It Pays to Pay Attention: What a Real Hero Looks Like

Sometime in 1990, a United States Army veteran named Rick Rescorla invited brother in arms Daniel Hill to New York. In addition to the desire to knock back a pint or two of Guinness with an old friend, Hill had another thing in mind. The World Trade Center was Rick Rescorlas’ workplace and as Director of Security for Dean Witter, he was charged with the safety of over two thousand employees. Having extensive experience in counter-terrorism measures, Daniel walked the grounds of the WTC with Rick and upon completion of their assessment, Mr. Hill said if he were a terrorist he would plant some sort of bomb in the WTC basement.

This statement was solidified upon their descent into the basement, which they were able to do with no visible identification and not even a single set of eyes from security being laid upon them. Rick Rescorla delivered a report to the New York/New Jersey Port Authority which strongly suggested the implementation of heightened security measures.

Ricks' suggestions were ignored, mainly in part to the high “cost” of such measures.

Final cost of the ignorance: - six deaths and 1,043 injuries.
Following the truck bombing on February 26^th, 1993 Rick Rescorla filed another report, this one with his employer. His report to Morgan Stanley/Dean Witter strongly suggested moving out of the WTC entirely, citing numerous reasons yet all focused on protecting lives. Again, Rick Rescorlas’ suggestions were ignored due to as you may have guessed by now, “cost”.

At the chagrin of his superiors (once again, due to “cost”), Rick held quarterly surprise evacuation drills for all employees. Workdays were interrupted as the jolly man from Cornwall led VP’s, Executives, managers and interns down dozens of flights of steps, then back up again. This went on for nearly eight years and before the Twin Towers fell on that tragic day, over 2,500 Rescorla-trained employees walked out and went home to their families.

In a constant search for stories of real heroes I can share with my children, I have studied all I can about Rick Rescorla. A statue of him has been chosen to represent all American infantry soldiers at the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning, Georgia. An image used for the statue graces the cover of "We Were Soldiers Once... And Young" by Lt Gen. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway. Moore called him "The finest platoon leader I ever saw."

Rick Rescorla was last seen alive on the 10th floor of Tower 2. Unlike ever other person in the tower at that time; he was heading upstairs. His last known words were "As soon as I make sure everyone else is out..."

On Bruce & Caitlyn Jenner, Being Judged, and one Ratchet A** Hoe (Or, "Let He Who Is Stoned Cast the First Reality Show Judge" or something...)

They say the first signs of age are physical but a lot of the things “they” say don’t always hold up to be true. Personally, when I talk to coworkers I often start a sentence with “When I was your age…” or “Do you remember…?” Usually, they don’t remember because they were a decade or more from being born. To think, 9/11 is closer to most of their dates of birth than today is and to put it in perspective, my birthday is the midway point between today and the Invasion of Normandy. I mean, I’m closer to my discount at Denny’s than I am to drinking age. Does this bother me? Hardly. Good natured jokes are a specialty of mine, the giving as well as the receiving. They kid me for having once bought cd’s and I kid a coworker who, though a few years younger than me; looks ten years older.

All jokes and observations aside, I've realized my personal sign of aging is the way I shake my head at some of the ways of thinking that have not previously existed in our society. Or better yet, people who don't think, at least for themselves. People who clearly choose to allow the media, upbringing or even some damn internet meme to think for them, then are delusional enough to say "I'm an independent person." I have no other choice than use my not-yet-arthritic hands and type “What is this world coming to?”

Past blogs have ranted about celebrities, especially those who are celebrities because they are famous, and famous because they are celebrities. Curiously, no one seems to know or care they have done next to nothing to deserve celebrity status. And to take a quick scan of who our most celebrated and talked about people are, I wouldn’t exactly consider being a celebrity something to be proud of.

The following may anger some people and after seeing some posts as of late, may even get me deleted from a friend list or two. But before you delete me (if you choose to do so) I ask that you understand I am not offering opinion here. Opinions are of little value to me. Perspective on the other hand is vital to how I conduct my life, and perspective is what I am offering.

No disrespect to the people involved (meaning anyone who has a real life and isn’t tabloid-obsessed) but would Kim Kardashian's step dad, err, uhh step-mom be considered a hero if he (I mean… she) was not Kim Kardashian's step…. parent? Not knocking Caitlyn Jenner but unless she donated a kidney or other organ the operation was not heroic.

While perusing some of the online blather about Mrs. Jenner I read a sarcastic comment about how many women have “heroically” augmented their breasts. When you think about it, is having breast enlargement surgery much different than having a sex change operation? After all, at the core it’s the result of a human being dissatisfied with their physical appearance. I must also state that I consider fake boobs rather unattractive. In fact, I consider them about as attractive as Rosie O’Donnell eating lint from Michael Moore’s belly button and if you’ve read my past blogs you’ll know how much of an insult that is.

This brings me to the overall essence of this piece. The word “Judgmental”. And yes, I have been judged as “mental” more than once.

Anyone who has a harsh opinion about the current cover of Vanity Fair is accused of being Judgmental. In its new definition, being called judgmental now indicates someone who has a differing opinion. And before I am accused of being judgmental for saying Caitlyn Jenner is not a hero, read on.

Ever hear of a woman named Jennifer Pritzker? Jennifer Pritzker is a retired United States Army Lieutenant Colonel who was born as James Pritzker. What’s more, Mrs. Pritzker has spearheaded and funded efforts to integrate members of the transgender community into the military and emergency services. So call me judgmental if you like but members of the armed forces along with police officers, firefighters and paramedics are not only real heroes but vital to our very way of life and just maybe a little more important than any and all reality TV stars.

Late last year, I made a post regarding a well-known figure who committed several crimes against animals. I was accused of being judgmental by someone who did not like the fact my post suggested a fitting way to mete punishment for the heinous crimes. In defense of the criminal, the person accusing me said the criminal made a “mistake”. A mistake is defined as an unintentional act resulting in an unintentional outcome. The crimes committed were anything but unintentional and the word mistake was nothing more than an excuse used as a feeble attempt to avoid accountability.

I, myself on the other hand have made very few mistakes. Why, just the other day, I pushed the wrong button on vending machine and got the wrong candy bar. That was a mistake. But the things I have done in the past; the times I chose alcohol over my wife and children, the time I broke both hands while punching a wall in an inebriated rage, rendering my family broke and on the verge of our first stint of homelessness; and the time just a few weeks ago I yelled so loud at my son he burst into horrified tears, those weren’t mistakes at all. Those were decisions. Bad decisions. Decisions I regretted immediately yet decisions nonetheless.

A lot of folks use the “we all make mistakes” excuse as a way to side-step admission of poor decision making; I say we all make fewer mistakes than we think. But for some reason, many of us are wired to make excuses; to shift the blame, to feed a denial or two and surround ourselves with other like-minded people who have been similarly conditioned to avoid any and all personal accountability at all costs.

Which brings me to the other new definition of one who is “Judgmental.” Another curiosity of human thought I have observed is how accusations of being judgmental often come from those who think what they have been told to think, as opposed to those who have been wisely taught how to think. Being told what to think leads to denial and for a lot of years denial was my one constant companion. Denial nearly destroyed my family and denial nearly had me take a swan dive off the Coronado Bridge. Denial is sown in a lack of principles, it is fed by excuses and it harvests itself as disgrace.

To put it bluntly, one is often called judgmental by another for stating a truth the person is in denial of, or refuting a truth a person is told to believe without exception. Sometimes, tact has to take a back seat to truth. I would much rather be honest and hated than lie and be loved for it. Because if lies are involved it isn’t love in the first place, so what’s the point? And as we have seen in recent local news, denial and all its accompaniments often lead to misery and ultimately death. I have been accused of being judgmental for this very reason many times and if you have too, rest easy; for you are in good company. Sir Winston Churchill once said “You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something in your life…”
Keen as I am on the subject of contemporary social thought I have closely followed the story of a United States Navy sailor who lost his life in a suspected road rage incident last week. This case catches my eye for many reasons; far too many reasons to list here now. But the reason the story of Chief Petty Officer Zach Buob has found its way onto this page is the enormous public backlash against his accuser. Never before have I followed a crime story where such a large percentage of people agreed on the poor character of the suspect. Not one reliable source shared anything which would suggest the suspect was anything other than a person of vindictive spirit, ill intentions and to put it bluntly in the words of dozens of men and women who knew her, “the bitch has issues…”

Accusations of theft, vandalism, threats of physical violence and child abuse have been publicly reported by people who know the suspect but didn’t know each other. This is definitely not your run of the mill “Let’s trashs someone’s name”, since the suspect trashed her own name long before the rest of the nation heard of her. Yet even as those who knew her shared actual messages from the suspect, a few others were quick to call them judgmental for doing so. These messages weren’t opinion or judgment, they were absolute proof of what a horrible person the suspect is.

Somehow, the suspect was able to delete her social networking profiles before heading to jail. A pity, since viewing them would have been an interesting study indeed. A few who disagreed with those who knew the suspect well accused the others of being judgmental. Following this story and others, I have learned the word judgmental is often used as a way to create the illusion of superiority over who with a differing opinion. The preceding examples prove this.

The Bible says “Judge not, lest ye be judged...”, among other things. Personally (And I say with utmost sincerity that I mean no offense to some of my dearest friends, confidants and spiritual advisers), I have had a problem taking the entirety of the Bible as absolute truth due to complete lack of acknowledgement of creatures who existed millions of years before us humans. But that's a rant for another time. I've observed people who were raised to think what they were told to think, people who (possibly unknowingly) choose to allow others to think for them. I think of people who wave the word “Judgmental” around like a banner of self-righteousness, those who make excuses in place of being accountable and those who live in ways that defy basic human morals and say “Only God Can Judge Me”;

I look at them and think to myself “Yup, God/Buddha/Allah/Ned Flanders is gonna kick their asses…”

Taking the Holy out of the Holidays

A few days ago a good friend made a post while on vacation in Costa Rica. He described the beauty of the Good Friday celebrations and expressed his thoughts and wonder of how such celebrations were going on all over the world, and the beauty of it all. At some point during the festivities, some jackass in a flea-bitten rabbit suit came bounding through the crowd, cheapening the sacred gathering and bringing a trivial side to an otherwise joyous occasion.

This got me to thinking, or to be more accurate; helped boil over some long simmering thoughts on how we celebrate Holidays. The meanings are all but lost in popular culture and interestingly enough, many who celebrate these holidays are against what these very holidays stand for. If you don’t believe me, do some research on how some folks of no religious belief complain about others using the word Christmas when celebrating you guessed it, Christmas.

Easter itself is one of what I call the mandatory church attendance dates for the “Two a Year” crowd; meaning it is one of only two days a year when certain people go to church, the other of course being Christmas. One Easter, my wife and our young son went to church while I went to work. Naturally, most people understand when a man has to go to work to support his family but one person in particular took exception to it. When asked where I was that day, my wife informed the woman of my whereabouts. “It figures he would go to work instead of coming to church today” the woman said, raising her nose so high in the air she likely scraped some boogers on the thirty-foot ceiling of the sanctuary. In her opinion, skipping church fifty times a year was totally acceptable for her, yet my going to work on a one of the two days she chose to attend church was totally unacceptable AND reason to criticize my wife. So, for some people it’s apparent church is where you go, especially on holidays; to criticize people who aren’t there. Something tells me they’re missing the message.

Easter isn’t the only day where we collectively forget the meaning, adding our own trivial celebrations as we stray further away from the true meanings. Bookending Easter we have our favorite ethnic holidays in Saint Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo. In our fair land, the only difference is the type of hat we wear and which brand of beer we drink. Nothing against the Irish celebration itself, but exactly how intelligent are we as a race of humans if we believe a priest waved his shillelagh and chased all the snakes out of a land which was never ecologically capable of supporting reptile life in the first place?

I am certain that barely a fraction of a percent of revelers know the true significance of Cinco de Mayo while hoisting their Corona’s and wearing sombrero’s which are surprisingly not banned in this era of Political Correctness run rampant. The Battle of Puebla was, as most may know; between Mexican and French forces. What none of us are taught is the French Army was attempting to march all the way to Dixie, in an effort to provide military assistance to the Confederate Army. The American Civil War would surely have had a different outcome had the French been victorious at Puebla, yet yearly news coverage suggests the only things worthy of celebration are $20 beer garden tickets, mariachis and great deals on tacos…

Such trivial celebration lacking in true meaning carries on throughout the year. What’s the difference between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July? If you look at the collective celebrations in our society, the only two visible differences are the date and one has fireworks. Thankfully, there are still Boy Scouts across the land who place flags at every grave in every National Cemetery across the land. This is not exactly so at public cemeteries, as the following anecdote will show. Last year I watched news coverage of a Memorial Day “celebration” at a local cemetery. While Taps was being played two young boys stood in the background. One boy’s eyes were glued to his phone while the other swayed side to side, eating from a bag of chips.

This gave me three examples of absolute ignorance toward the meaning of the holiday. Though there is no official law on an individual’s conduct when Taps is being played, it was evident the boys could not have cared less either way. Second, the parents of these boys were just as ignorant. I say this because had they been aware, surely they would have taught their sons proper conduct before arriving at such a sacred (at least to some…) ceremony. Last and possibly worst of all, the camera man chose to shoot the video with the boys in view and the director back at the station chose to air it. So it’s likely these boys went to school the next day bragging about how they got on TV the night before.

They may have had their moment of fame yet what they really did for me and for anyone else paying attention was show us how indifferent, ignorant and downright sloppy many people can be. Needless to say, I have not voluntarily watched that particular newscast since then…

One that really has grinded at me over the past few years is Thanksgiving. Now, I’m all for football on this day yet football and even turkey now come in at a distant second to the all-important Black Friday sales. We’ll see a story or two about feeding the homeless, maybe a newscaster will share a childhood memory or two. But the king of the airwaves is the amazing deals on electronics, clothing and any manner of otherwise useless material possessions. In each of the past five years, I have read online posts from people actually bragging about ditching their children at a relative’s house to line up at a store at noon Thanksgiving Day. NOON!

Ironically, the same people who brag about that new TV or god forbid video game system usually spend all of December complaining about the mounting bills. Guess shopping on Black Friday didn’t save them as much money as they expected…

Christmas. Ahh, who can forget the wide-eyed mornings under the tree? Or the smell of roasted ham in grandma’s kitchen? I certainly can’t and they are beautiful memories indeed. Yet those who choose to celebrate Christmas are forced to contend with the intolerance of those who don’t believe in the story of Christmas yet demand to be included in the celebration.  The mantra of “Keep Christ in Christmas” echoes another thought; for those who choose not to celebrate Christmas are hell-bent on taking Christmas away from Christians.

Yet as much as I love the music, love the food and certainly love the looks on my children’s eyes on Christmas Morning, for the life of me I cannot understand what trees, candy canes and flying venison have to do with it…

In grade school I was sent to the principal’s office many times. So many in fact the waiting area outside Mr. Aceves office was like a second classroom to me. Yet there was one time I was sent away for asking what I felt to be an innocent and honest question. A classmate of mine was allowed to place his head on his desk in silence when the rest of us said the Pledge of Allegiance. In this day and age, anyone who pledges to the Red White and Blue is often considered intolerant, elitist and even racist. But when I was a child, pride in our flag and gratitude for all the things it stood for was actually considered a good thing.

I always wondered why this classmate was not required to pledge and after asking my teacher about it, he explained how his religious beliefs prohibited it. Though I was satisfied with the answer, it brought forth a newer, deeper question. “Mr. Almack, if he doesn’t  believe in God, Jesus or the American Flag, why does he get to stay home from school on Memorial Day and Christmas?” He didn’t have an answer for that one, or at least not a verbal answer. He scribbled a note on a piece of paper, slid across the desk to me and said “Get out of my classroom…”

Now, the preceding may have come off as insensitive. Yet not once did I criticize my classmate for following a differing belief, I simply wondered why he was allowed to enjoy the benefits of a belief system he didn’t agree with.

For those of you who go to church every week and live the principles of your chosen religious path every day, I applaud you. To those who revere the American Flag and everything it stands for year round, I salute you. Those of you who show gratitude every day, I thank you.

To all of you and everyone else, I say this;

Don’t get me started on Columbus Day…