Dinner with the "Dine Around Crowd" at the Shark's Fin Inn in Forked River last night. It was a pleasant evening, but I'm annoyed with myself for over indulging. Earlier, I was just about to Skype the two in Tokyo when they Skyped me. Hmm...guess "Skype" has become a verb. Well, it is in my family. Talked to sister Betty and daughter Ellen.
I hope to get Pat's clothes donated to the thrift store this morning. For some reason, it seems urgent to me.
Tomorrow, Pat's old friend, Bob E., is having the 7:15 mass at St. James "said" for him (if you're Catholic, you know what that means, if not, doesn't matter) and I'm going to go. Think I'll call somebody down there to see if they want to meet for breakfast.
Wider: The NYTimes has been running a series on women in the military. Yesterday's chronicled the problems of those who have dependent children and are deployed overseas. It seems to me beyond belief that any mother, at any time, for any reason could decide to enlist. For that matter, same goes for any father--any person who swallows the propaganda of government, big business, and--all too often--religion that people should feel a stronger obligation to that unholy alliance than to their children. There were some good comments; here's my rather mild one:
"The ONLY reason for this push to have women fight alongside men in the armed forces is that the ruling class is running out of cannon fodder. They have to have more and more bodies to go to other countries and help in slaughtering other people's children--oops! I mean, "'fight for our freedom.'"
I was struck by another comment that included the horrified cry, "What have we become?"
What indeed? That we "honor" those who kill in our name is bad enough, but to encourage mothers to sacrifice their children's welfare in order to assist in that killing, should prompt that cry from every American.
What have we become?