QUARANTINE BLOG # 513

August 25, 2021

Through stone architecture and bronze sculptures, the World War II Memorial recognizes the ways Americans served, honors those who fell, and recognizes the victory they achieved to restore freedom and end tyranny around the globe.

The Memorial consists of 56 pillars, representing U.S. states and territories, and a pair of small triumphal arches for the Atlantic and Pacific theaters, surrounding an oval plaza and fountain.  

The Memorial includes two inconspicuously located “Kilroy was here” engravings.  Their inclusion in the memorial acknowledges the significance of the symbol to American soldiers during World War II and how it represented their presence and protection wherever it was inscribed.

The Freedom Wall is on the west side of the plaza, with a view of the Reflecting Pool and Lincoln Memorial behind it.  The wall has 4,048 gold stars, each representing 100 Americans who died in the war.  In front of the wall lies the message “Here we mark the price of freedom.”

In 1987, World War II veteran Roger Durbin approached Representative Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat from Ohio, to ask if a World War II memorial could be constructed.  It took 5 years for a bill to finally be passed and on September 30, 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed a 12-member Memorial Advisory Board to begin the process of picking the site, designing the Memorial, and raising money to build it.  Ground was broken in September 2001.  The Memorial opened to the public on April 29, 2004, and was dedicated on May 29.

👎  Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp issued an executive order last Thursday that allows businesses to not comply with local mask or COVID-19 vaccine mandates meant to stop the spread of the coronavirus.  Kemp is the latest governor to hamper local responses to the virus despite a surge of new cases from the Delta variant.  Georgia on Thursday reported more than 7,000 new coronavirus cases and 46 deaths from the virus, following almost 5,000 cases and 42 deaths on Wednesday, according to state data.

👉  There wasn’t a single ICU bed available in Alabama one week ago today, a possible sign of what other states may confront soon amid a deadly surge of new infections in parts of the United States with low vaccination rates.  ICU beds, where hospitals’ critically ill patients are treated, are filling up across Southern states, and Alabama is one of the first to run out.  The Alabama Hospital Association said on Wednesday night that there were “negative 29” ICU beds available in the state, meaning there were more than two dozen people being forced to wait in emergency rooms for an open ICU bed. 

👉  In QB 511, I played a couple of songs – stories in song – by Tom T. Hall.  Another writer/singer who tells stories in song is Gordon Lightfoot, often referred to as Canada’s greatest songwriter.  One of my favorites is “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

The “Fitz” was an ore carrier, built to sail on the Great Lakes.  The largest ship of her kind, she was 730 feet long, 75 feet wide, with a 25 foot draft.  She sank in Lake Superior during a storm on November 10, 1975, with the loss of the entire crew of 29 men.  Sometime between 7:10 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., the “Fitzgerald” simply disappeared.  

The cause was never determined, but in a storm where waves were often 10-12 feet higher than the ship, a hatch or hatches might not have been secured, or, because there was no depth finding equipment on board, she may have struck an underwater obstruction which caused her to sink.  Whatever the cause, she was found in 500 feet of water, split in half.  

On November 20, 1976, barely a year after the disaster, Lightfoot released his song which reached number 1 in Cashbox and number 2 for two weeks in the Billboard Hot 100, making it Lightfoot’s second-most-successful single behind “Sundown.”  Here is Gordon Lightfoot and “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”

👉  Some more thoughts on aging and other stuff.

• Sometimes it takes me all day to get nothing done.

• I’d grow my own food if only I could find bacon seeds.

• Losing weight doesn’t seem to be working for me, so from now I’m going to concentrate on getting taller.

• Day 12 without chocolate...lost hearing in my left eye.

• My body is a temple, ancient and crumbling, perhaps cursed or haunted.

👉  Some smilies before we close:

👉  Today’s close is “You Make the Trenches.”  I copied these paragraphs almost a year ago and did not record who wrote them.  To that author, I apologize.

And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches. For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts (2 Kings 3:16-17).

Three armies were perishing of thirst, and the LORD interposed.  Although He sent neither cloud nor rain, yet He supplied an abundance of water.  He is not dependent upon ordinary methods but can surprise His people with novelties of wisdom and power.  Thus are we made to see more of God than ordinary processes could have revealed.

Although the LORD may not appear for us in the way we expect, or desire, or suppose, yet He will in some way or other provide for us.  It is a great blessing for us to be raised above looking to secondary causes so that we may gaze into the face of the great First Cause.

Have we this day grace enough to make trenches into which the divine blessing may flow?  Alas!  We too often fail in the exhibition of true and practical faith.  Let us this day be on the outlook for answers to prayer.

As the lady who went to a meeting to pray for rain took an umbrella with her, so let us truly and practically expect the LORD to bless us.  Let us make the valley full of ditches and expect to see them.

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