Thinking of Specialist Beverly Clark on Veteran's day, 2010.

This doesn't really go with the theme of my blog, but I wanted to share something I posted on my facebook page today.

As some of you know, I served in the MS National Guard and was activated for Operation Desert Shield/Storm 20 years ago this month. On Feb 25, 1991, the day before my birthday, I borrowed the lieutenant's truck and went to the makeshift PX at the Saudi airbase near Dharan. I bought a half-pint of Baskin & Robbins ice cream at a trailer outside the PX and sat at a nearby picnic table to eat it quickly before the intense heat turned it to mush. There I met Spc. Beverly Clark, a reservist from Pennsylvania that had just arrived in country. Her unit was to assist mine in supply operations throughout the region. She was polite and friendly, although she seemed very nervous about her tour even though the ground fighting had been declared over just a day before. We talked and ate our ice cream and I wished her luck. I also told her not to worry to much and hang in there as it seemed then as though we all might be going home soon. That night, Iraq launched the last and only successful SCUD missile launch they would make on allied forces. Spc Clark's unit was bunked at a civilian warehouse we all called "toy town". It was ground zero for the SCUD and she and 41 other US soldiers died that night. While I was only 2 kilometers away, I was unaware of the identities of the casualties until a week later when the newest issue of Stars and Stripes arrived in our camp. It featured not only all their names, but had pictures of Spc. Clark and another soldier on the front page. While I witnessed many horrible things during my tour of duty, I simply can't begin to describe my feelings upon seeing that article and the picture. Less than 12 hours after I had met her and we had talked and even laughed a bit, she was gone. The many SCUD attacks that we endured and more importantly, survived, had caused most of us to feel safe. Maybe even a little complacent or lucky. Until that night.

Spc. Beverly Clark didn't live to become a veteran. But I still think of her every year on the day as well as appropriately on Memorial Day. She may have been worried and somewhat naturally apprehensive about the situation and surroundings, but she knew she was there because she wanted to serve her country. I made many friends during my time in the service. A few of which I still get to talk to occasionally. I only knew her for an afternoon, but I will never forget her.

The future 'aint what it used to be

I think I'm getting old. I read things on the internet and my thoughts and opinions seem so out of touch with the majority. But I don't think that makes me wrong, necessarily. I watch TV shows and movies and wonder "Why did they have to show that?" or "Is this what people truly want for entertainment?".

I've been told before that I live in the past. Or that I WANT to live in the past. Why wouldn't I? I grew up in the 70's and 80's. The sixties may have been the decade of change, but who could have possibly imagined what the next 20 years would bring? I love that era. It used to bother me to hear people insult the culture of that time, but one day, I realized those people just don't get it. What some people think is awful, cheesy or tacky, might just be wonderful, awesome or cool to others. And usually I end up being one of the "others".

Looking back, I see that things for me started changing around the end of the 80's. The media got nastier. So-called entertainment became crude. People stopped caring about each other and seemed to try every chance they could to make each other look bad. When I was growing up, I found heroes to inspire me to be a better person. All of a sudden, it seemed that no one wanted to be better than they were. They wanted people to accept them as they were without any aspirations for improvement. This started a shift that has now become a full-scale earthquake. This is reflected in all forms of entertainment now. Every character has doubts. No one is confident and sure, rather they are worried and insecure. I don't like this. I like a bright future. I miss it. Although it wasn't one of my favorites, Star Trek had shown us a utopian future where there was no hunger, no poverty, no crime, etc. We looked forward to this and did what we could to get there. In recent years, there has been a push to protect the planet and preserve what we can for future generations. Everywhere you turn, something is carrying on about "going green". But will today's super-cynical world be able to do it? I think that entropy has not only begun, but is rapidly spreading.

That's what the title of this blog is about. Let's hit the pause button on entropy. Let's take a few minutes every chance we can to remember that it wasn't always like it is now. It's a simple thing, but so many times I have seen things on the internet that took me away from my problems and made me smile. Even if it was just for a moment. We don't have to live in the past, but it sure is nice to visit it when we can.

Let's go back together.

This is just a little fun place to look at old stuff and remember how much fun the world used to be before everybody got so serious.