Monday, Monday....

I answer the Monday Madness questions:

1. What was your favorite TV show as a child?--Believe it or not--"The Three Stooges." I thought they were hilarious!

2. What show did you hate?--Ironically! the news. I didn't become a news junkie until much later. I also hated soap operas when I was a little kid. In those days, there was nothing on TV during the day except for soap operas...so we WENT OUTSIDE and played...novel concept, huh? :)

3. What show did your family gather around the TV to watch?--Don't know if this counts, but any Dallas Cowboys football game!

4. What show is currently your favorite?--Probably "American Idol"! Not so much because of the "reality" aspect of the show, but because I love music, and I start rooting for various singers. (Right now my favorite is Jennifer Hudson.)

5. What show do you hate now?--MTV's "The Real World." It always pushes an immoral lifestyle and tries to make it look normal and acceptable.

I finally went to the doctor...


I'd been struggling with what I thought was a really bad cold for a few weeks...getting very little sleep at night, and feeling achey and miserable during the day. After a particularly bad night Friday night, I finally broke down and went to a walk-in clinic on Saturday. The diagnosis? A sinus infection. I'm taking an antibiotic now, and already starting to feel better. It makes me really ticked at myself for not going to the doctor earlier!

Citizen Soldiers...



My daughter Elizabeth is fascinated with World War Two--particularly, with the writings of Stephen E. Ambrose. While my mild interest doesn't approach my daughter's fascination, I've picked up and skimmed the Ambrose books on occasion--and been truly impressed by Ambrose's writing.

Most recently, she's been reading "Citizen Soldiers." As he does in many of his books, Ambrose highlights the integrity and unity of the American GI's in World War Two. What motivated mild, wholesome young boys who would have rather been playing baseball or hunting rabbits to become necessary killers and victorious soldiers who "preserved the world for democracy"?

Ambrose reflects on this question in the epilog of Citizen Soldiers: "...there is agreement that patriotism or any other form of idealism had little if anything to do with it. What held them together was not country and flag, but unit cohesion...And yet, there is something more...At the core, the American citizen soldiers knew the difference between right and wrong, and they didn't want to live in a world where wrong prevailed. So they fought, and won, and we all of us, living and yet to be born, must be forever profoundly grateful."

"..the American soldiers knew the difference between right and wrong, and they didn't want to live in a world where wrong prevailed." That statement blew me away. And it also made me sad and, I confess, a little pessimistic...because we now live in a society where wrong is made to appear right, and all the lines are blurred. How many of our children are actually raised now with a sure knowledge of the difference between right and wrong?

And how does that bode for our future?