What The Walrus Said

What The Walrus Said
A couple of weeks ago, the American Film Institute aimed to examine films that offer HOPE to viewers. Among the top ten were two films directed by Frank Capra, the kindly director who gave me a screen test at age five. Frank's own favorite all-time movie, of his making, was declared Number One most inspiring. It's not surprising, and we all know and see it year after year at Holidaytime: It's a Wonderful Life. Sometimes, when life seems at its lowest ebb, we need to remind ourselves of the difference we have made in the lives we have touched, in ways we cannot even imagine. Several years ago, I could feel myself becoming depressed, because a community spokesperson utterly rejected efforts by my husband and myself to better the general welfare of the community in which we lived. We were called "outsiders," although we had lived there longer than our accuser. "It's a Wonderful Life" had been seen the week before. Remembering how Capra had his character of George Bailey contemplate what community life would have been like, had Bailey never been born, I decided to examine our lives in like manner. I found tremendous meaning thereby, and could actually feel the depression lifting within my brain. I was mentally manufacturing my own needed serotonins that restored balance of outlook.
My foster-father, Max Winslow, brought to Frank Capra, his bosom buddy, a similar epiphany when Capra was at a very low point in his life, and feared he was dying. The director realized that he could speak to millions of people, and as Frank later wrote to me, "for two hours , and in the dark." He found a meaning for his directorial talents he had never envisioned before. Other great films were to follow, and another of his films was also in the top ten list: "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington." Would that every legislator in this great country of ours be made to view this film! When we recently went to see an AFI viewing of this film, the audience gave it thunderous applause as the ending credits came on screen.
If one examines the list of most inspiring films, the theme of REDEMPTION comes across loud and clear--one human life making a difference in the lives of others! Kudos, Frank Capra! Until next time!

What The Walrus Said

What The Walrus Said This time of year I am reminded how much I miss my Dad, when I am unable to send him the Father's Day card I always loved choosing for him and sending to him. Because of my uncertain childhood, I developed a gargantuan memory for dates, and have this perpetual calendar in my brain that keeps track of literally hundreds of birthdays and anniversaries--important markers for the ones I love. Within the last month, my husband and I have mourned the loss of three friends, two very elderly, and one dear younger lady from diabetes. And what I shall miss as well as their greetings from time to time, via phone or mail, is that they are not around anymore, so that I too can pick up the phone and call them or even drop a little note. So I would say to one and all, as you get older, don't forget to send that card or make that phone call--it might be your last contact with someone very dear to you. Better a letter or card come back to you marked "undeliverable", "return to sender," and you know at least you made an effort at contact, and you can pretty well guess that death has come to your friend. Sometimes a thoughtful survivor or member of your friend's family will write and explain, and that is always heartwarming, even if sad, and at least there is a sense of closing that particular book of life. In my heart, I can still call out, "Happy Father's Day, Papa. I hope you know what you have always meant for me. I love you!" Until next time!

What The Walrus Said

What The Walrus Said
Last night TV viewers said good-bye to "60 Minutes" Mike Wallace. What a class-act he was as each segment portrayed the characteristics that made him unique over six decades of broadcasting. Did I know before that he was the announcer for the "Green Hornet" radio show? No, but I do remember him from radio of the fifties when he shared a show with his then wife, named Buff or Buffy. A stay-at-home housewife I enjoyed the radio magazine they presented. What touched me most last night was the way Mike signed off. He chose to bid us all a fond farewell by repeating Ed murrow's sign-off, "Good Night and Good Luck." Murrow would have been proud of Mike's no-nonsense interviews, his quest to get to the heart of a matter, especially a difficult or sensitive one. H ave a fruitful retirement, Mike, and guide well those young journalists at the University of Michigan's Mike and Mary Wallace House. They could not have a better mentor!

What The Walrus Said

What The Walrus Said I have been moved by a recent Newsweek article, "What FDR teaches us!" Author Jonathan Alter has written a new book, THE DEFINING MOMENT: FDR'S HUNDRED DAYS AND THE TRIUMPH OF HOPE. The piece in Newsweek encapsulates the strengths Roosevelt brought to the presidency of the United States in contrast to the presidency we have to put up with at this critical juncture in history. Charlie Savage, legal analyst for the Boston Globe, cites 750 Bush presidential "signings" that have largely gone unnoticed by our Congress or the public. These "signings" act as a "line-item veto," something the Supreme Court struck down as part of presidential powers. Roosevelt was a powerful President. He used the veto power given by the Constitution, he didn't subvert it! He inspired hope with his "Fireside Chats," but he didn't play on people's fears. Who can forget his saying, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!" I know. Twelve of my first fourteen years were spent during his three full terms, and one tiny portion of his fourth term in office. I remember the day he died and the national grief, with World War II almost ended, the United Nations about to be born, and the hope he had given countless folks across this nation for over a dozen years, not the least of whom was my Dad, who had lost a home and a business in the Great Depression. Please read Alter's article, or better yet his new book. Roosevelt provides a bench- mark by which to measure the greatness that can belong to a President of the United States of America.

What The Walrus Said

What The Walrus Said
Seeing the Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor, where World War II had a starting point for us Americans, and nearby the battleship Missouri where the war was officially ended with an "unconditional surrender," I have been thinking of late that being at war meant something, in terms of a constant underlying awareness, REMINDERS EVERYWHERE. There were small flags in windows with blue, and regretfully gold stars on them; certain foods were rationed, also gas, and some fabrics and materials. PEOPLE DID WITHOUT! I had three brothers who served in that wartime, and my father moved five hundred miles distant for "War Work." Except for the media's reporting on the war in Iraq, and bumper stickers that ask, "Support Our Troops," are we reminded every day that 2400 men and women have been killed and over 10,000 severely wounded in the last two years?
After it became apparent that the Vietnam conflict was pointless, I became a peace activist, and once carried a sign saying, "Suppose they had a war, and nobody came?" I am still an activist for a rapid end to the present hostilities, but now, if I marched, I would carry a sign saying, "Suppose they had a war, and no politicians and no coporations, NOBODY (but the troops), SACRIFICED?" That's how it looks to me--"out of sight, out of mind," except for those families that have loved ones in harm's way. Are the oil companies sacrificing profits? Are folks choosing to drive vehicles that burn less gas, sacrificing their status symbols?
IS ANYBODY OUT THERE GIVING UP ANYTHING, EXCEPT FOR THOSE WHO MAY BE ASKED TO GIVE UP THEIR LIVES? If this is a true war on terror, then at every level of our daily lives, we should be asked to give up something, taxes or time or commodities, because the bottom line is this: WAR EQUALS SACRIFICE. Always has, always will! Until next time!

What The Walrus Said

What The Walrus Said
A year ago I promised myself I wanted to "blog" as well as continue to journal, because I found that journal-writing primes the pump of my writing, and "blogging" might increase the "flow" of words. WhenI give book-talks on my book, "Fleeing the Fates of the Little Rascals," or when I give a talk on hospice, I always urge my listeners to discover and to begin the journey that writing can provide. As Gabriele Rico puts it so beautifully, "Writing is the bridge. What is inaccessible to us becomes accessible by going across that bridge." So now, the journey at this site has begun!
I spent this last week unpacking luggage and going through dozens of pieces of mail because Easter week, my husband-- (whom hereafter I will call my "Roommate," as I did in my weekly columns)-- and I just returned from a fourth journey to Hawaii. We were gifted at Christmastime with a cruise, and a small miracle occurred when someone cancelled an Easter week cruise on the The Pride of Aloha. Palm Sunday found us flying to Honolulu, to board that beautiful ship. Just beforehand, we took a taxi to visit the Pearl Harbor museum and look silently at the memorial for the sunken Arizona battleship. Who, in my age bracket, can forget where they were and what they were doing the day Pearl Harbor was bombed and World War II began? Something in me needed to see where those three- and-a-half years of wartime began and my life, and that of my family, and our country, would never be the same again!
Once nightfall overtook the famous old Aloha Tower, our ship pulled out into the open sea, and the dancing began! For Roommate and I have adopted this saying in our advancing years, "When you are on thin ice, you may as well dance!" Think I'll end this and other blogs as once I ended my weekly column at the Pahrump Valley Gazette, "Until next time!"