May 27, 2013 By: Juanita Jean Herownself Category: Uncategorized
Welcome to The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc.
My name is Susan DuQuesnay Bankston. I live in Richmond, Texas, in the heart of Tom DeLay's old district. It's nuttier than squirrel poop here.
I am honored and privileged to know Miss Juanita Jean Herownself, hairdresser extraordinary and political maven. Since she does not have time to fiddle with this internet stuff, I type her website for her and you can read it if you want to. If you don't, she truly does not give a big bear's butt.
A lot of what I post here has to do with local politics, but you probably have the same folks in your local government.
This ain't a blog. Blogs are way too trendy for me. This is a professional political organization.
Maybe the day will come when soldiers don’t have to go fight wars. Blessings.
1JJ and Marge Wood:
Well said!
For reasons unknown – God, luck, etc – several members of my four birth families and my in-law families saw combat at least as far back as WWI and most recently in Gulf I, and lived to tell their tale, My children’s generation, so far, have not seen combat. I hope our blessing continues if any of those two generations go into harm’s way.
The pain of others’ loss is beyond my experience. It must be overwhelming and lifelong.
2Also remember those who came home with challenges both physical and emotional and their families. They have also sacrificed for us.
3And read this: http://www.stonekettle.com/; one of those soldiers in Afghanistan today is my son, but Jim also urges us to remember to celebrate life.
4I believe war is the ultimate waste. Wars are not won, they can only be lost. Lost by nations that run out of resources first. Money, raw materials, energy, weapons, soldiers, all are resources wasted on fighting an ‘enemy’. That’s what makes dying in war such a tragedy.
5@ DJW … I hope your son comes home to you … whole in both body and mind!
Too many have come home in body but their mind has been so damaged by PTSD … Thank God those military folks are being treated with the compassion they deserve to locate who they are once again!
God bless all of them!!
6I spent today in 2 cemeteries and in both, looked out over a sea of flags. “Grateful” is an understatement. My brother, a Vietnam Vet, was with me as he is every year, helping to decorate the graves of our father, uncles, grandfather and great uncles who fortunately returned home, physically whole, but emotionally damaged. We were grateful as well to the groups who put the flags on all those graves. Let there be fewer very year.
7@djw, I, too, hope your son returns to you soon, safe and sound. One of mine was in Iraq, so I know what you are going through. May blessings be on all who served, those serving now and their families.
8My father was in the army air force in WWII. His crew was assigned to the Pacific, but he was found to have a hernia, so he stayed stateside to have it fixed and his crew– with a replacement, I assume– went without him. They were shot down with no survivors.
My mother told me that after my father died; he never spoke about it. Even those who never saw combat can be wounded.
Thank you, Dad.
9Just wanted to clarify that Dad was ordered to stay for medical reasons; it wasn’t his choice.
10War is what happens when diplomacy fails. The ultimate failure occurs when diplomacy isn’t even attempted. I’m saddened that we seem to have lost much of the meaning behind this day. All too often, it seems to be about sales when it should be about a deap and abiding appreciation for those who willingly gave their lives so we can enjoy the blessings of liberty.
To all of you who have served, or who have a family member who has or is serving our country, my sincerest thanks, we all owe you a debt of gratitude that can never be repaid. But most importantly, we should never allow your sacrifices to be forgotten.
11@marcia, june, and deb–Thanks. This is my son’s second tour in Afghanistan, following one in Iraq. He keeps brushing off thanks because “it’s my job,” but I appreciate everyone who appreciates him.
12A few weeks after I was born, my uncle arrived with the 106th on the border with Germany in the Ardennes Forest. That was Dec. 15, 1944, the day before Hitler’s German armies began the last offensive in WWII, known as Battle of the Bulge. They mowed down US troops until officers finally surrendered to save lives.
My uncle was among the POW’s marched with no food & strafed in trains until arriving at a POW camp near the Poland border, which the Russians liberated 6 mo. later. He returned stateside to be discharged 5 mo. after that. He weighed 90 lbs. and had lost all his hair when he finally arrived back on the farm where it took 10 years of my grandmother’s TLC to become whole again.
Contrast my uncle’s experience with German troops captured & brought to POW camps in the States, who were treated very well & had plenty to eat. When the war ended, they didn’t want to return to Germany to face destruction, starvation & refugees roving the country.
These were just ordinary men living through hell of someone else’s making ~ the ravages of war.
13Moms Hugs aka Eva, I went to college with someone whose father became a POW on his eighteenth birthday, but unlike your uncle, he was captured by the Canadians. He did not go back to Germany, but came South and started a new life in the US.
14Bill ~ The US held over 200,000 Germans in POW camps. Nebraska had 9 such camps that fed the young German men well because they provided labor to nearby farmers whose sons were drafted ~ an odd twist of irony. Many of those young men stayed and made a life here in the States.
15DJW: Thank you for that link to Stonekettle Station. I am reading it now & enjoy it very much. My heart goes out to those whose family members were in Iraq/Afghanistan or are still there. I’m with Jim at Stonekettle with regard to the generation growing up during this past decade who have never known our country at peace like my kids did.
Hugs to all who served or are serving now. ~ Moms
16