The full King James Version of the title is “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
Is pride always a bad thing?
Pride based on the assumption that you are better than everyone else is certainly not a good thing. This was the pride of kings and nobility who thought they were better than the “rabble” or even the lesser “nobility”. They lived lavishly, depending on the taxes and labor of those “beneath” them. Some of these “haughty spirits” had a great fall.
Do we have a new “nobility” who wouldn’t have their wealth without the labor of many others? Does this “nobility” think they earned every dollar personally, even if those who did the actual work for them lived in dire straits or worked at dangerous jobs without proper safety measures? Their pride does cause destruction; is a fall coming for them?
Pride is a good thing when it is to bolster one’s self-esteem. Think “gay pride” and “black pride”. If this pride makes people think better of themselves, despite the disdain of others, then it is definitely a good thing.
Pride is a good thing when one has created something unique or solved a difficult problem.
These kinds of pride could come under the advice “Don’t hide your light under a bushel”. Of course, one should balance between waving the light in the face of others and getting rewarded with money or fame for one’s effort.
Southern Pride has been much in the news lately. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? But is it a pride based on “we’re right and everyone else is wrong” or is it based on some real accomplishments? If it is still fighting the Civil War, it is not a good thing. If it is, then those who hold this attitude should consider the warning of George Washington in his “Farewell Address”. He warned of the dangers of south against north or east against west.
Have you heard much talk of Northern Pride or Eastern Pride or Western Pride?
National pride is something many feel, but is it really justified? I am an American but I feel neither proud nor ashamed to be an American; I just am an American. This is my country with all of its greatness and all of its faults.
I feel no pride because many Americans fought and died to help defeat Hitler. I was only seven years old at the time. About the only thing I did for the war effort was to fill my war stamp book.
I feel no shame because the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing thousands of women and children who had nothing to do with Imperial policy. Again I was only seven at the time. Interestingly, there are some who are proud of this attack, some of whom are also anti-abortion. How many instant abortions were there at Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
I feel no pride because I am not a hyphenated American.
My name may be Irish, but I don’t consider myself an Irish-American. In fact, when I visited Ireland, I was called a Yank. The earliest ancestor I can find with the name Magree was in the 1830 census. I know he is an ancestor because his son married in England and gave his father’s first name on his marriage document. For all I know, Vincent Magree could have immigrated from Italy as Vincenzo Magri! The 1830 census did not provide the detail that later censuses did.
Most of my traceable ancestors were from England or Germany, and possibly Poland. But I am not English-American or German-American or Polish-American. I am just American and happy to be so regardless of the achievements or the faults of many other Americans.
Some time ago I wrote a Reader Weekly column entitled “I live in the best house in the world”. I poked fun at myself because I lived in “the best house in the world.” I kept stepping up from best city, best state, and best country. At each step I pointed out that others felt the same about their cities, states, or countries.
Another aspect of pride is “school spirit”. I never did like the term. I went to the schools that I did because they had to let me in or I chose them for my own convenience. Sure, I participated in a couple of varsity sports and I cheered on my friends in the sports they chose. I also donate annually to the two colleges that I went to. Others paid a large portion of my tuition then, and so I support those who study there now. The pile of literature that I get from both includes what the sports teams are doing. I could care less. I do care that the students are learning important and useful stuff.
I find it amazing or amusing that so many get wrapped up in the doings of sports teams, both scholastic and professional. If the locals win, they are overjoyed; if the locals lose, they are dejected or even derisive of coaches or players.
My attitude is “who are the Bulldogs”? Yeah! Yeah! I know, but I have no idea what their schedule is. I just wish the band would play a bit quieter so that I didn’t hear it at my house three-quarters of a mile away.
Finally, when someone asks me about the Vikings, I reply, “Vikings!! Hide the gold! Run for the hills!”
OK! I have no shame! I am done rambling. You can use this page to wrap fish.
Also appears in the Reader Weekly of Duluth, 2015-10-08 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2015/10/07/6053_pride_goeth_before_the_fall.
Showing posts with label Hiroshima. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hiroshima. Show all posts
Thursday, October 08, 2015
Friday, August 15, 2014
What did I learn in school?
I learned a lot but I’ve forgotten most of it.
I find I remember the classroom setting more than I do what was actually taught. Maybe this is why so many of us think we were never taught about certain things. I can still picture my first elementary school, buying Victory stamps, and the VE banner that was displayed. I remember reading Dick and Jane and writing the numbers out to 200!
I remember many things about my second elementary school, but the classroom scenario that sticks out the most is the vote on the distance to the moon. What, a vote on a scientific fact? I remember a fourth-grade substitute science teacher doing this. For years, I thought she didn’t know and was asking the class. But she may have only been sampling the class. I remember that incident more than I do how far is it to the moon. Without looking it up, I’d say 250,000 miles. With all the moon shots in the news, you would think that number would stick better in my head. Is this one of those facts that get forgotten because we can always look it up if we really need to know?
I do remember learning typing and driving, probably the two most important life-long skills most of us need and use. I do remember taking French in 8th grade, but I didn’t continue because I would rather learn printing. How many people set type by hand now? I took Latin in high school because I was advised that it was the basis for many other languages. All I remember of that two and half-years was that I was elected president of the Latin club, and we read an abridged “Aeneid” and “Horatio at the Bridge”. I remember a music teacher telling us that anyone with intelligence can learn to sing. I didn’t get around to learning until I was in my 60s, and now I don’t practice enough to keep my voice in shape.
I don’t remember learning much about World War II in school. That may because we might have been using textbooks that hadn’t been updated. Also the teacher was not very inspiring. The only history I remember from that whole year is a picture of the Haymarket Square riot in a text book. The picture was on the right-hand page of the small but thick orange textbook. The picture was an engraving from some archive; I don’t remember if it was a photograph or a drawing. And I don’t remember much about the Haymarket Square riot other than there was lot of police violence. It was probably labor related and took place in Chicago.
Was I taught about Hiroshima and Nagasaki in my American History class? I don’t remember. I had that class in 1954. It could be that the textbook hadn’t been updated. These events have been reported over and over for almost 70 years, and so it is hard to remember where I learned what.
Another digression: “, and so…” Mr. Conrad, my 11th grade English teacher, frequently told us how to use "and so", but I don’t remember exactly what he prescribed. This particular piece of grammar was almost the only thing I remember from the class.
I had Mister Rush for trigonometry and another class. I don’t remember much of the material but I remember his punctuating his remarks with “When you go to Case…” meaning Case Institute of Technology, now part of Case Western Reserve University. Darned if five of us didn’t go to Case. Only two of us graduated, yours truly not being one. But I got to come back for graduate school.
Now, Miss Palmer, I remember her well. She was a fearsome taskmaster, but she taught Shakespeare well. I enjoyed reading an act each day for homework for both “Hamlet” and “Macbeth”, and then we would reread each act a few scenes at a time. She gave me a lifelong love of Shakespeare, but I have yet to read all of his plays.
Interestingly, I don’t remember taking much homework home. I had two study halls most days and got most of it done in one of them. The rest of my study hall time I read science fiction from the school library.
College and graduate school are also a blur. I remember translating “Clementine” into French, I remember reading Candide (English, condensed) and “Brothers Karamazov”. On the latter, what did I care what the meaning of the mortar and pestle was?
How much do you remember of school? For most of us, that is only what we use on a regular basis. I have a Master’s in mathematics and I don’t remember anything from “Functions of Complex Variables” in graduate school. I do remember the book was blue, I think the author was from India, and it is still on the right hand side of my book case, first shelf above the bottom shelf.
What we really learned in school was to learn.
Back to Nagasaki and Hiroshima, I remember reading about the horrible deaths both immediate and years later. I remember that prisoners of war were killed in the blast. I remember the justification that lives were “saved”. I have long questioned how many kids’ lives is one soldier’s life worth.
Where I think I learned this is from reading newspapers regularly. If your only news source is radio or TV you’ll never have time for all there is to know. With newspapers, you have a larger selection of stories, you read them at your convenience, and with the Internet, you have a huge selection to choose from.
One of Mel's high school classmates said, "Learn something each day." Mel often wishes he wouldn't forget it the next day.
Also published in Reader Weekly, 2014-08-14 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/08/14/3890_what_did_i_learn_in_school
I find I remember the classroom setting more than I do what was actually taught. Maybe this is why so many of us think we were never taught about certain things. I can still picture my first elementary school, buying Victory stamps, and the VE banner that was displayed. I remember reading Dick and Jane and writing the numbers out to 200!
I remember many things about my second elementary school, but the classroom scenario that sticks out the most is the vote on the distance to the moon. What, a vote on a scientific fact? I remember a fourth-grade substitute science teacher doing this. For years, I thought she didn’t know and was asking the class. But she may have only been sampling the class. I remember that incident more than I do how far is it to the moon. Without looking it up, I’d say 250,000 miles. With all the moon shots in the news, you would think that number would stick better in my head. Is this one of those facts that get forgotten because we can always look it up if we really need to know?
I do remember learning typing and driving, probably the two most important life-long skills most of us need and use. I do remember taking French in 8th grade, but I didn’t continue because I would rather learn printing. How many people set type by hand now? I took Latin in high school because I was advised that it was the basis for many other languages. All I remember of that two and half-years was that I was elected president of the Latin club, and we read an abridged “Aeneid” and “Horatio at the Bridge”. I remember a music teacher telling us that anyone with intelligence can learn to sing. I didn’t get around to learning until I was in my 60s, and now I don’t practice enough to keep my voice in shape.
I don’t remember learning much about World War II in school. That may because we might have been using textbooks that hadn’t been updated. Also the teacher was not very inspiring. The only history I remember from that whole year is a picture of the Haymarket Square riot in a text book. The picture was on the right-hand page of the small but thick orange textbook. The picture was an engraving from some archive; I don’t remember if it was a photograph or a drawing. And I don’t remember much about the Haymarket Square riot other than there was lot of police violence. It was probably labor related and took place in Chicago.
Was I taught about Hiroshima and Nagasaki in my American History class? I don’t remember. I had that class in 1954. It could be that the textbook hadn’t been updated. These events have been reported over and over for almost 70 years, and so it is hard to remember where I learned what.
Another digression: “, and so…” Mr. Conrad, my 11th grade English teacher, frequently told us how to use "and so", but I don’t remember exactly what he prescribed. This particular piece of grammar was almost the only thing I remember from the class.
I had Mister Rush for trigonometry and another class. I don’t remember much of the material but I remember his punctuating his remarks with “When you go to Case…” meaning Case Institute of Technology, now part of Case Western Reserve University. Darned if five of us didn’t go to Case. Only two of us graduated, yours truly not being one. But I got to come back for graduate school.
Now, Miss Palmer, I remember her well. She was a fearsome taskmaster, but she taught Shakespeare well. I enjoyed reading an act each day for homework for both “Hamlet” and “Macbeth”, and then we would reread each act a few scenes at a time. She gave me a lifelong love of Shakespeare, but I have yet to read all of his plays.
Interestingly, I don’t remember taking much homework home. I had two study halls most days and got most of it done in one of them. The rest of my study hall time I read science fiction from the school library.
College and graduate school are also a blur. I remember translating “Clementine” into French, I remember reading Candide (English, condensed) and “Brothers Karamazov”. On the latter, what did I care what the meaning of the mortar and pestle was?
How much do you remember of school? For most of us, that is only what we use on a regular basis. I have a Master’s in mathematics and I don’t remember anything from “Functions of Complex Variables” in graduate school. I do remember the book was blue, I think the author was from India, and it is still on the right hand side of my book case, first shelf above the bottom shelf.
What we really learned in school was to learn.
Back to Nagasaki and Hiroshima, I remember reading about the horrible deaths both immediate and years later. I remember that prisoners of war were killed in the blast. I remember the justification that lives were “saved”. I have long questioned how many kids’ lives is one soldier’s life worth.
Where I think I learned this is from reading newspapers regularly. If your only news source is radio or TV you’ll never have time for all there is to know. With newspapers, you have a larger selection of stories, you read them at your convenience, and with the Internet, you have a huge selection to choose from.
One of Mel's high school classmates said, "Learn something each day." Mel often wishes he wouldn't forget it the next day.
Also published in Reader Weekly, 2014-08-14 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/08/14/3890_what_did_i_learn_in_school
Monday, January 14, 2013
Nuclear weapons: Mything in action
I've long felt an unease about the justification of nuclear weapons, including the nuclear umbrella over Europe and that the Hiroshima and Nagasaki attacks saved lives.
As for the nuclear umbrella, Britain and France had their own nuclear weapons, and so why would they need U.S. nuclear weapons to prevent attack by the Soviet Union? As far as the invasion of Eastern Europe by the Soviet Union, was it not by the same rationale that the U.S. has attacked Iraq and Afghanistan? After the horrors of the siege of Leningrad, wouldn't any sane leader be sure to provide a big buffer between his country and the attacker? How many times before was Russia invaded from Europe?
That is not to say the Soviet Union was a benign keeper of the peace; it wasn't.
As for saving lives, whose lives did the deaths of thousands of women and children in Hiroshima and Nagasaki save? Invading troops? Would not a naval blockade of a country that had a defeated navy been just as effective? Were the bombs to bring a quick end to the war before the Soviets got involved? The Japanese were just as aware of the possibility and ready to surrender. It really pays to know your enemy, and too many warring countries have no clear understanding of their enemies.
For a more detailed discussion of the futility of nuclear weapons, see "The Myth of Nuclear Necessity", Ward Wilson, New York Times, 2013-01-13.
As for the nuclear umbrella, Britain and France had their own nuclear weapons, and so why would they need U.S. nuclear weapons to prevent attack by the Soviet Union? As far as the invasion of Eastern Europe by the Soviet Union, was it not by the same rationale that the U.S. has attacked Iraq and Afghanistan? After the horrors of the siege of Leningrad, wouldn't any sane leader be sure to provide a big buffer between his country and the attacker? How many times before was Russia invaded from Europe?
That is not to say the Soviet Union was a benign keeper of the peace; it wasn't.
As for saving lives, whose lives did the deaths of thousands of women and children in Hiroshima and Nagasaki save? Invading troops? Would not a naval blockade of a country that had a defeated navy been just as effective? Were the bombs to bring a quick end to the war before the Soviets got involved? The Japanese were just as aware of the possibility and ready to surrender. It really pays to know your enemy, and too many warring countries have no clear understanding of their enemies.
For a more detailed discussion of the futility of nuclear weapons, see "The Myth of Nuclear Necessity", Ward Wilson, New York Times, 2013-01-13.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Al Qaeda and Slaughterhouse Five
I have long had Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" on my reading list. I borrowed it from the library recently and finished it yesterday afternoon.
I did know that Vonnegut was a survivor of the Dresden fire bombing. I had thought that Slaughterhouse Five was about five survivors who were in a meat locker. Actually it was the address of where they were bunked as prisoners of war assigned to work in Dresden: Schlacthof fünf. There were about 100 prisoners guarded by four old or teen-age German conscripts.
They were about the only survivors of the firebombing. When they emerged from their shelter, they saw no standing buildings. Even then, they were strafed by planes attacking anything moving.
One character, a retired Air Force officer justifies the bombing because of what "the Germans" did. He also states that more people died in Dresden than in either the firebombing of Tokyo or the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. He also justifies the latter two because of all the things "the Japanese" did to other people.
Amazing the different attitudes of people in the air or far away and of the people actually on the ground.
The imposition of collective guilt is always wrong. Jewish children of the twentieth century had nothing to do with the crucifixion of Jesus. German children of the 1940s had nothing to do with the Holocaust or the bombing of England. Japanese children of the 1940s had nothing to do with the attack on Pearl Harbor or the Rape of Nanking. Yet all these children are worth killing because of the actions of some of their elders. The god Maloch still lives and we still sacrifice children to his fires.
Is it any wonder that Al Qaeda thinks it appropriate to kill Americans anywhere anytime because they don't like the actions of a few Americans?
Obama's reaching out to people around the world is not going to quench the fires of Maloch soon, but let's hope it is a start.
I did know that Vonnegut was a survivor of the Dresden fire bombing. I had thought that Slaughterhouse Five was about five survivors who were in a meat locker. Actually it was the address of where they were bunked as prisoners of war assigned to work in Dresden: Schlacthof fünf. There were about 100 prisoners guarded by four old or teen-age German conscripts.
They were about the only survivors of the firebombing. When they emerged from their shelter, they saw no standing buildings. Even then, they were strafed by planes attacking anything moving.
One character, a retired Air Force officer justifies the bombing because of what "the Germans" did. He also states that more people died in Dresden than in either the firebombing of Tokyo or the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. He also justifies the latter two because of all the things "the Japanese" did to other people.
Amazing the different attitudes of people in the air or far away and of the people actually on the ground.
The imposition of collective guilt is always wrong. Jewish children of the twentieth century had nothing to do with the crucifixion of Jesus. German children of the 1940s had nothing to do with the Holocaust or the bombing of England. Japanese children of the 1940s had nothing to do with the attack on Pearl Harbor or the Rape of Nanking. Yet all these children are worth killing because of the actions of some of their elders. The god Maloch still lives and we still sacrifice children to his fires.
Is it any wonder that Al Qaeda thinks it appropriate to kill Americans anywhere anytime because they don't like the actions of a few Americans?
Obama's reaching out to people around the world is not going to quench the fires of Maloch soon, but let's hope it is a start.
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