Can we love when we have a breach in relationship? Don’t we hold full responsibility, at least for our part, when a relationship is breached? Is it truly possible to put someone’s interest before ours when we refuse to build bridges?

A couple of definitions are in order to ensure an understanding of what I’m saying here. Love is an action; “to love” is to do something, sacrificially, for another. Sacrificially because we should make ourselves second not first. That is sacrifice. Love is the action of sacrifice.

A breach in relationship is like taking a bridge that binds two souls and sabotaging it. Maybe a few land mines to make it dangerous to cross, or maybe a whole lot more. The breech inhibits the relationship to some level.

Is it possible to truly love another if we are doing something to undermine that relationship? When I am offended it is nothing more than my perception that “me” was harmed. I can choose to plant the land mines in retaliation or I can choose to keep the path across the bridge clear. This later option is sacrificial; it is love. Love is keeping the bridge clear. Love is sacrifice. Love is making your partner # 1. Love is taking my eyes off me.

I recently ran across a blog entry that discussed the dumbing down of society. I wholeheartedly agree with this assessment. We are not stupid, but we treated as if we are stupid. Treating us like this makes us lazy and then we find that we don’t think as much. The old adage about teaching a man to fish also works the other way. You catch a fish for a man so he doesn’t have to fish and soon he won’t bother to fish.

This dumbing down should be an insult to us, but when was the last time we complained about some herbal supplement that promises to do a miracle? Being smart and alert takes effort. Just take a look at our colleges & universities and our new media. We’re told that they want us to think, but if you really think about it, aren’t they feeding us exactly what they want us to think about? We’re told the news is “fair and balanced” or it’s “the news leader”. But aren’t both of these major news networks simply telling us what to think; aren’t they telling us to “trust them”? Are they any better then the herbal supplements that promise we’ll lose 30 lbs in 30 days or those that promise to make us more of a male?

Let’s not let others tell us how to think. I know far too many people who say they won’t let anyone tell them what to think and yet they’ll run to the democratic or republican caucus and ask them what they think.

It takes work but we need to wean ourselves off this dependence on finding out that the “experts” think and truly think for ourselves rather than being deceived into thinking we’re thinking.

Listening. Something so common, yet so underused and misused. I ran across a tidbit in one of my textbooks that provided some food for thought.

This is the Chinese symbol for “to listen”:

I do not propose to know the slightest bit of Chinese and my attempts to verify the validity of this symbols components and further inform my reading audience have been unsuccessful, but I’ll give you what I have.

An aside: Over the years I have heard a lot about the Chinese language and would like to know more about the origins of many of the components of the basic symbols (hint for those looking for that perfect birthday gift – that’s a book to put on my birthday/christmas list). Being the most ancient of written communications it is fascinating to me to see the earliest form of understanding and marvel at how it has been preserved for us.

To listen properly does take undivided attention of the eyes, ears and heart. The ear to hear the sounds, the eyes to see the non-verbals being communicated and the heart to care.

Food for thought.

WASHINGTON — The government will soon be pinging cellphones and posting on websites to warn Americans of impending disasters as it updates its Cold War-era emergency alert system.

By the end of next year, the Homeland Security Department expects to be able to send emergency alerts to cellphones, Internet sites and hand-held computers to reach as many people as possible before a catastrophe strikes, spokesman Aaron Walker said Tuesday. It also seeks to transmit warnings on cable TV channels and satellite radio to supplement the government’s long-tested but never-used national alerts on network channels and AM radio stations.

I do hate to be a pessimist, but… does anyone think that after the infrastructure is set up to communicate with cell phones en masse that that technology won’t, after a few short years, turn into mass advertising? Sure there will be some “opt out” option after a bit of gumbling… wait a second, why in the world would someone not be required to “opt in” to receive the mass advertising? Afterall isn’t it YOU paying the bill, aren’t you the one that should have say over what comes over your phone from the company that you hire to supply service?

I have good reason to see the future this way. Dave’s corollary to Newton’s first law of motion says: “…an object in motion tends to stay in motion, and if that object relates to money you better move over…” The path of the past points toward the future unless something stops it. Just think about these:

1. An outcry has led to “opt out” options for marketing. Do Not Call lists, Do not release my marketing info lists (and on and on) AND now that we have the option to “opt out” these same companies can tell us they care about us. If they really cared, wouldn’t they allow us to NOT receive junk that most don’t want and allow those that want it to “opt in”.
2. Those little television station logos that started out appearing for a few seconds per hour of programming and now remain with us the entire program, except for commercials. Except now they are not just logo’s, they are full blown advertisements for upcoming shows and I have even spotted a few that are even selling a product.

Please tell me I’m looking at the world as a place to be exploited by greedy capitalists and it really isn’t all that bad.

What is it about emotions that completely change our perspective? When we’re feeling good about things it seems like nothing can get us down. When we’re blue, it seems as if everything and everyone is at fault. Logically we know that the world (aka things/people around us) does not change overnight, so WHY is it so completely hard to overlook the “problems” and see then for what they are… minor?

In a solid relationship we need to look past these highs and lows. We need to ride it out and see that there is a median. Especially when we’re at the peak. It sure makes it tough when, as two people, our emotions are up when the others is down. Just a small part if what makes life so very difficult sometimes.

I had fun today adding a Favorite Movies plugin to my blog. Unbelievably, it’s one of the very few that I found. Of course I had to make enhancements to fit my taste. They’re some other much bigger changes that I’d like to make but those will need to wait until a later date when I have time. For now the list is adequate. Maybe upcoming revisions of the plugin will prevent me from this huge step of creating my own plugin. Not likely, but I can dream. The movie list is at the bottom of my personal pages.

OK, I can’t say that I knew what it was called, but I did vaguely know that it existed.

Companies will no longer be able to “sanitize” movies in order to make them appropriate for specific audiences thanks to a federal court ruling over the weekend. Calling their businesses “illegitimate,” Senior U.S. District Court Judge Richard Matsch said movie studios had the right to control the content of their work.By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

In my opinion this is a shame. If I purchase a movie, a book or whatever, I should be allowed to do with it as I please. It is my copy. I am not asking to sell or give away copies. I am asking for the right to edit my own property. Do this ruling imply that I cannot destroy my copy or does that take some special permission. It makes no sense. Can I now no longer tear pages out of my books, highlight words that strike me or in any way ‘alter’ the content.

Let’s get real here! Hollywood does not want us to believe that we, the consumer have rights as well. There is an agenda and our ability to edit content will “harm” that agenda.

Don’t you hate it when a company does something that affects you. Like when the bank upgrades their software and for the next 2 months you are trying to prove that you are you; or when the mortgage company tells you month after month that “it’ll be fixed on your next bill”? That happened to my site yesterday. My host sends me emails telling me that there’ll be an outage while they move servers to another computer and location and that all will be normal when they’re done.

I find out this morning that my server side scripts on the site no longer function. Surprise, surprise. All looked well until I noticed that it all looked too well. Silence. Then a little investigative work and I find the silence was artificially induced. Now I’ve got to spend what may amount to a few hours troubleshooting a problem that they created. I ran into a similar situation about 9 months ago with this same provider. Is this what I get when I go with the lowest bidder?

I am amazed at the number of high school kids that I speak to who have no idea what the 4th of July is all about. All of them know that this is a day of fireworks but more than 50% had no idea what it was this country is celebrating. This does not bode well for a country on its 230th birthday.

The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th, 1776. On one hand I can see that this is just another historical fact. In and of itself it’s just another one of the growing number of facts that we have to teach our kids. But on a grander scale doesn’t the understanding of this day and its significance help to encourage a sense of loyalty to country otherwise known as patriotism.

Maybe the concept of patriotism is the source of the diminishment of this day. It seems that more and more patriotism is not an attribute to be praised or encouraged. In a recent college course that I took, “patriotism” was flagged as a buzzword that should automatically raise red flags. Granted, words can be hijacked and used as rhetoric to influence the masses but should we allow weakening of concepts which are foundational to this country.

I think it is important to teach and remember the lofty principles that this nation was founded on.

• S-1 Class Submarine (Holland-type)
• Keel laid: April 16, 1919 at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Quincy, MA
• Launched: September 20, 1922
• Displacement: 854 tons surfaced, 1,062 tons submerged
• Length: 219′ 3″
• Beam: 20′ 8″
• Depth limit: 200′
• Complement: 4 officers, 34 enlisted
• Armament: four 21″ torpedo tubes, 12 torpedoes, one 4″/50 deck gun

On June 20, 1944, LCDR J.G. Campbell assumed command of S-28, his first command. The ship had finished a normal upkeep period on June 12 and continued on her assigned duty of training enlisted personnel and engaging in sonar exercises with ships under control of COMDESPAC.

On July 3, S-28, in accordance with orders from COMDESPAC, got underway from the Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor, to conduct a week’s normal operations. During the day on July 3, S-28 acted as a target for anti-submarine warfare vessels until about 1700 local time. At that time she made two practice torpedo approaches on the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter RELIANCE. On July 4, S-28 again carried out sonar exercises as on the previous day, and at 1730 again undertook a practice approach on RELIANCE.

At 1730 S-28 dived about four miles distant from RELIANCE. At about 1805 RELIANCE made sound contact with S-28 at a range of 1700 yards. The range decreased to about 1500 yards and then steadily increased, as the bearing drifted aft. Although sound contact was temporarily lost by RELIANCE at 3,000 yards, she picked up the submarine again at 3,300 yards. At 1820, with range 4,700 yards, RELIANCE permanently lost sound contact with S-28. At no time during the approach or the ensuing sound search were distress signals from S-28 seen or heard, nor was any sound heard which indicated an explosion in S-28.

When by 1830, S-28 had not surfaced or sent any signals, RELIANCE retraced her course and tried to establish communication with her. Although previous tests had showed that no difficulty would be experienced in exchanging messages by sound gear at ranges up to 2,000 yards, RELIANCE was unable to contact S-28. The Coast Guard vessel called in other vessels from Pearl Harbor at 2000, and a thorough search of the area was instituted, lasting until the afternoon of July 6, 1944. A slick, which was unmistakably made by diesel oil, was the only sign of S-28.

The Court of Inquiry which investigated the sinking determined that S-28 sank shortly after 1820 on July 4, 1944 in 1400 fathoms of water. Because of the depth of the water, salvage operations were impossible. The Court recorded its opinion that S-28 lost depth control “from either a material casualty or an operating error of personnel, or both, and that depth control was never regained. The exact cause of the loss of S-28 cannot be determined.” The Court found, further, that, “the material condition of S-28 was as good or better than that of other ships of her class performing similar duty,” and that “the officers and crew on board S-28 at the time of her loss were competent to operate the ship submerged in the performance of her assigned duties.”

It was stated that the loss of S-28 was not caused by negligence or inefficiency of any person or persons.

S-28 was awarded one battle star for her services in World War II.

Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet

Patch(es) were obtained from:
NavSource Online (Submarine Photo Archive).
Originally contributed by Don McGrogan, BMCS, USN (ret.)