September/October 2016
View from the Oval Office
Summer certainly brings out the most Summer certainly brings out the most interesting of stories to share. As I sit here and ponder the wisdom of letting my 20 year old daughter backpack by herself through Europe for 2 ½ months, I am reminded that it is so easy to live vicariously through her. She is coming down the homestretch of 30 cities in 2 ½ months - what were we thinking?
When traveling for such an extended period of time, whether in the US or overseas, a well planned adventure certainly goes a long way. It is a trip I can see planning upon retirement - 2 months in Europe. How interesting would it be to see the Berlin Wall, Colosseum, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Pompeii, Normandy, the French Alps, and so much more - all in the same trip. I listen (and sometimes through pictures see) my daughter do all of this from the confines of our home here in River Forest.
I am reminded that even with the best planned trips, the one thing we do not plan for is adversity. Sometimes life's little challenges are a result of a moment of forgetfulness, like leaving the i-phone in a cab or your camera with over a thousand pictures on it in a restaurant. Sometimes adversity is thrust upon you, such as a hotel cancelling your reservation and not telling you until you try checking in at midnight. A train conductor telling you that your day pass expired just an hour before boarding - and fining you $70 - would really irritate you. We heard many stories, sometimes coming in text messages at 3am (Europe is 5 or 6 hours ahead of us). The early morning wake up texts were just fine with me. I was happy to know she was okay and missed her at the same time.
It is hard to teach your children about dealing with adversity. After all, the subject is not a very happy one. Nevertheless, technology today gives us many options after something unexpected happens. Our daughter's phone was gone after two weeks, so there were no direct phone calls. Somehow, and I am not sure how, we still have phone calls and messages through Facebook. It is absolutely amazing. The power to put negative things behind you and concentrate on the next task, country, or tour has been a critical success for my daughter's trip. There will be more pictures to see when she gets back. Her safety and health are so much more important.
Traveling through Europe must be immensely easier now compared to 30 years ago. Apparently, as she departs her train in a new country there is no customs and her passport is not stamped. Except for a few countries like England and Switzerland, the euro is the common currency and with thanks to Brexit, traveling in Europe is even cheaper. Traveling through the old Soviet Block countries in eastern Europe did have some challenges with language and money (most only want cash), but my daughter reported many beautiful sights I now look forward to seeing. On my trip years from now I may add a trip to Moscow, what could possibly go wrong?
The time is fast approaching when she takes the 10 hour non-stop flight home from Olso, Norway to Orlando. Her plane gets in at 10pm, so it is sure to be a late night and an early morning arrival back to River Forest. I very much anticipate the joy of seeing her safely back in the US. Upon seeing her, I will finally be able to uncoil my intestines and get a full night's sleep. I will get 3 hours of stories from my daughter on the way home from the airport. And after hearing these stories I may just start planning that future trip to Europe.
Bruce Squillante
President
When traveling for such an extended period of time, whether in the US or overseas, a well planned adventure certainly goes a long way. It is a trip I can see planning upon retirement - 2 months in Europe. How interesting would it be to see the Berlin Wall, Colosseum, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Pompeii, Normandy, the French Alps, and so much more - all in the same trip. I listen (and sometimes through pictures see) my daughter do all of this from the confines of our home here in River Forest.
I am reminded that even with the best planned trips, the one thing we do not plan for is adversity. Sometimes life's little challenges are a result of a moment of forgetfulness, like leaving the i-phone in a cab or your camera with over a thousand pictures on it in a restaurant. Sometimes adversity is thrust upon you, such as a hotel cancelling your reservation and not telling you until you try checking in at midnight. A train conductor telling you that your day pass expired just an hour before boarding - and fining you $70 - would really irritate you. We heard many stories, sometimes coming in text messages at 3am (Europe is 5 or 6 hours ahead of us). The early morning wake up texts were just fine with me. I was happy to know she was okay and missed her at the same time.
It is hard to teach your children about dealing with adversity. After all, the subject is not a very happy one. Nevertheless, technology today gives us many options after something unexpected happens. Our daughter's phone was gone after two weeks, so there were no direct phone calls. Somehow, and I am not sure how, we still have phone calls and messages through Facebook. It is absolutely amazing. The power to put negative things behind you and concentrate on the next task, country, or tour has been a critical success for my daughter's trip. There will be more pictures to see when she gets back. Her safety and health are so much more important.
Traveling through Europe must be immensely easier now compared to 30 years ago. Apparently, as she departs her train in a new country there is no customs and her passport is not stamped. Except for a few countries like England and Switzerland, the euro is the common currency and with thanks to Brexit, traveling in Europe is even cheaper. Traveling through the old Soviet Block countries in eastern Europe did have some challenges with language and money (most only want cash), but my daughter reported many beautiful sights I now look forward to seeing. On my trip years from now I may add a trip to Moscow, what could possibly go wrong?
The time is fast approaching when she takes the 10 hour non-stop flight home from Olso, Norway to Orlando. Her plane gets in at 10pm, so it is sure to be a late night and an early morning arrival back to River Forest. I very much anticipate the joy of seeing her safely back in the US. Upon seeing her, I will finally be able to uncoil my intestines and get a full night's sleep. I will get 3 hours of stories from my daughter on the way home from the airport. And after hearing these stories I may just start planning that future trip to Europe.
Bruce Squillante
President
Babcock Ranch
Construction started in earnest this year on Babcock Ranch, a 19,500-home own being built from scratch on the Lee/Charlotte country line. Plans include super-fast Internet, 50 miles of wilderness trails, and a 75-megawatt solar array producing all the daytime electricity. Recently announced plans indicate homes will start selling early next year. The project's 17,000 acres are to be a rare example of full-on sustainability, with agriculture, good jobs and scientific research by Florida Gulf Coast University on site. Six preferred builders will be selling homes across a wide price range: from the high $200,000s to about $500,000 in the first neighborhood.
Not all the interest is from retirees or pre-retirees in Southwest Florida. Some are from people who have been following Babcock and live in other parts of the country and are looking for a place like Babcock Ranch. The project's high-speed Internet, along with shared office space within walking distance of the first homes, will attract people who are able to work from anywhere and don't mind Babcock's relative isolation. All the homes in the first neighborhood will be within a quarter mile of downtown. The farthest walk will be five minutes. Downtown is actually accessible, instead of having to get in your car.
The community's architectural standards will require features such as front porches, to encourage a sense of community - it actually goes back to the old Florida cracker traditions you can still see in towns like Wauchula and Arcadia.
The development is zoned for 6 million square feet of commercial space to attract companies that will provide employment. For entrepreneurs, one of the first downtown buildings will include shared work space where people can start up businesses, a feature that will hopefully appeal to retirees who still want to keep a hand in.
Babcock will also have its own kindergarten-through-eight-grade school as well as a partnership with Florida Gulf Coast University for scientific research. Some FGCU classes may be held at Babcock.
The long-term prospects for Babcock may be uncertain as it prepares to launch, but Urban Land Institute's McMahon says similar projects in Florida have done well. "I would suggest that communities like Seaside and Celebration were also out in the middle of nowhere when they were first built." But both have thrived, he says, referring to developments near Panama City and near Orlando, respectively, that have similar themes of sustainability.
Excerpts taken from Gulfshore Business Magazine.
Bobcock Ranch website: https://www.babcockranch.com
Not all the interest is from retirees or pre-retirees in Southwest Florida. Some are from people who have been following Babcock and live in other parts of the country and are looking for a place like Babcock Ranch. The project's high-speed Internet, along with shared office space within walking distance of the first homes, will attract people who are able to work from anywhere and don't mind Babcock's relative isolation. All the homes in the first neighborhood will be within a quarter mile of downtown. The farthest walk will be five minutes. Downtown is actually accessible, instead of having to get in your car.
The community's architectural standards will require features such as front porches, to encourage a sense of community - it actually goes back to the old Florida cracker traditions you can still see in towns like Wauchula and Arcadia.
The development is zoned for 6 million square feet of commercial space to attract companies that will provide employment. For entrepreneurs, one of the first downtown buildings will include shared work space where people can start up businesses, a feature that will hopefully appeal to retirees who still want to keep a hand in.
Babcock will also have its own kindergarten-through-eight-grade school as well as a partnership with Florida Gulf Coast University for scientific research. Some FGCU classes may be held at Babcock.
The long-term prospects for Babcock may be uncertain as it prepares to launch, but Urban Land Institute's McMahon says similar projects in Florida have done well. "I would suggest that communities like Seaside and Celebration were also out in the middle of nowhere when they were first built." But both have thrived, he says, referring to developments near Panama City and near Orlando, respectively, that have similar themes of sustainability.
Excerpts taken from Gulfshore Business Magazine.
Bobcock Ranch website: https://www.babcockranch.com
Another Clubhouse Improvement
During our annual meeting this year the RIFCA membership approved a $6,500 budget to put in a new tile floor. With the great work from Bill Ott, we have a new tile floor not only in the dining room, but also the kitchen and bar area. As you can imagine, there were a lot of details that went into the preparation and delivery of the new floor
During our annual meeting this year the RIFCA membership approved a $6,500 budget to put in a new tile floor. With the great work from Bill Ott, we have a new tile floor not only in the dining room, but also the kitchen and bar area. As you can imagine, there were a lot of details that went into the preparation and delivery of the new floor.
In order to put the new floor in we had to clear out the kitchen and bar area. That meant we had to move the dishwasher, two refrigerators, three ovens, and the island. The only of this first move was a glass bottle of syrup. It was a team effort, as Bill Ott, the Squillantes, and others cleared the entire area for the installers.
Bill shopped the material in different stores to keep the cost down. He purchased the tile and grout from Floor and Decor, but found the thinset at Tile Outlet for four dollars a bag cheaper. It took three trips finding and negotiating material, two more trips dealing with issues regarding supply and delivery and four trips hauling tile after the supplier failed to get product on the delivery truck as promised.
On June 6, A&L Tile Service began tearing out the old floor. In a matter of two full days, the floor was reduced from 1400 pieces of tile to about a million pieces of sticky goo filled tile. Within a few days A&L Tile Service had the rubble removed and the floor ready for tiling. To get to that point, though, you had to appreciate the challenges with the floor. A&L Tile Service had to completely chip out the edges of the old floor. From ground level it was obvious to see the undulation in the floor, which would require careful preparation when applying the thinset.
Over the next 4 days, A&L Tile Service completed the floor taking into account the starting point in the back of the dining room. Remember, in the future if we take out the library shelves, we needed proper spacing around the edges. Take a close look when you are next in the clubhouse, our installer did a very good job around the edges.
After the grout was applied there was still more to do before we were ready to use the new floor. Bill Ott and Bruce Squillante applied a grout sealer to give the floor longevity. At that point it was time to move the appliances back into the kitchen. Now, let's challenge your memory and perception. Look at the three ovens carefully. See if you notice something different. Are they still in the same position before we retiled the floor?
Ah, and the details that had nothing to do with the floors. For example, Bill Ott had to reposition the dishwasher legs because the size of the new floor did not allow for the dishwasher to fit in anymore. Bill took care of that and we now have a functioning dishwasher. Do we still need ice cubes in the left refrigerator's freezer? Bill figured out how to fix the water line and now we have ice cubes again. Then there were the two kitchen doors - one entering the kitchen and the other to get to the storage room in the back. With the new floor we could not open/close the doors. Bob Croson kindly took care of that issue and we can open/close the doors.
Bill then cleaned the daylights out of the floor to remove the dust and dirt and to give it a new shine. Robin helped with the finish by mopping the floor. She and Babe then put the kitchen back together.
So what did all of this cost? Did we keep to our budget? There are 736 pieces of new tiling in the dining room, kitchen, and bar area - most of them measuring 18x18". We kept an additional 40 tiles, 30 to finish under the book case in the event of future remove and 10 to replace any damaged tile in the future.
Here is what the key cost elements:
Labor, trim, and installation $2,300
New tile 1,100
Thin set 300
Grout and sealer 100
Tile remover rental 100
Miscellaneous 90
------------
Total $3,990
Our compliments go to Bill Ott for all of the great work, coordination and cost savings.
In order to put the new floor in we had to clear out the kitchen and bar area. That meant we had to move the dishwasher, two refrigerators, three ovens, and the island. The only of this first move was a glass bottle of syrup. It was a team effort, as Bill Ott, the Squillantes, and others cleared the entire area for the installers.
Bill shopped the material in different stores to keep the cost down. He purchased the tile and grout from Floor and Decor, but found the thinset at Tile Outlet for four dollars a bag cheaper. It took three trips finding and negotiating material, two more trips dealing with issues regarding supply and delivery and four trips hauling tile after the supplier failed to get product on the delivery truck as promised.
On June 6, A&L Tile Service began tearing out the old floor. In a matter of two full days, the floor was reduced from 1400 pieces of tile to about a million pieces of sticky goo filled tile. Within a few days A&L Tile Service had the rubble removed and the floor ready for tiling. To get to that point, though, you had to appreciate the challenges with the floor. A&L Tile Service had to completely chip out the edges of the old floor. From ground level it was obvious to see the undulation in the floor, which would require careful preparation when applying the thinset.
Over the next 4 days, A&L Tile Service completed the floor taking into account the starting point in the back of the dining room. Remember, in the future if we take out the library shelves, we needed proper spacing around the edges. Take a close look when you are next in the clubhouse, our installer did a very good job around the edges.
After the grout was applied there was still more to do before we were ready to use the new floor. Bill Ott and Bruce Squillante applied a grout sealer to give the floor longevity. At that point it was time to move the appliances back into the kitchen. Now, let's challenge your memory and perception. Look at the three ovens carefully. See if you notice something different. Are they still in the same position before we retiled the floor?
Ah, and the details that had nothing to do with the floors. For example, Bill Ott had to reposition the dishwasher legs because the size of the new floor did not allow for the dishwasher to fit in anymore. Bill took care of that and we now have a functioning dishwasher. Do we still need ice cubes in the left refrigerator's freezer? Bill figured out how to fix the water line and now we have ice cubes again. Then there were the two kitchen doors - one entering the kitchen and the other to get to the storage room in the back. With the new floor we could not open/close the doors. Bob Croson kindly took care of that issue and we can open/close the doors.
Bill then cleaned the daylights out of the floor to remove the dust and dirt and to give it a new shine. Robin helped with the finish by mopping the floor. She and Babe then put the kitchen back together.
So what did all of this cost? Did we keep to our budget? There are 736 pieces of new tiling in the dining room, kitchen, and bar area - most of them measuring 18x18". We kept an additional 40 tiles, 30 to finish under the book case in the event of future remove and 10 to replace any damaged tile in the future.
Here is what the key cost elements:
Labor, trim, and installation $2,300
New tile 1,100
Thin set 300
Grout and sealer 100
Tile remover rental 100
Miscellaneous 90
------------
Total $3,990
Our compliments go to Bill Ott for all of the great work, coordination and cost savings.
Lift's Lessons
Written by Regina Brett, 90 years old, of the Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio.
"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 40 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 40 lessons life taught me. It is the most requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:
Ghosts
In just a few days, we will celebrate Halloween, the day just before All Saints day when we honor all those who have gone to heaven. Our town will be populated with spirits, ghosts and goblins, and children ringing door bells and crying out “trick or treat.”
When I was a boy and before I got too big to go out begging for candy, I could dress up as a ghost (an easy costume, requiring only a sheet) a cowboy or a pirate. My mom would singe a piece of cork over our stove’s gas flame and she would paint a mustache on me with the black ash. My sisters might “dress up” in high heeled shoes and carry an old handbag. With their heavily rouged cheeks and lips over painted with the brightest red lipstick, they could almost be mistaken for hookers in training. We never wore a store bought outfit.
Each of us rushed out the door with our brown paper grocery bags hoping to win an unspoken, but clearly understood contest. The one who came home with the most candy would be the winner. When we returned home, we would spill the candy out in heaps on the dining room table. And we would decide amongst ourselves who won. Candy was always worth more than apples.
We never thought of razor blades buried in apples or even exlax laced chocolate. In general, we had license to practice this one night of intimidation of our neighbors.
Halloween was supposed to be scary. Yes, it was a night of pranks and model T’s on the barn roof, but also a night when the dead returned to earth and mingled with the living.
Our ghosts of Halloween were made up and imaginary. But in 1994, many years later and shortly after Poland had opened to the West, I met the thousands of spirits that haunt me still.
Sumi and I were going to celebrate our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and she decided that we should go out to eat. She wanted to eat Wiener schnitzel and she wanted to dine at a restaurant in Vienna.
Once we landed in Warsaw, we took the train to Krakow, Prague and Vienna. The trip was exciting with opera tickets our first night in Warsaw for about five dollars apiece and easy access to live music almost everywhere. We missed our accommodations in Prague and we were invited by the widow of a former conductor of the Prague symphony to stay in her flat. Her overnighters did not show up and I think she needed the lost income. Everything was fine until they came knocking on her door and then we doubled up and made do. And finally, in Vienna, we ate our Wiener schnitzel. It was an interesting trip.
It might have been an idyllic trip except for one day, the day we took a bus to visit Auschwitz about thirty kilometers outside Krakow. We rode on a standard municipal bus just going from City Centre to a place in the country. On the way, we started a conversation with the twenty-five year old girl from Indianapolis, sitting behind us. I’m glad that we met her because just talking to her helped us stay centered on a day that we witnessed the site of unspeakable horror. We were like three Musketeers, each supporting the other.
I did not go there on a lark or for a picnic. It was a place that made me lose my appetite and my bright eyes. I went to Auschwitz to simply bear witness and to be able to testify to what I saw. I do not plan to ever return.
The gift shop was not decorated with bright banners. It seemed under stocked and ashamed to be selling souvenirs and trinkets. It sold books about the Nazi rise to power and, of course, it sold The Diary of Anne Frank.
The sky was overcast and ashen, threatening rain that never came. Almost as if the sky wanted to cry but it couldn’t. After paying our admission, we walked past where the trains stopped to off load the condemned and then under the gate of the great lie, “Arbeit macht frei” or “work makes free.”
To the left was the concrete building containing the execution chamber. The old and infirm and the women and children stumbled down crudely formed stairs to the “showers” about ten feet below ground level. Once the room was stuffed, both men and women alike were forced to disrobe. The doors closed and their executioners dropped canisters of poison from small chimneys in the roof into this foul smelling tomb. After the last cries of the dieing fell silent, Jewish prisoners scrapped up the bodies of their kinsmen, bore them to the crematories and then prepared the room for the next batch of the soon to be dead.
To the right, was the prison itself with rows on rows of barracks containing bunk beds sleeping four high,. . . even closer than on a sub. The mattresses were thinly packed with straw and the walls were full of cracks and holes letting in the wind and the snow. We looked out a cracked window onto a small courtyard where some of the condemned saw a wall, pock marked with the bullets of a firing squad. Some of them knew they were going to die.
We saw mounds of shoes that had no owners, piles of hair that had no heads, and rooms filled with glasses that served no eyes.
We barely spoke and when we did it was in hushed tones, as if we were suffocating under a cloud of fifty year old smoke. When we listened, we heard the murmur of the dense fog of souls who traveled to eternity from this place.
To me, Auschwitz was a huge gaping maw, an open pit without pity or humanity. Even today, just writing of what I witnessed exhausts and angers me. Auschwitz does not ask the question, “How?” That is blatantly obvious. It shouts the question, “Why?” And it answers with the silence of the dead.
Before getting on the bus to go back, we went for a little stroll to a Memorial Park where the Allies had forced the captured Nazis to bury the many dead in mass graves. Workmen were redoing the walkways around some of the gravesites and they had left heaps of cobblestones off to the side. I stooped to pick one up and I put it in my travel bag. It has a place on top of my dresser next to the ashes of my brother, Joel. It is my little piece of Auschwitz and my own personal memorial to all who died there.
That night when Sumi and I returned to our hotel, we did not feel like going out to eat. We simply lay abed asking ourselves, “Why?”
A few months ago, twenty one years after visiting Auschwitz, we visited the Holocaust Museum in DC for the first time. This time, children on outings from many different schools, provided a distraction from the grim story. Their cell phones were almost as active as their scurrying to and fro. Even though their behavior was immature and even disrespectful, I was glad they were there. This is a story they should witness too.
The museum was much more accessible, tidy and clean. It was air conditioned and well lit. The walls were festooned with photos of families on picnic, old men sitting on a back porch and or newly married couples. It gave face to the dead, none of them made it. It was not Auschwitz, but it told the story of Hitler and the Holocaust very well.
I learned that the demise of the Jews began with their becoming second class citizens by degree of the Bundestag. Then by multiple degrees, they lost their rights, they had to wear the Star of David and they had to live in ghettos. And eventually, they had to die.
This Halloween when the children come begging for candy, they will have no idea that I have witnessed the ultimate “Trick or Treat” in a simple, country place called Auschwitz, a place where the transient residents got only tricks and no treats.
On Halloween night, those souls without a country will be my ghosts and I will hear their cries of “Never again” and their long slow wail of “Why?”
by Gene Hamilton
When I was a boy and before I got too big to go out begging for candy, I could dress up as a ghost (an easy costume, requiring only a sheet) a cowboy or a pirate. My mom would singe a piece of cork over our stove’s gas flame and she would paint a mustache on me with the black ash. My sisters might “dress up” in high heeled shoes and carry an old handbag. With their heavily rouged cheeks and lips over painted with the brightest red lipstick, they could almost be mistaken for hookers in training. We never wore a store bought outfit.
Each of us rushed out the door with our brown paper grocery bags hoping to win an unspoken, but clearly understood contest. The one who came home with the most candy would be the winner. When we returned home, we would spill the candy out in heaps on the dining room table. And we would decide amongst ourselves who won. Candy was always worth more than apples.
We never thought of razor blades buried in apples or even exlax laced chocolate. In general, we had license to practice this one night of intimidation of our neighbors.
Halloween was supposed to be scary. Yes, it was a night of pranks and model T’s on the barn roof, but also a night when the dead returned to earth and mingled with the living.
Our ghosts of Halloween were made up and imaginary. But in 1994, many years later and shortly after Poland had opened to the West, I met the thousands of spirits that haunt me still.
Sumi and I were going to celebrate our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary and she decided that we should go out to eat. She wanted to eat Wiener schnitzel and she wanted to dine at a restaurant in Vienna.
Once we landed in Warsaw, we took the train to Krakow, Prague and Vienna. The trip was exciting with opera tickets our first night in Warsaw for about five dollars apiece and easy access to live music almost everywhere. We missed our accommodations in Prague and we were invited by the widow of a former conductor of the Prague symphony to stay in her flat. Her overnighters did not show up and I think she needed the lost income. Everything was fine until they came knocking on her door and then we doubled up and made do. And finally, in Vienna, we ate our Wiener schnitzel. It was an interesting trip.
It might have been an idyllic trip except for one day, the day we took a bus to visit Auschwitz about thirty kilometers outside Krakow. We rode on a standard municipal bus just going from City Centre to a place in the country. On the way, we started a conversation with the twenty-five year old girl from Indianapolis, sitting behind us. I’m glad that we met her because just talking to her helped us stay centered on a day that we witnessed the site of unspeakable horror. We were like three Musketeers, each supporting the other.
I did not go there on a lark or for a picnic. It was a place that made me lose my appetite and my bright eyes. I went to Auschwitz to simply bear witness and to be able to testify to what I saw. I do not plan to ever return.
The gift shop was not decorated with bright banners. It seemed under stocked and ashamed to be selling souvenirs and trinkets. It sold books about the Nazi rise to power and, of course, it sold The Diary of Anne Frank.
The sky was overcast and ashen, threatening rain that never came. Almost as if the sky wanted to cry but it couldn’t. After paying our admission, we walked past where the trains stopped to off load the condemned and then under the gate of the great lie, “Arbeit macht frei” or “work makes free.”
To the left was the concrete building containing the execution chamber. The old and infirm and the women and children stumbled down crudely formed stairs to the “showers” about ten feet below ground level. Once the room was stuffed, both men and women alike were forced to disrobe. The doors closed and their executioners dropped canisters of poison from small chimneys in the roof into this foul smelling tomb. After the last cries of the dieing fell silent, Jewish prisoners scrapped up the bodies of their kinsmen, bore them to the crematories and then prepared the room for the next batch of the soon to be dead.
To the right, was the prison itself with rows on rows of barracks containing bunk beds sleeping four high,. . . even closer than on a sub. The mattresses were thinly packed with straw and the walls were full of cracks and holes letting in the wind and the snow. We looked out a cracked window onto a small courtyard where some of the condemned saw a wall, pock marked with the bullets of a firing squad. Some of them knew they were going to die.
We saw mounds of shoes that had no owners, piles of hair that had no heads, and rooms filled with glasses that served no eyes.
We barely spoke and when we did it was in hushed tones, as if we were suffocating under a cloud of fifty year old smoke. When we listened, we heard the murmur of the dense fog of souls who traveled to eternity from this place.
To me, Auschwitz was a huge gaping maw, an open pit without pity or humanity. Even today, just writing of what I witnessed exhausts and angers me. Auschwitz does not ask the question, “How?” That is blatantly obvious. It shouts the question, “Why?” And it answers with the silence of the dead.
Before getting on the bus to go back, we went for a little stroll to a Memorial Park where the Allies had forced the captured Nazis to bury the many dead in mass graves. Workmen were redoing the walkways around some of the gravesites and they had left heaps of cobblestones off to the side. I stooped to pick one up and I put it in my travel bag. It has a place on top of my dresser next to the ashes of my brother, Joel. It is my little piece of Auschwitz and my own personal memorial to all who died there.
That night when Sumi and I returned to our hotel, we did not feel like going out to eat. We simply lay abed asking ourselves, “Why?”
A few months ago, twenty one years after visiting Auschwitz, we visited the Holocaust Museum in DC for the first time. This time, children on outings from many different schools, provided a distraction from the grim story. Their cell phones were almost as active as their scurrying to and fro. Even though their behavior was immature and even disrespectful, I was glad they were there. This is a story they should witness too.
The museum was much more accessible, tidy and clean. It was air conditioned and well lit. The walls were festooned with photos of families on picnic, old men sitting on a back porch and or newly married couples. It gave face to the dead, none of them made it. It was not Auschwitz, but it told the story of Hitler and the Holocaust very well.
I learned that the demise of the Jews began with their becoming second class citizens by degree of the Bundestag. Then by multiple degrees, they lost their rights, they had to wear the Star of David and they had to live in ghettos. And eventually, they had to die.
This Halloween when the children come begging for candy, they will have no idea that I have witnessed the ultimate “Trick or Treat” in a simple, country place called Auschwitz, a place where the transient residents got only tricks and no treats.
On Halloween night, those souls without a country will be my ghosts and I will hear their cries of “Never again” and their long slow wail of “Why?”
by Gene Hamilton
A Love Story
In 2003, police in Warwickshire, England, opened a garden shed and found a whimpering, cowering dog. The dog had been locked in the shed and abandoned. It was dirty and malnourished, and had quite clearly been abused.
In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a female greyhound, to the Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, which is run by a man named Geoff Grewcock, and known as a haven for animals abandoned, orphaned, or
otherwise in need.
Geoff and the other sanctuary staff went to work with two aims: to restore the dog to
full health, and to win her trust. It took several weeks, but eventually both goals were achieved. They named her Jasmine, and they started to think about finding her an adoptive home.
In an act of kindness, the police took the dog, which was a female greyhound, to the Nuneaton Warwickshire Wildlife Sanctuary, which is run by a man named Geoff Grewcock, and known as a haven for animals abandoned, orphaned, or
otherwise in need.
Geoff and the other sanctuary staff went to work with two aims: to restore the dog to
full health, and to win her trust. It took several weeks, but eventually both goals were achieved. They named her Jasmine, and they started to think about finding her an adoptive home.
Jasmine, however, had other ideas. No one quite remembers how it came about, but Jasmine started welcoming all animal arrivals at the sanctuary. It would not matter if it were a puppy, a fox cub, a rabbit or, any other lost or hurting animal. Jasmine would just peer into the box or cage and, when and where possible, deliver a welcoming lick.
Geoff relates one of the early incidents. "We had two puppies that had been abandoned by a nearby railway line. One was a Lakeland Terrier cross and another was a Jack Russell Doberman cross. They were tiny when they arrived at the centre, and Jasmine approached them and grabbed one by the scruff of the neck in her mouth and put him on the settee. Then she fetched the other one and sat down with them, cuddling them."
Jasmine, the timid, abused, deserted waif, became the animal sanctuary's resident surrogate mother, a role for which she might have been born.
The list of orphaned and abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs, four badger cubs, fifteen chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and fifteen rabbits - and one roe deer fawn.
Tiny Bramble, eleven weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a field. Upon arrival at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her warm, and then went into the full foster-mum role.
Jasmine the greyhound showers Bramble the roe deer with affection, and makes sure nothing is matted.
The list of orphaned and abandoned youngsters she has cared for comprises five fox cubs, four badger cubs, fifteen chicks, eight guinea pigs, two stray puppies and fifteen rabbits - and one roe deer fawn.
Tiny Bramble, eleven weeks old, was found semi-conscious in a field. Upon arrival at the sanctuary, Jasmine cuddled up to her to keep her warm, and then went into the full foster-mum role.
Jasmine the greyhound showers Bramble the roe deer with affection, and makes sure nothing is matted.
"They are inseparable," says Geoff. "Bramble walks between her legs, and they keep kissing each other. They walk together round the sanctuary. It's a real treat to see them."
Jasmine will continue to care for Bramble until she is old enough to be returned to woodland life. When that happens, Jasmine will not be lonely. She will be too busy showering love and affection on the next orphan or victim of abuse.
Jasmine will continue to care for Bramble until she is old enough to be returned to woodland life. When that happens, Jasmine will not be lonely. She will be too busy showering love and affection on the next orphan or victim of abuse.
Pictured from the left are: "Toby", a stray Lakeland dog; "Bramble", orphaned roe deer; "Buster", a stray Jack Russell; a dumped rabbit; "Sky", an injured barn owl; and "Jasmine", with a mother's heart doing best what a caring mother would do...and such is the order of God's Creation.
Andy Rooney's Lessons
Written by Andy Rooney, a man who had the gift of saying so much with so few words. Rooney used to be on 60 Minutes TV show.
I've learned....
I've learned....
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That under everyone's hard shell is someone who wants to be appreciated and loved.
That to ignore the facts does not change the facts. That when you plan to get even with someone, you are only letting that person continue to hurt you. That love, not time, heals all wounds. That the easiest way for me to grow as a person is to surround myself with people smarter than I am. That everyone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile. That no one is perfect until you fall in love with them. That life is tough, but I'm tougher. That opportunities are never lost; someone will take the ones you miss. That when you harbor bitterness, happiness will dock elsewhere. That I wish I could have told my Mom that I love her one more time before she passed away. That one should keep his words both soft and tender, because tomorrow he may have to eat them. That a smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks. That when your newly born grandchild holds your little finger in his little fist, you're hooked for life. That everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you're climbing it. That the less time I have to work with, the more things I get done. |
That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.
That when you're in love, it shows. That just one person saying to me, 'You've made my day!' makes my day. That having a child fall asleep in your arms is one of the most peaceful feelings in the world. That being kind is more important than being right. That you should never say no to a gift from a child. That I can always pray for someone when I don't have the strength to help him in any other way. That no matter how serious your life requires you to be, everyone needs a friend to act goofy with. That sometimes all a person needs is a hand to hold and a heart to understand. That simple walks with my father around the block on summer nights when I was a child did wonders for me as an adult. That life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes. That we should be glad God doesn't give us everything we ask for. That money doesn't buy class. That it's those small daily happenings that make life so spectacular. |
