In the last few weeks there have been many solemn remembrances in the news of major wars and atrocities. For example. Battles of WW1 (Gallipoli); the Armenian Genocide of 1915 in Turkey. Today is the 40th anniversary of the "official" end of the US involvement in The Viet Nam War. And I still cannot stop thinking about that War and that time.
Tuesday! A day to Remember.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group gives Kossacks a safe place to check in, a daily diary where we can let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, earthquakes, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It also allows us to find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, earthquakes etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a Kosmail and ask to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
We do have a diary schedule. But, when you are ready to write that diary, either post in thread or send FloridaSNMOM a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FloridaSNMOM is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern.
Monday:
BadKitties
Tuesday:
ejoanna
Wednesday:
Caedy
Thursday:
art ah zen
Friday:
FloridaSNMOM
Saturday:
Most Awesome Nana
Sunday:
loggersbrat
War is a heavy topic, period. For those of us of a Certain Age, for many who were in college in the late '60s and early '70s, the Viet Nam War is still seared on our brains. The protests began early.
Yet it was not until April, 1975, that the US "officially" ended (its military) presence in the war.
We were all affected negatively to some degree, as was this Nation. And the cost to the Vietnamese people? Horrific.
I still read books, articles, novels centered on that war.
I will be watching the PBS specials--including Rory Kennedy's excellent documentary "The Last Days of Viet Nam", starting this evening on my local PBS Channel, KQED. (Ms. Kennedy, btw, was Robert Kennedy's youngest child, sadly, born 6 months after his death.)
Here's a link to the special remembrance programs.
I don't think we should live in the past, but when people say something along the lines of "Get over it! Let's move along!" I think: hmmmm. How convenient to urge us to forget.
I realize that this may be too heavy duty a topic for IAN, but what I wanted to do here is:
1) Share how I'm feeling this week: emotional and sad;
2) Ask you if there are remembrances in history that touch, disturb, provoke you particularly. If so, please share.