Dad would have been 73 today...I wonder what he would have thought of the World we now inhabit.

To anyone who loves correct grammatical usage and abhors run-on sentences...I beg you...do not read this...it will hurt your head...


I am a History guy...have been for a long time.  I read the news now (I originally typed "read the papers"...but I read websites for newpapers and news sources from all over the place...almost seems quaint to think of reading an actual paper...but I digress) and find myself doing a mental "compare and contrast" with what I will call Trump v. Un and the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Thinking about it on August 10 then makes me think of my Dad (whose birthday would have been today), who was 18 in 1962...and I am pretty sure that he would think it odd that we are in this situation, with North Korea as our opponent.

I was not on his mind in 1962...in fact he hadn't even met my Mom at that point. Knowing what I do about Dad, and remembering the experience of being a teenaged boy myself (I was never a teenaged girl...so I will not comment on what my Mom was thinking), I cannot imagine that he was left unaffected by the experience of watching his country teeter at the edge of nuclear war...


...and that makes me think seriously about how I instruct, and how I am approaching discussions of current events as I teach my students and attempt to help them understand what is happening right now.


I know how much living with the constant threat of nuclear war (a message we picked up from things like the Twilight Zone) affected me...and how much it shaped my worldview.  I don't think my students are that different from me.

(btw...the older I get, the closer this one gets to home...the idea of having enough time to read and no glasses is as terrifying a concept as I can think of)

It saddens me that my students are getting to experience the same type of fear-inducing situation that accompanies threats like we are facing right now.




I am more concerned though by the number of people who seem to blame the U.S. for the current situation...because no one, at least that I know, would support any type of aggressive action against North Korea if North Korea was not threatening us, or the countries we have traditionally supported in the region.  ( I must admit, for clarity sake, that I am biased to favor South Korea over North Korea...and that bias is the result of my experience teaching these and other students from South Korea.  I am honest...if I hadn't taught students from Korea, I would not be as interested in what is happening.)

If that negates my argument...so be it.

I would have included more...but I have a lot of former students from South Korea...and it would take up a lot of space to include pictures of each of them.

...but I digress (it should surprise no one that I digressed, btw)

...back to the Dad connection...

Dad loved a good argument...I am not certain whether I inherited that trait from him by nature or by nurture...but I have it...here is an example...

I posted this comment to an argument made that North Korea was simply trying to protect themselves...I argued

"It should break the brain of every person on the planet to contemplate the idea that we would elevate Kim Jung-Un to the status of a global hegemon...capable of blackmailing the entire planet (if he can get us to engage in the 2017 version of MAD...he is going to learn the lesson that threats are his surest way to more power). Un is misguided to think that we have any reason to attempt to attack his country (...unless of course he possesses and is threatening to use nuclear weapons)...we can read a map...we know what would be the result of such an action. It is his misjudgment, not ours, that has us at this point."

I am becoming more convinced than ever that the president's comments were intended for the ear of the Chinese government, and not the government of North Korea.  I think that President Trump has judged (correctly, which is hard for me to admit) that the time for talking directly with NK has passed...and that China needs to...in essence "Take care of your crazy friend before we have to take care of him!"

Hopefully the President is right in handling the situation in this manner...

This isn't how I would have scripted it, and I am not sure he has read the whole situation correctly (but since I did not get the number of necessary electoral votes...my opinion is just opinion), but it is his job right now, and cheering for his failure seems ill-advised...for everyone...North Korea included.