Went to Franklin's "life celebration" last night. What a spectacular sight it is to approach Atlantic City in the dark! The casinos are dazzling with light and you'd swear you were in some big, sophisticated world capitol, instead of poky little south Jersey. In Brigantine, the whole gigantic Borgata is kind of "wrapped" in a light show; it's breath-taking.
Or maybe I'm just easily impressed.
I had thought the "life celebration" (idiotic--see yesterday's entry) was some kind of ceremony, sermon, or talk, scheduled from 6 to 7, as it said int he paper. However, when it got to be 6:20, I surmised it was simply a viewing without the whole body (which was reduced to ashes and contained in a little wooden box). After I extended my condolences to the family, identified myself as F.'s fellow Holy Spirit grad, and told them when a great guy he was, I sat for a while, then left. I was disappointed that the only one there I knew was Don M., also our classmate and a devotee of Padre Pio and the idea that only those baptized can go to heaven.
It's all right for people to believe what they believe--it's fine! I object only to those who think I should, too, and preach to that effect. Of course, they want always to explain and promote their own religion, but never want to hear about yours, if any. That's Don for ya--in spades. However, he was relatively mild last night and I was able to get away without being prayed over.
Wider: Hey, what about "the good war"--WW II? Weren't we utterly blameless when we suffered the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor? See a piece by Robert Higgs on "The Independent Institute" that explains what went before (something of which Americans seem so often to insist on remaining ignorant) and quoted by Arthur Silber. Higgs talks about the actions of the U.S. that were tantamount to war tactics, then writes of Japan's retaliation:
"Washington knew...that Japan's "measures" would include an attack on Pearl Harbor.[4] Yet they withheld this critical information from the commanders in Hawaii, who might have headed off the attack or prepared themselves to defend against it. That Roosevelt and his chieftains did not ring the tocsin makes perfect sense: after all, the impending attack constituted precisely what they had been seeking for a long time. As Stimson confided to his diary after a meeting of the war cabinet on November 25, 'The question was how we should maneuver them [the Japanese] into firing the first shot without allowing too much danger to ourselves.'[5] After the attack, Stimson confessed that 'my first feeling was of relief ... that a crisis had come in a way which would unite all our people.'"
Sound familiar? Think WTC.