A Slower Pace

I saw this t-shirt during last weekend’s Chrysalis flight. I want one.

Love All, Worship One

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

5 Facts About Pearl Harbor and the USS Arizona

Excerpted from http://www.history.com/news/5-facts-about-pearl-harbor-and-the-uss-arizona

At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time (12:55 p.m. EST) on December 7, 1941, Japanese fighter planes attacked the U.S. base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, launching one of the deadliest attacks in American history. The assault, which lasted less than two hours, claimed the lives of more than 2,500 people, wounded 1,000 more and damaged or destroyed 18 American ships and nearly 300 airplanes. Almost half of the casualties at Pearl Harbor occurred on the naval battleship USS Arizona, which was hit four times by Japanese bombers

1. Twenty-three sets of brothers died aboard the USS Arizona.
   There were 37 confirmed pairs or trios of brothers assigned to the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941. Of these 77 men, 62 were killed, and 23 sets of brothers died.
2. The USS Arizona’s entire band was lost in the attack.
   Almost half of the casualties at Pearl Harbor occurred on the naval battleship USS Arizona, which was hit four times by Japanese bombers and eventually sank. Among the 1,177 crewmen killed were all 21 members of the Arizona’s band, known as U.S. Navy Band Unit (NBU) 22. Most of its members were up on deck preparing to play music for the daily flag raising ceremony when the attack began. They instantly moved to man their battle positions beneath the ship’s gun turret. At no other time in American history has an entire military band died in action.

3. Fuel continues to leak from the USS Arizona’s wreckage.
   On December 6, 1941, the USS Arizona took on a full load of fuel—nearly 1.5 million gallons—in preparation for its scheduled trip to the mainland later that month. The next day, much of it fed the explosion and subsequent fires that destroyed the ship following its attack by Japanese bombers. However, despite the raging fire and ravages of time, some 500,000 gallons are still slowly seeping out of the ship’s submerged wreckage: Nearly 70 years after its demise, the USS Arizona continues to spill up to 9 quarts of oil into the harbor each day. In the mid-1990s, environmental concerns led the National Park Service to commission a series of site studies to determine the long-term effects of the oil leakage. In fact, the oil that often coats the surface of the water surrounding the ship has added an emotional gravity for many who visit the memorial and is sometimes referred to as the “tears of the Arizona,” or “black tears.”

4. Some former crewmembers have chosen the USS Arizona as their final resting place.
   The bonds between the crewmembers of the USS Arizona have lasted far beyond the ship’s loss on December 7, 1941. Since 1982, the U.S. Navy has allowed survivors of the USS Arizona to be interred in the ship’s wreckage upon their deaths. Following a full military funeral at the Arizona memorial, the cremated remains are placed in an urn and then deposited by divers beneath one of the Arizona’s gun turrets. To date, more than 30 Arizona crewmen who survived Pearl Harbor have chosen the ship as their final resting place.

5. A memorial was built at the USS Arizona site, thanks in part to Elvis Presley.
   After the USS Arizona sank, its superstructure and main armament were salvaged and reused to support the war effort, leaving its hull, two gun turrets and the remains of more than 1,000 crewmen submerged in less than 40 feet of water. In 1949 the Pacific War Memorial Commission was established to create a permanent tribute to those who had lost their lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor, but it wasn’t until 1958 that President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed legislation to create a national memorial. The funds to build it came from both the public sector and private donors, including one unlikely source. In March 1961, entertainer Elvis Presley, who had recently finished a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, performed a benefit concert at Pearl Harbor’s Block Arena that raised over $50,000—more than 10 percent of the USS Arizona Memorial’s final cost. The monument was officially dedicated on May 30, 1962, and attracts more than 1 million visitors each year.

May they rest in peace.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

150 years ago on this day President Abraham Lincoln gave one of the most well known speeches. While most of us cannot quote the entire speech, Lincoln’s “Four score and seven years ago” resonate as much as other famous speeches such as Reagan’s “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall”, JFK’s “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”, and Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream”. Abe’s speech was truly a verbal piece of art. I implore you to re-read it below and let the words sink in knowing the huge impact these words had on the course of our American history.

It really is too bad that most in our government today ignore many of the virtues, beliefs, and foundations set forth by such great men as Lincoln and our forefathers.

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

That last line is chilling because I believe it does not exist any more.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Unfortunately, at this point we are probably only 1/2 a generation away.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

While our freedoms continue to be assailed and eroded by our current administration, we still enjoy some of the remnants of the rights our forefathers established in our Constitution. And the folks who protect those rights and freedom abroad — the American soldier — are to be thanked and respected.

To all the veterans out there — THANK YOU for your service and sacrifice.

Remember, only two people have ever died for your freedom — the American soldier for your physical freedom, and Jesus Christ for your spiritual freedom.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

When a power hungry politician enters office on the cloud of popular reform and “change”, begins to sway political thought, influence media, erode freedoms, tie up liberties, suppress any opposition, expand bureaucracy, and generally corral populations towards “one-size-fits-all” solutions, then the world is in trouble whether we are speaking about today or the past.

75 years ago that same thing happened in Germany and gained huge momentum on this date in the form of “Kristallnacht” or “Night of Broken Glass”. You see, Hitler had risen to power and assumed grip upon German political infrastructure. One of his tactics for the many hurts of Germany (economy in depression, humiliation from WWI defeat) was to seek out scapegoats. While there were many — gypsies, handicapped, non-Aryans — his favorite and most successful were the Jewish people. And on this night in Germany and Austria 75 years ago, he was able to kick start an engine of evil that decimated Jews for years to come. I’ll end my history lesson here and instead point you to a much better penned blog post over at this blog — http://politicsandfinance.blogspot.com/2013/11/kristallnacht-tutorial-for-jews-and.html

The lesson is:

1. History repeats itself
2. We MUST remain vigilant

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Mother nature sure didn’t get my memo for securing the date for this year’s Thunder Over Finchville because we were in the middle of multiple days of soaking rain. Other organizations and municipalities called their displays off but between the work that had gone into arranging and fusing the fireworks and the major amounts of food and prepping that had been done, we were pretty much committed to some kind of celebration party on Friday night.

And happen it did. The team of 8 guys wrapped the firework boards in plastic and put them out with the control boxes. It did begin to mist and when the show actually started it was sprinkling. By the time it turned into a full on rain, the wonderful fireworks display kept everyone glued to the sky while also trying to manage not getting wet — although people were already under pop up canopies, retreated to their vehicles or had rain ponchos on. When it did end, everyone scurried to their cars and almost all 120 people were gone in about 10 minutes. Below is a short 45 second snippet video of the 15-20 minute display.

Thanks to all who attended and even more thanks for those involved in setup and clean up.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

While contemplating our nation’s 237th birthday, I continue to be awed at the wisdom of our founding fathers, the amazing growth of our God fearing nation, and the path of decline our nation is currently on. It has me very concerned because, while we are a great nation, most people I talk to also believe that we are on a downward slope.

So those thoughts got me thinking about what we need to do to restore our country to greatness.

• Pray
• Spend time as a family
• Open Scripture
• Turn off your TV
• Get to know your neighbors
• Eat dinner with your kids
• Unplug your computer and video games
• Stand up for what is right
• Read more
• Volunteer
• Get outside and enjoy nature
• Slow down
• Pursue wisdom, not information

I’m sure there are more items for that list but if we each did all of those activities, we’d be off to a great start. And this effort starts in the heart. It begins with individuals and it begins with me. Our nation’s turnaround and revival will not be legislated or mandated. It will happen organically within individuals and bleed into families and homes. And once it is in the homes throughout America, we can begin the healing process and right this ship of ours.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net

Our country would be so much better off if we ripped the script from this commercial and applied it directly to every single person, entity, business, and gov’t agency immediately.

…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net