today and Americans can only visit the island as part of a scheduled tour. Japan is looking to return it to its ancient fishing village heritage.

"There’s something ironic about war. You’re willing to give your life to fight for something you cannot own and may not even understand."

Hooah

It was God's idea ...

Last night our Tuesday men's group watched a presentation called "Where have all the good men gone." It was part of a program called No Regrets, which is a gathering of men (a men's ministry retreat) highlighted by presentations from various speakers focusing on "equipping leaders to disciple the men of their churches and communities." 

This particular presenter, Joby Martin, a pastor in the Jacksonville, FL area, hit on some pretty good points, leading off with this one, "Make no apologies for being a man...it was God's idea."  So I'll let that set in a little and you can see where he's going with his presentation. No regrets for what he says, facts are facts. But as the presentation went on, he got into some thought provoking points.  I took notes so I'll just hit the highlights and let you think about his meaning.

1.  For every mile of road, there are two miles of ditches. Keep yourself on the straight and narrow because there's lots of trouble around you. Men - stay centered.

2.  When does a boy become a man? It used to be that there were only two stages of a male's life -- being a boy and being a man. But today there is a third stage -- it's called being a "dude." So now one goes from being a boy, to being a dude to being a man. Martin points out that "dudes" are the dangerous ones whose life path doesn't always continue on to being a man. Some live in "dudedom" forever.

3.  Society used to have a "right of passage" when a boy became a man. We (Americans) don't universally have that in our culture these days. We don't send our boys out into the wilderness, tell them that we will see them in 10 days or so and they will either survive or become lion food. What happened to that tradition? This particular point resulted in quite a bit of discussion amongst the men of our group.

A big part of Martin's presentation, again, centered on equipping leaders to disciple the men of their churches and communities, was the point he made that men are held responsible for things. Dude's are not. He went on to say:

4.  God held Adam responsible (for his actions in the Garden) even though he was not the first one to sin because he was the man and men are supposed to be responsible. I suspect there might be some (a lot?) of pushback from some readers, but Martin's point was that in the church men are responsible and supposed to be leaders. Again ... No Regrets.

At the end of his presentation, Martin pointed out that when God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden and they saw themselves as naked, they were forced to cover themselves. In order to do this they had to kill animals for their furs and this was the first time that blood was shed as a result of sin. Very interesting point.

So, that was our Tuesday Night Men's Meeting. Lots of really good discussion and I can't wait to see what we'll see and discuss next week.

Parting thought:

    A boy gives false promises, a man honors his commitments.

    A boy thinks of "me," a man thinks of "us."

    A boy blames others, a man takes responsibility.

Your pain is a divine rite of passage through which you will be reborn as a being of strength, wisdom and purpose. Bryant McGill

Hooah 

I know when my rite of passage took place ...

In the entry just above this one, I talk about our American culture not having a tradition of a rite of passage from being a boy to becoming a man. Pastor Joby Martin addressed this in his presentation at the 2025 No Regrets Men's Conference.  

Used to be that men in the village would take all the boys who were soon to be men out into the bush and they would be there for weeks, living off the land, learning how to survive and other manly lessons.  They either came back as men of knowledge or became lion food. We've changed a bit since those days and those cultures.  For the better ? Maybe.  Maybe not.

So the question I have for you is ... when did you become a man? Did you have a "rite of passage" moment?  What about your sons? What do you want for them? Let me tell you about my rite of passage.  

Ever since I was in junior high school, I liked to go hunting, rabbit hunting mostly. We lived out in the country and I had ready access to fields and woods which contained rabbits, and other wild game. I also was great friends with another young man named Gene who lived on a farm. Gene later became my best man at our wedding.  It was on Gene's family farm that I learned how to work, in the fields, in the barns, 10-12 hours days in hot and cold weather. When Gene and I weren't working, we were hunting.  And when I wasn't hunting with him, or playing football, I would go hunting with my dad.  He was a WWII Veteran and he had a handful of his buddies from that war who lived up the road from us. Every year from junior high school through high school graduation, dad and his friends would take me on hunting trips with them. We spent several fall and winter Saturdays out with the dogs, chasing those elusive rabbits. Not only did I learn how to hunt and handle firearms responsibly, I also learned how to clean the game and fix it in the kitchen. Yumm.

Well, a few years after high school graduation, it was time for me to be taken into the Army. I didn't really have a clue what I was getting into, but there I was, standing in the parking lot at the Greyhound bus terminal waiting to board the bus for Ft. Jackson. My wife was there, as were my mom and dad, maybe my sister, and a couple of dad's WWII buddies. The bus pulled into the lot, the door opened and I took a step up to enter that metal beast. 

And there it was -- that first step! I didn't know it, but I was passing over from boyhood to manhood. No turning back, life lessons and hard knocks here I come. I was just hoping that I didn't become lion food! 

So that was my passage. Now that I look back on it, I actually recognize it for what it was and I also realize how lucky I was to have guys like Gene and men like my dad and his buddies mentoring me through those years. 

When was yours? Can you put your finger on it? 

 "It was really an exciting time trying to find my way from being a boy to becoming a man—being toe to toe and eye to eye with grown men, even though I was only 11 or 12."  (Karch Kiraly)

Hooah

Talk about feeling small ...

In the Army, we had a saying that let some young Private (or 2LT😄) know how someone off a higher rank felt about them. The Sergeant would chew on him for a while and then call him a “tick turd” (as in he’s about as valued or important as a “tick turd.”

 

This photo kinda shows how important we are “in the scope of the universe.”

But God still loves us.

 

 No one can make you feel small unless you agree to it first.

 Hooah

  P.S.  Hey Dave, see me. I'm in the picture, there on Earth.  I'm waving to you. 

On this day in history...

Charles Schulz passes (2/12) ...

Last of the original Peanuts strips published (2/13) ...

 

Schulz died at his home on February 12, 2000 at the age of 77, of colon cancer. The last original Peanuts strip was published the next day, Sunday, February 13. Schulz had predicted that the strip would outlive him because the strips were usually drawn weeks before their publication. Schulz was buried at Pleasant Hills Cemetery in Sebastopol, California.

 

As part of his contract with the syndicate, Schulz requested that no other artist be allowed to draw Peanuts. United Features had legal ownership of the strip, but honored his wishes, instead syndicating reruns to newspapers. New television specials have also been produced since Schulz’s death, with the stories based on previous strips; Schulz always said the TV shows were entirely separate from the strip.

 

Schulz was honored on May 27, 2000, by cartoonists of more than 100 comic strips, who paid homage to him and Peanuts by incorporating his characters into their strips that day. (Information borrowed from internet postings)

For those of us who grew up reading these and identifying with all of the characters, February 12 and 13 were very sad days. I can't count how many times I've had the football pulled out from in front of me by some "Lucy" character. And the "World War II Flying Ace" was my hero and inspiration when I was getting my pilot's license.

  

Good stuff to grow up with. Sure beats a lot of the junk in this arena that is out today. Learned a lot of "life stuff" from Mr. Schultz and his cast of characters. One line that I like that is attributed to Charlie Brown goes like this: "SOMETIMES I LIE AWAKE AT NIGHT AND ASK, 'WHERE HAVE I GONE WRONG.' AND THEN A VOICE SAYS TO ME, 'THIS IS GOING TO TAKE MORE THAN ONE NIGHT.'

 

"In the book of life, the answers are not in the back."  (Anon./attributed to Charlie Brown)

 Hooah

Old covered bridge ...

This is a photo of the Eldean covered bridge in Troy, OH.  A friend of mine from there took this picture (with his drone, I think) and it brought back a lot of memories.  One of my favorite memories of this bridge was how each year on Christmas Eve, my wife, my son and I would take a drive around the area at night and always drive through this bridge. It was nice when there was snow on the ground or especially if it happened to be snowing that night. Quiet. Peaceful.

Oh, and BTW, one of the other places we would go at that time of year, was up on the levy in Troy at midnight on New Year's Eve and just sit on one of the swings, listening to the celebrations taking place in places like The Brewery, and the uptown dining places. Cold, but again, peaceful.  

Kinda miss those places and times -- no snow here, no covered bridges and no levys.  Oh well, I also wasn't playing golf up there at those times like I am here in NC. 

Again, those were fond memories, but time marches on.  And like a lot of old memories, I'm sure we thought it was really cold and nasty at the time. 😕

“Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door.” Saul Bellow

Hooah