Driving Progress

"It's futile to resist change, man."

~ Fillmore, Cars3

In the spring, I treated myself to a "new" car. It's actually three years old and was coming off a lease, but as the driver of a 20+-year-old car, that was new enough for me. In fact, it was too new for me.

This car talks to me. It beeps at me. If a tire touches the line separating lanes, the steering wheel shakes and the dashboard glows bright orange, announcing LANE DEPARTURE. As my mother would've said, it's a bit much.

In the early days, when I was still flailing with my newly acquired automotive challenges, I found myself talking back to the car. "I know, I know!" "Alright, I get it!" I learned inside a car wash that the car brakes automatically. Evidently, it was heading for a guard rail. "Okay, okay!"

Driving home one night the dash lit up with a message: "You seem tired, pull over and take a break." "Excuse me?" This is a bit too much automotive surveillance for me. 

On the plus side, the car looks good and rides beautifully. I've figured out how to use some of the features, but it's slow going. Take, for example, locking the car. This should be as easy as flicking a light switch, yes? Ha! Don't be fooled.

The locking mechanism is a keyless fob, of course. Try to lock it on the first try; I dare you. An extra five minutes is needed for every time-sensitive destination just to lock the blessed car. Please don't direct me to the user's manual, which is about five inches thick. There are no less than 14 pages detailing various means of locking/unlocking this automotive wonder. "Really?"

A new car was a practical decision. I was spending crazy cash on the old car, not so much on repairs as on replacement parts that were giving out with time. There have been no replacements or repairs so far on the newbie, but the increased insurance and registration costs even that equation.

I don't regret buying a newer high-tech car; it had to happen eventually. But I do miss the simplicity of my old beater. I especially miss that magical metal key.

From Disney's Cars movie series

A Fast Read

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”

― C.S. Lewis

Speaking as a constant reader, it has been many years since I finished reading a book inside two days. Recently this rare achievement recurred. Christian Craighead's One Man In was almost impossible for me to put down. I began reading it last Wednesday afternoon and was done by Thursday night. If you are a fan of action books, this true-life story is for you.

Having already viewed his lengthy interview with Shawn Ryan, it was surprising to find myself so absorbed in Craighead's written memoir of his harrowing day fighting terrorists. It continues to both fascinate and reassure me that we have such men as the author walking among us. We don't deserve them, but I'm grateful they are here.

My Native Land

Indigenous: 1. having originated in and being produced, growing, living, or occurring naturally in a particular region or environment; 2. INNATE, INBORN syn see NATIVE

Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary

Originating in and characteristic of a particular region or country; native (to)

Dictionary.com

Every day we are told by media, politicians, academia, social media, and the culture in general that the USA is a "nation of immigrants." People coming to America to establish new lives for their themselves, their families, and their posterity is our country's natural state of being.

By that definition, I'm a natural-born indigenous person. So were my parents. We were all born in the USA. According to the definition, we all originated, grew, and lived here. We occurred naturally; we're natives of the USA.

That being settled, I don't need a holiday such as "Indigenous Peoples Day" to celebrate myself. Much preferred is the longtime holiday to honor the man who discovered this amazing "new world," Christopher Columbus. His overseas journey, which took no small portion of guts to undertake, opened the American continent for the rest of the world. 

Did bad stuff happen in the centuries since Columbus discovered America? Yes, indeed. Show me a time in history when bad stuff didn't happen. As one example, read what the Aztecs were up to before Christianity converted the people of Mexico. Hearts cut out of living bodies? Hmm. It seems those particular indigenous people celebrated some terrifying customs that are not missed.

Columbus Day is a treasured tradition in the United States. President Trump made an official proclamation for Columbus Day to be honored on October 12. Indigenous people such as I applaud the recognition and respect the president has conferred upon our national history.

Statue of Christopher Columbus - Newport, RI

Defining Terms

 Geno-cide – the deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group.

~ Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary

the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

- Dictionary.com

Genocide is a strong word defining a brutal act. Yet, like “racism,” the word “genocide” is so overused and misapplied today that it has lost much of its true meaning.

Is Israel’s military trying to eliminate members of the Islamic terrorist group Hamas? Yes. A group that promotes the destruction of the Israeli people by any means needs to be eliminated. A group that attacks, tortures, and murders men, women, and children in cold blood for no other reason than hatred should be eliminated. That is what Israeli military forces are systematically doing.

That is not “genocide.” That is self-defense.

What has been happening in Gaza would never have transpired without the unprovoked atrocities of October 7, 2023. Critics of Israel like to skip over that part. Jewish families were attacked, raped, tortured, and slaughtered in their homes on their sabbath morning. Women’s breasts were cut off and kicked around the street like soccer balls. Infants were roasted in microwave ovens while mothers were forced to watch. People were burned alive, their charred bodies melded to the loved ones they were clutching. Children were murdered in front of their parents; parents were murdered in front of their children.

Yet there was no global outrage at Hamas. Almost immediately the world told the Israelis to stand down. “Cease fire” became the catchword.

If your family had been deliberately slaughtered for no reason except ethnic hate, would you stand down? I suppose no one knows exactly what they would do in such a horrific circumstance. But I like to think I would fight back. Kind of like Israel has been doing for three years.

Just for safety, I would want every single member of Hamas hunted down and killed to prevent the possibility of them ever attacking my family again. Genocide? I think not. Justice? Oh, yes.

 

By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
    O God of our salvation ~ Psalm 65:5

Going the Distance

“I have such pride in my husband’s work. I’m proud of my work, too, but most of all my marriage and family."~ Eva Marie Saint, 2018

Eva Marie Saint, Academy Award winner for her role in the 1954 film classic On the Waterfront, died today at age 102. Saint also starred in Alfred Hitchcock's iconic 1959 spy thriller North by Northwest. Her stellar roster of co-stars included Marlon Brando, Cary Grant, Montgomery Clift, Gregory Peck, Paul Newman, and George C. Scott. She sure knew how to pick her roles.

Saint's film catalog is not as voluminous as many of her contemporaries; she was open about wanting to put her homelife first. She achieved that goal. Her marriage to director Jeff Hayden lasted 65 years, until his death in 2016. Saint is survived by their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

In recent years Saint was revered for being the oldest living Oscar recipient as well as lauded for her screen work, which in later years included television. It's always sad to see a star from Hollywood's golden age leave us. Setting aside her honorable age, there's no doubt Eva Marie Saint was a star with staying power. Rest in peace.

Eva Marie Saint in the 1950s