So this is Christmas. After a bitterly long year that still isn’t over we are in the season of peace and goodwill towards all men. I think anyone could be excused for not feeling particularly “Christmasy” about now.
But, I want to think there is still some good in this season.
Today is my pandemic day two hundred eighty-two of staying safer at home. I’d like to be witty about this and make some wise-ass comment such as “if most accidents happen in the home, how are we safer there?” But honestly, after over nine months of staying in or near the house, I don’t have much to feel witty about.
This is just another day in the trenches. Now with with an extra added dose of Christmas holiday blues.
So my regular readers dropping in for a visit might momentarily think they come to the wrong blog. I can assure you, if you were looking for “The Charest Family on the Web” you dropped in on the correct website. After several years I’ve given my humble blog a bold new look.
I did this for several reasons, partially driven by learning a lot of User Experience (UX) principles over the past year of graduate school. Partially because my former theme had a few quirks I didn’t care for. Partially because, it was time for a style refresh.
I don’t think I’m breaking news by posting that this past year has been a difficult year. Millions of people are out of work with no way to buy food or pay their rent. Schools are shut down with an entire generation of children facing a severe setback in their development and education. Our country remains in turmoil with one half of our people ready to go to war against the other half. People have been locked inside their homes for as long as eight months with no end in sight.
But today is Thanksgiving, a day we traditionally set aside to give momentary thanks for the blessings we do have. One day out of a year to remember the good things as a perspective on all the bad things. So this is my small contribution to giving thanks.
My Navy career was unusual for the number of different types of ships I served on. Few people get to serve on both submarines and surface ships. Even more unusual, I served on two very different types of submarines, and two very different types of surface ships. This background gives me some unique perspectives on Navy life. So when I saw this Quora question, I felt I had the background to give a solid answer.
So today is another Pandemic Friday the Thirteenth. This has special significance for me as the last Friday the Thirteenth, back in March, was my first day of pandemic staying-safer-at-home. Today, two hundred forty-five days later, I’m still being safer-at-home.
I’m not sure if this is a real-life enactment of “Groundhog Day” or “Nightmare on Elm Street.” Either way, I wish the movie would just end.
Today is Veteran’s Day, the eleventh day of the eleventh month. This holiday started as Armistice Day, the day to commemorate the end of what at the time was called “The Great War,” “The War To End All Wars,” now simply called “World War One (WWI).” Because people can’t ever seem to have enough wars.
On this day I want to remember members of my family past who were veterans.
“We think that voting actually is not just a private vote for the person who gets the vote, but a public good, and that the more people who vote, the more legitimate the elected officials are, and that they represent the actual values of the electorate.”
former Colorado Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon (D-Denver), Colorado Statesman, 7/27/12
Recently I had the opportunity to answer another Quora question on navy life. This answer brought back a flood of memories from my life in Naples, Italy, and working with NATO. The question was “As an enlisted service member, what did an officer do to earn your respect?” I felt this was an interesting question, as the person asking seemed to know enough about military life to know that respecting position is required, but respect for the person is earned.
Conservative’s Respect For President-Elect Joe Biden
We are now thirty-four days past our last Presidential election. In normal times all eyes would be on our incoming president. All news stories would be on the transition of power and how the opposing party is nominally cooperating with the incoming President. In normal times, most people would hardly be paying any attention and life would go on.
Regretfully, these are not normal times. In these times, about one half of our nation’s citizens are holding our collective breaths that trump finally leaves office peacefully. The other half is loudly screaming “VOTE FRAUD” and going so far as proposing a military-led coup to keep trump in office.
Opinions & Commentary Quora Re-Posts
Joe Biden Republicans