We are now in that small time/space known as November 11, 2022. Happily, the hurricane/tropical storm turned out to be nothing special where I’m at. The palm trees got some debris blown off but that happens whenever we get some wind. It’s good that nothing bad happened. Today we have a short list: Air Day, Death/Duty Day, Origami Day, Veterans Day, Single’s Day, and National Sundae Day. I’m a veteran who went to war. I still don’t know why we went to Viet Nam or how we “kept America free” by being there. I’ll celebrate the ice cream sundae. On this day in 1400 the Battle of Aleppo took place between Timur, who won, and the Sultan Faraj Mameluke, ruler of Egypt. 20,000 people were massacred, and a pyramid of their skulls built. Wow. On this day in 1620 the Mayflower Pilgrims made their first landing at what is now Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts. On this day in 1647 Massachusetts passed the first compulsory school attendance law in America. On this day in 1909 the construction of the US Navy base at Pearl Harbor began. On this day in 1918 the Armistice went into effect ending hostilities of World War 1 at 11 AM of the 11th day of the 11th month. On this day in 1957 Jerry Lee Lewis’ song “Great Balls of Fire” went on sale. It would sell a million copies in the first 10 days. Today we visit the grave of the Danish philosopher and poet Soren Kierkegaard. He said, “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” “It is better to try something and fail than to try nothing and succeed. The result may be the same, but you won’t be. We always grow more thought defeats than victories.” “The unhappy person is never present to themselves because they always live in the past or the future.” I’ll end with “You live life looking forward, you understand life looking backward.” Abide.
