Yardwork and Memorial Day
Published Tue, May 27 2008 9:55 AM
Technorati Tags: Political Correctness, Holidays
Weekends are a good time to catch up on work around the house that simply doesn't get done during the week. Or, in my case, to catch up on work around the house that simply doesn't get done during the winter and early spring. Our lawn needed some serious work considering the neglect it saw last summer, the neglect it sees every winter, and the continual wet weather it saw this spring. Last weekend, while we were in Oregon, Zach attempted to mow the lawn. The grass was quite tall (over a foot tall in some places) and it was tough going. He managed the top half of the back yard (tall, but sparse), didn't even attempt the bottom half of the back yard (tall, and choked with tough, very tall, very thick weeds) and started on the front yard. Unfortunately, the lawn mower wouldn't cooperate by the time he got to the front. It would start, but it wouldn't continue to run. So, despite his best efforts, the lawn didn't get done, and looked pretty bad.
I tried it this weekend. Despite cleaning and a bit of mechanical fiddling around I didn't have much better luck. I was able to get the lawnmower to run — until a load of any kind was put on it. So, I went out and bought a new one. Well, not really new — I bought a used one that had been reconditioned. It made short work of the lawn. I mowed down the weeds in the back with it too, but I just mulched them. It was faster that way and we're going to do something completely different back there over the summer. We're taking the old lawnmower to have it refurbished next week or the week after. I suppose it can't hurt to have two of them.
Of course, there was a lot more that needed to be done in our yard than just mowing the lawn. The flower beds and garden had become seriously choked with weeds. My wife spent several hours each day this weekend weeding them. Lucas and I spread moss killer on the front and back lawns. Betty sprayed weed and grass killer on the bottom half of the back lawn. A couple of weeks ago she had sprayed the stuff along the side of the house where we plant sunflowers every year, and she sprayed it all along the area where we had formerly grown lavender and foxglove. Lucas and I raked that out, exposing bare dirt. Then we went out with grass rakes to the back yard and raked out all of the moss, mulched leaves, pine needles and assorted detritus from the top half of it, leaving nothing but bare dirt and the occasional clump of grass. We got about halfway done with it. An hour or so each night this week will finish the job I guess. Then we're fertilizing everything and spreading grass seed on it. In a couple of weeks it should be ready to mow — if I can keep the dogs and the birds off of it anyway.
The weed and grass killer is pretty interesting stuff. It's supposed to kill the weeds and once they're gone you can plant again in a couple of days. We're planting stuff next weekend. More sunflowers of course, and a hydrangea or two. I don't know how well the new plantings will do, but I do know the stuff killed the weeds and the grass where we wanted it to. We're going to spread it all over our driveway and the graveled area on the other side of the house this week too. Then I'm going to burn off all of the dead material and rake the gravel so that it's level and clean again. The brush piles are gradually being reduced and the accumulated junk is going off to be recycled or to the transfer station — whichever is appropriate for what's going away. I have a big tarp and pole shelter covering it all right now and, sad to say, it's full of junk. The kids (Zach and Nikki) were storing their furniture there in anticipation of the day they move out and get a place of their own. But they also stored trash there and other stuff, and now even the furniture must go. Fortunately the better stuff is stored in my garage and that remained in decent shape — but that means my cars aren't in my garage.
Once all of the junk is gone, I'm going to put my 1966 Mustang on the trailer and bring it home. I'll park it under the tarp shelter and start working on it at home. I've had the car for several years now, and it's always been a project car — one that I just haven't worked on. It's time to start putting it back together. There's little chance of restoring it to it's original condition, especially since the original motor is long gone and some of the trim parts are missing, but I am going to get it into condition to be driven again. We've got a nice little 5.0 liter engine that came from a 1987 Mustang (the motor is why I bought the car in the first place) and a solid transmission. With a new gas tank, fuel pump and a new pulley and belt set to run the accessories it should be a fairly decent driver. Having it at home to work on might just get it done too, but first there's all the cleanup needed around the house.
It's amazing how many projects pile up when you're busy not doing stuff. We've got lots of projects that need doing. The yard was just one of them. The Mustang is another. We also have plans to paint the house, replace the roof and lots of other small stuff before we pack it all up and move to Tennessee in a year or so.
So what does any of this have to do with Memorial Day you ask, other than that I spent my Memorial Day weekend working on yard cleanup? Well, I think it's a fairly decent model of what I see happening in our country. Two hundred thirty two years ago the American colonies were at war with the mother country. They declared their independence for a host of reasons. They fought and shed their blood to purchase their freedom and independence. When it was over they had acquired a new nation, rich and full of promise. They had some initial difficulties getting established, but after a bit of a struggle they got their house in order and in September of 1787 they finished laying a solid foundation for our republic. Close to fifteen years ago, Betty and I sold off a bundle of Microsoft stock options (back when they were worth something and were doubling every nine months or so), cleaned up our credit and made a down payment to purchase our house. We struggled with it a bit, had some people come in and do landscaping for us and settled in to live the good life.
Over time our nation grew, until today it stretches from coast to coast on our continent, with fifty states, and territories in both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans. There are some three hundred six million people living here now, most of whom have never had to face anything like the struggle that took place to win our freedom and liberty. Nevertheless our nation has had its struggles as it grew. We had to fight to retain our freedoms. We had to fight to remain a unified nation and to undo a terrible wrong that we (and others) had done to our own people. Less than a hundred years after our nation was founded we fought the bloodiest war we have ever fought to abolish the institution of slavery, to secure equality for all men within our nation, and to remain a single nation. The United States has historically believed in freedom and liberty so much that we've even been willing to send our men and women into other lands to secure those blessings for other people.
Some of us still cherish freedom and liberty that much. There are men and women today that serve their fellow men and women with their lives every day, even though they are not in the military. Here, I speak of the men and women serving in police departments keeping public order and protecting the average citizen from the depredations of evil men and women that would rape and murder them over money or mere pleasure. I speak of the men and women that boldly go into danger to protect life and property for others when fires rage or natural disaster strikes. I speak of the adventurous and brave men and women that go into the wilderness to rescue the lost and injured who have, seeking mere pleasure, been defeated by nature. The search and rescue teams that risk life and limb to pull hikers off of mountainsides or boaters out of raging waters. All of these people risk their own lives for our safety, freedom and liberty, and some of them die doing it.
Memorial day is a day to honor and to remember those that have fallen, giving their lives in the service of others. It's more than just a national holiday, a day to take off from work and have a picnic. It's more than just another excuse to have a big sale or to loaf about. It's more than backyard barbeques and swimming. It's more than a day to celebrate because we don't have to go to school or to work.
I enjoy doing a great many things. I like to race cars. I like to program computers. I like to blog. I like fishing and camping. I like backyard barbeques. I also like playing games on the computer, particularly World of Warcraft. Yesterday I started my day with a short World of Warcraft session. One of the things that makes this game interesting — other than the sheer massiveness of the game world — is the interaction with other people it allows. Millions of people play the game from all over the world. Yesterday, as I was playing, a short conversation took place in guild chat. One of the players was complaining a bit about all of the Americans that were on because of the Memorial Day holiday. You see, on weekends, generally starting on Friday night and running through Sunday afternoon, there are lots of people playing simultaneously. This is probably because there's no school on weekends and most people aren't at work either. There are so many people on at once sometimes that the servers become filled and lock people out, putting them into a queue to get on and play waiting for others to log out. This happened yesterday, and so that player had remarked on the number of Americans taking advantage of the holiday to play.
The conversation quickly turned to the reason for the holiday, and reasons for holidays in general. Somebody made the comment that holidays didn't really exist for any valid reason other than as an excuse to get off work. I commented that that wasn't really why we had Memorial Day, and said that it was about honoring the fallen who gave their lives in service of others. The reply was that that's what we had Veterans Day for, and why did we need two holidays. I replied that Veterans Day was a day to honor men and women who had served their country in the military, whether they had fallen in combat or not, and that Memorial day was to honor those who had fallen in service to their country or to others, whether in the military or not. (In his Statement on Signing the National Moment of Remembrance Act, then President Clinton said "Each Memorial Day, the Nation honors those Americans who died while defending our Nation and its values." That implies military combat deaths, although remembering those who gave their lives in service to others such as our police and firefighters isn't a bad idea.)
"War is never justified, so I can't accept your interpretation."
That's the response I got. I was stunned. I know that there are people that think this way. We see evidence of it every day, from people out in Berkeley that hate our military to the young that have never understood just where their freedoms come from. Fools that have no understanding of anything but their own wants and desires, and who have never been exposed to tyranny. Nobody in their right mind loves war, but to say that it's never justified means that freedom and liberty are worthless to you. To say that war is never justified means that you're willing to accept brutality and oppression — whether it's done to you or to others, rather than to do what is necessary to stop it.
"While the people are virtuous, they cannot be subdued: but when once they lose their virtue, they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader." --Samuel Adams
This is what comes from decades of neglect in the civic education of a people. This is what comes from cultural relativism and moral relativism. This is what comes from a shallow, feelings based philosophy. This is what comes from allowing the weeds of apathy and license to sprout in the garden of liberty. Our freedom and liberty comes at a price. It's a shame that today such a large part of our society doesn't recognize that.
"The tree of liberty, from time to time, must be replenished with the blood of patriots." --Thomas Jefferson
"It is not simply a question of checking the encroachments of totalitarianism; we must first overcome our own lack of resolve." --Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Lack of resolve. That's what allowed my lawn and garden to get into such a state of disrepair that it needed and still needs so much work to clean up. That's also what has led us to the point where so many don't even recognize the need to defend our liberties and each other. It's what has been at work destroying the Republican Party.
The Republican Party was founded on some very solid principles. Perhaps it's time to remember them…
"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot further the brotherhood of man encouraging class hatred. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than you earn. You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence. You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves." --Abraham Lincoln
In our apathy and desire for comfort we've abandoned these ideals. We've fielded a Presidential candidate that doesn't hold to these ideals. Our opponents seek to discourage thrift, laying a tax on our savings. They would pull down the wage payer (the rich) to give that money to those that aren't even wage earners. Class envy is a tool that they use to gain election, always decrying "tax cuts for the rich". Both parties would spend our nation into oblivion — spending more than could ever be extracted from the rich through taxes.
It's time to weed the garden.
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