JustAL Loqui

Tag: thanksgiving

  • Who Am I?

    Born in Central IL in 1955 I grew up with 4 brothers and two sisters. I joined the Army in 1972 and, barring a short stretch between ’76 and ’82, I have been in the U.S. Army my entire life; first as a soldier then as a DA Civilian for the Department of Defense. I cannot say I have always had a motorcycle. But, for the most part, a ride was always within arm’s reach and utilized on any given opportunity. There was a time, in that stretch between ’76 & ’82, I associated with riders from the “outlaw” side and, after a couple of near miss events, decided to turn 90 degrees and ride away. For years I steered clear of riding groups; regardless of genre.

    Hoka Hey Bike 3

    In 2008 I came across a group called Rescue Riders and, during that encounter, met some of the finest people I have ever met. People who give of themselves and ask nothing in return. This was the type of person I wanted to be. In 2010 I came in contact with information about a long distance endurance ride from Key West Florida to Homer Alaska. At the time I could not fathom such a ride, but got my chance to participate in the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge in 2013. To say it changed my life would be a gross understatement. The impact was so great I was compelled to narrate the event in book form. The ride showed me that I was not the person I thought I was and showed me a glimmer of what I needed to do to strive to become who I wanted and needed to be. Hoka Hey has taught me much and is still instructing me on a daily basis. To put a life in two paragraphs is an impossible task. A personal bio is a narrative of who we are. I learned, through the Challenge, that who I thought I was and who I really was differed greatly. I believe a true metric of a person is best measured by what they do to become someone people deserve. So, who am I? Not sure yet, but my prayer is that with each passing day I will get closer to that person I am supposed to be.

  • The Power of a Memory

    It has been said that the tongue is sharper than the sword. Words can cut deep and cause more damage than a sword and whereas a cut from a sword will heal the 2nd and 3rd order effects of words linger on and on, often a lifetime. But words can also bring light and warmth.

    During an interview with Ken Burns, the creator of some of the best documentaries ever, it was said many of the narrations used during the making of the epic “Civil War” documentary came from journals written by soldiers who actually participated in the battles. Letters written to family members and actual journals maintained by soldiers and by-standers from both sides of the conflict. Two things come to mind here. The first is that the soldier thought it important to write their story and the second, the families that saved these letters and journals.

    Today we are quick to read a note or letter (or email) and then discard or delete it as trash. We read it, so no need to clutter our existence with the paper it was written on or waste the storage space on our hard drives. Right?

    Perhaps not. Words carry weight and words written have a place, often a cherished place if we use the proper words with the proper intent. We just don’t realize it. Today at work I was looking for an OPORD. I’ll not get into what an OPORD is because it really has no merit with regard to this thought. While looking I found a letter sent to me by my sister and inside was a copy of a story written by my Aunt Lora about my Aunt Nita when they were young. I set aside the search for the illusive OPORD and again read the story written by my Aunt Lora. It was a letter telling of memories of her younger sister (my Aunt Nita) while they were growing up.

    It is a toss-up on which of these two wonderful ladies is the most precious to me. They both display a grace and generosity that is hard to find in so many other people I associate with. My Aunt Nita recently passed away and I believe it is that passing that precipitated the writing of that collection of memories; memories that would have been lost were it not for a desire to share them by my Aunt Lora. The memories included snippets about Nita, Bris (my Dad), and the arrival of baby brother Joe and little sister Vivi. It was a great read.

    Briscoe_Family

    We are quick to bad mouth each other, even those we love, but seldom will we take the time to share a good memory. We need to fix that. I often question my resolve to write and I always decide to continue regardless of the fact that very few read my words.

    Take time to write a story. We often remember things from our past and that thought might linger for a moment then is swept away by other thoughts of less importance or the ringing of the evil and ever-present cell phone. Rather than let these memories dissolve in the mist of thought, write them down. Don’t worry about spelling or grammar. Spelling and grammar take a back seat to the actual memory.

    Perhaps someday Ken’s great-grandson will do a documentary and he will need those words.  We’ll let him edit for spelling and proper grammar.

  • Give Thanks??? FOR WHAT!!!!

    This week we celebrate Thanksgiving. We live in one of the richest and most prosperous countries in the world. However, there are some who do not understand just how well they have it. A few years ago I was in Iraq and I was talking with a man who was born and raised in a little town on the western end of Iraq not far from the Syrian border.   He had never traveled more than 20 miles from his place of birth. In fact during this conversation he was only a few blocks from the house he was born in.

    This conversation took place around Thanksgiving of 2005. I was explaining to him our concept of the Thanksgiving Holiday. He found it odd that we would isolate a date to be thankful each year and wondered if we were not thankful at other times of the year. Contrary to popular believe “Thanksgiving” is not a holiday celebrated around the world. I tried to explain the concept to him and told him it was just not this single day that we were thankful. He laughed at my explanation and said from what he had seen most Americans were the most unthankful people he had ever met.

    I found his actions odd and asked him to explain them to me. This is a paraphrased rendition of what he said.

    “Americans expect things to be given to them and if they are not given then they feel violated. Americans make a thousand dollars a week and still consider themselves as poor. Their arrogance blinds them to what they have because they are never satisfied with what they have; they always deserve more.” This man made the equivalent of about $1000 a year; he could not image making $1000 a week.

    His explanation was much more elaborate than what I just put here, but virtually everything he said was true. We do “expect” things and often feel no need to work for it; if we want it then obviously we deserve it.

    If you make $10K a year you make more than 84% of the world’s population. If you make $50K a year you make from than 99% of the world’s population. I know the first thing someone out there is thinking is, “Yea, I make money but things here cost way more than other places.” Sorry, not true. Some things are more expensive for sure, but most items are not in other developed (or for that matter un-developed) countries. I could make comparison to some of these items, but I suspect if you are the type of person who has read this bit to this point then you probably already have a web-link open to make your own comparison; you can start with the price of gas if you like.

    This Iraq man I was talking to was the same man who believed the pictures he saw of grocery stores in the US were nothing more than propaganda. There is no conceivable way there could be that much food in one location, let alone in several locations in a single town. And if it were true then truly Americans were the richest people in the world. From his perspective of life that is something that is just not possible. Most of you will never be able to see things from his perspective.

    I’ve been fortunate enough to see with my own eyes what poor is. No social programs to pay you money if you refuse to work. In many countries, if you do not work, your only recourse is to be a beggar on the streets.

    Be thankful this Thanksgiving Holiday. And be thankful for something more than just a day off from work. Put your outlook in perspective and you will see we have so very much to be thankful for. Try to imagine you existence from the perspective of someone who is really poor, but I suspect you will not be able to do that because we cannot imagine what poor really is. If you are thankful for the “things” you have then you have missed the point.  It’s not about possession of things, but rather a possession of an understanding of just how things are in other places and an appreciation for how things are here when compared.