When I was on my mission in Hannover, Germany, we were invited to dinner to the bishop's house. Remarkabley, I still remember the bishop's name--Bischoff Gaedeke.
Anyway, there were four missionaries assigned to the ward in Hannover, so there were four of us at his house. I guess we had overstayed our welcome, because when one of us (not I) offered to give a spiritual thought (a little mini-devotional as most missionaries traditionally give after supper), he said, "No. Sunday is the Lord's day and Saturday is mine." I know I was somewhat shocked and I think the others were too. I find it quite humorous today.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
A Soldier in Debt to his Country
I remember something that happened just before I deployed to Iraq in 2005. I think it's kind of funny.
Whenever troops deploy, there's a small group that goes first. They set up stuff, I guess. I never volunteered for that group since I wanted to stay as long as possible with my family. One soldier, whom I'll call Sergeant Wilson, did volunteer. He also had a family, but volunteered anyway. He was that dedicated, I guess. Actually, he got promoted to sergeant while deployed, so he was Specialist Wilson before he left from Fort Stewart, Georgia. He was definitely a kiss-up and perhaps this was part of his strategy to get promoted.
Anyway, one day our little platoon office got a phone call. Actually, it was a walled-off section of a trailer, a cubicle. Each platoon had its cubicle within this trailer. There was a small conference room and of course offices for the first sergeant and captain (company commander). The cubicle was about 15 feet long and maybe 5 feet wide. There were only three walls.
Anyway, I remember being in our platoon cubicle with the platoon sergeant (an E-6). The phone rang, and-- I'll call him Sergeant Penn--answered the phone. I could tell from his body language and words that a creditor was on the phone. I heard Sergeant Penn say, "He's in Iraq," sort of huffily and indignantly, as though to say, "How could you be asking for money while this person, who is 100 times more patriotic than you, is serving his country and risking his life for you?" Penn (as most soldiers do) pronounced Iraq like "eye-rack" as opposed to "ee-rock." I do wonder what Penn would have said had the creditor said "Well, sir, just because he's in Iraq doesn't mean we're not going to get 'im." Perhaps the creditor had a snarly countenance, was dressed in a suit, and had beady eyes. I imagine Penn would have grown red in the face, perhaps dropped the f-bomb, and hung up the phone. Too bad, for entertainment purposes and a great story, it never got that far.
Whenever troops deploy, there's a small group that goes first. They set up stuff, I guess. I never volunteered for that group since I wanted to stay as long as possible with my family. One soldier, whom I'll call Sergeant Wilson, did volunteer. He also had a family, but volunteered anyway. He was that dedicated, I guess. Actually, he got promoted to sergeant while deployed, so he was Specialist Wilson before he left from Fort Stewart, Georgia. He was definitely a kiss-up and perhaps this was part of his strategy to get promoted.
Anyway, one day our little platoon office got a phone call. Actually, it was a walled-off section of a trailer, a cubicle. Each platoon had its cubicle within this trailer. There was a small conference room and of course offices for the first sergeant and captain (company commander). The cubicle was about 15 feet long and maybe 5 feet wide. There were only three walls.
Anyway, I remember being in our platoon cubicle with the platoon sergeant (an E-6). The phone rang, and-- I'll call him Sergeant Penn--answered the phone. I could tell from his body language and words that a creditor was on the phone. I heard Sergeant Penn say, "He's in Iraq," sort of huffily and indignantly, as though to say, "How could you be asking for money while this person, who is 100 times more patriotic than you, is serving his country and risking his life for you?" Penn (as most soldiers do) pronounced Iraq like "eye-rack" as opposed to "ee-rock." I do wonder what Penn would have said had the creditor said "Well, sir, just because he's in Iraq doesn't mean we're not going to get 'im." Perhaps the creditor had a snarly countenance, was dressed in a suit, and had beady eyes. I imagine Penn would have grown red in the face, perhaps dropped the f-bomb, and hung up the phone. Too bad, for entertainment purposes and a great story, it never got that far.
Friday, April 13, 2012
Speech Santorum would have given had he been honest
My fellow Americans,
I bow out of this race. I want you to think I'm being noble somehow because of my sick daughter, but I'm not quitting the race because of her. Rather, the polling in my home state of Pennsylvania is too close to call. If I lose my home state, my political career is ruined. If I drop out now, I can run again in four years.
Mitt Romney will probably lose to Barack Obama, and in four years I'll be able to run for the Republican nomination. You Republicans have a history of nominating the previous loser--John McCain lost to Bush, and Romney lost to McCain. Reagan lost to Gerald Ford. So I hope Romney loses to Obama.
Another reason I'm quitting is Romney and I don't differ much on the issues. We're basically the same: we both want to spread our ideas through the force of arms, hysterically react to a podunk country like Iran, and search for monsters to destroy throughout the world. We're both big government conservatives.
I bow out of this race. I want you to think I'm being noble somehow because of my sick daughter, but I'm not quitting the race because of her. Rather, the polling in my home state of Pennsylvania is too close to call. If I lose my home state, my political career is ruined. If I drop out now, I can run again in four years.
Mitt Romney will probably lose to Barack Obama, and in four years I'll be able to run for the Republican nomination. You Republicans have a history of nominating the previous loser--John McCain lost to Bush, and Romney lost to McCain. Reagan lost to Gerald Ford. So I hope Romney loses to Obama.
Another reason I'm quitting is Romney and I don't differ much on the issues. We're basically the same: we both want to spread our ideas through the force of arms, hysterically react to a podunk country like Iran, and search for monsters to destroy throughout the world. We're both big government conservatives.
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