New View Askew

  Remembering the Unsung Heroes Long Sad Line of the Fallen Another Memorial Day has arrived and with it our annual visit to a cemetery. It is a small but important rite as we honor those who died while in service to their country. As a retired veteran myself – and pleased to still be on this side of the grass - I naturally have a certain affinity for honoring all my fellow vets who have, as the old song said of a soldier’s passing, 'just faded away' before me. While this day is dedicated to vets who  sacrificed their lives in combat,  and properly so, of the millions of military personnel who have served over the years this is a relatively small (thankfully) but sacred cohort. Something that most civilians aren't aware of though is the large number of vet’s who never make it to combat before dying. I’m not talking about the tragic losses due to suicide, murder or car accidents that all societies endure. I am referring to those who died in training for war. Familiar to ...

  . . . from Different Angles Lots of opinions, asides - and maybe something positive? First Angle When last I left you I was a bit down in the mouth. In fact, I was kinda down all over. While generally an optimist, it’s easy for any of us to drift off course given the amount of sludge that we must slog through in our modern, everyday life. Ergo I wanted to post something positive today. I guess we’ll see if I succeed. Several years ago, I was curious about optimism and its dark twin, pessimism, so I did some research. Apparently like being left or right-handed, we are predisposed to one or the other. Lots of studies back up the common wisdom, however, that having a positive or optimistic outlook leads generally to a happier life (which seems pretty unfair to pessimistic folks.) So what’s up with evolution, why is optimism favored over pessimism? Well, I’m guessing if that  weren't  true then the world would probably be very sparsely populated d...