Boston Marathon Massacre

4/24/13 Chatterbox

Betty Kaiser

Running life's dangerous race

Dear readers: Once again, our country has been turned upside-down by an atrocity impossible to comprehend. Once again, we are forced to face the fact that life can be unbelievably cruel…as we just learned when the innocent and iconic 2013 Boston Marathon race became deadly.

April 15, I was sitting at my computer emailing our local congressman and senators. The gun bill vote was coming up and I wanted them to hear my opinion. I had just finished, when the horrific news broke about the Boston Marathon bombings. Early statistics showed two bombs detonated by unknown, despicable human beings. The toll was three dead and 170 injured.

When I heard that it was tentatively considered an act of terrorism and one of the victims was a child, I burst into tears and left the room. I shook my fist, looked up into heaven and shouted, “Enough! People have suffered enough at the hands of terrorists! No more! This craziness must end! Where are you God?” And I continued weeping.

Mass tragedy quickly puts daily life into perspective. Soon, I was throwing pettiness and self-pity out the window. I was focused on the hardships of strangers. I felt a kinship with people I would never know. I was safe but thousands of miles away they were suffering loss of life, limbs, family, sanity, and security. Hearts were breaking all over the world as messages of condolence poured into Boston.

So I began to pray a different prayer—one of hope and help. A prayer not only for the victims but those who were rescuing them from the hell they had all been plunged into: A prayer of courage for the injured and their families as they journeyed to hospitals and learned their fate. A special prayer of courage and wisdom for the medical teams that would make decisions and operate.

The prayers kept coming. A prayer of gratitude for the First Responders (fire, police, medics and other personnel) who were fast and focused. Another prayer of gratitude for the by-standers who viewed the carnage and leaped into action; off-duty medical personnel viewing or participating in the race who immediately sprang into action and race participants who ran to hospitals to donate blood.

As the day’s news unfolded, the big question was “WHO?” Who did this? As of this writing no one knows. This much we do know. The person was evil. I’m not beating around the bush about these things anymore. No rational, decent human being would detonate bombs in civilian populations for the sheer joy of killing. He or she is evil.

And what does ‘evil’ mean? Here’s the dictionary definition: "Morally wrong, bad or wicked. Characterized or accompanied by misfortune or suffering. In certain religious contexts evil has been described as a supernatural force. Marked by anger, irritability, irascibility, etc."

The next big question is “WHY?” Why would someone want to set up bombs in a public place of celebration? Again, as of this writing no one knows. But whatever the answer is, it will never make sense. There is no rational reason to randomly destroy people’s lives. No answer will ever be powerful enough to resurrect life.

If there is anything good to come out of this madness, it is that once again we have seen Americans jump in to help each other in times of crisis. We may not know our next-door-neighbor’s name but if they are hurting we will do everything in our power to get them help. Story after story has come out of this Boston bombing of Good Samaritans coming together to protect and save lives.

Only a small number of people panicked when they realized bombs were going off. Instead, they stopped and helped the injured. Some laid down on children to protect them. One young woman’s legs were shredded and both her mother’s legs were amputated. A young man in a red shirt gave them comfort until help came. They are now looking for “Matt” to thank him.

Although strangers helped many severely injured people, no one could help Martin Richard. The first bomb killed 8-year-old boy and injured his 6-year old sister but spared their brother. His mother lost one of her legs. His father had to have the bomb’s ball bearings removed from his leg. This adorable youngster will be remembered on Facebook holding a sign that reads “No more hurting people.”

The Richard family’s lives and hundreds of others will never be the same because of the carnage wrought by that deadly bomb. Martin’s mother will learn to walk again with a prosthetic leg but struggle with phantom pains to feel a limb that isn’t there. Healing and recovery will consume her life. Every day she will wake up aching to hold her son and kiss his sweet face.

In the days ahead I urge you to remember to pray for the victims as they rebuild their health, their strength and their courage. May none of them walk this wounded path alone. And in our prayers, let’s also remember the kindness and good will of the many angels of mercy on that Patriot’s Day in Boston. Together they made a difference.

As for the perpetrators of this heinous crime, I suggest we remember that a greater power than ours will ultimately convict them. Scripture says, “…for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine. I will repay,’ says the Lord.” We reap what we sow. Believe it!

P.S. As I finish this column, the Boston area is in lockdown. Two young men (brothers) have been identified as suspects. One is dead after a shoot-out with police. A massive manhunt is on for the second.

P.P.S. Lutheran Church Charities provided Bostonians with an unusually effective comfort station. Check out: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/slideshow/dogs-provide-comfort-suffering-boston-18992346

Betty Kaiser’s Chatterbox is about people, places, family, and other matters of the heart.

BIGFOOT IS BACK IN COTTAGE GROVE

4/10/2013 Chatterbox

Betty Kaiser

Longtime Grovers will remember Bigfoot from the BiMart shopping center. He was a chainsaw carved, worn, cracked, big-as-life greeter for Merchant’s Donuts and later, Kaiser’s Country Donuts. In fact, he had a ‘big foot’ donut named after him. But through a succession of owners he disappeared! Where did he go?

Well, one of his kin is back and alive! My neighbor Susie alerted me to a recent “Finding Bigfoot” Animal Planet episode. A man walking his dog in the Cottage Grove lakebed found Bigfoot-sized tracks. So I logged onto msn.com where I watched a two-minute video of a Bigfoot discovery team preparing to investigate this new discovery right across the street from us.

This crew of Bigfoot devotees consisted of Matt Moneymaker (website founder) and Cliff Barackman (analyst) plus a camera crew. As they drove and talked, aerial shots were taken of our densely wooded and recently clear-cut area forests. Shots of the London Rd. signs were also taken but the focus was on a set of large, crusty footprints in the mud of the reservoir.

The guys were immensely excited. Barackman was the main commentator throwing out statements like “Yeah, this looks like Bigfoot country. Two dog walkers found the prints in the huge muddy shoreline. It makes sense. Bigfoot witnesses from the 1970s were common from this area. The London tracks of over 122 footprints found and cast in CG Reservoir are the longest ever found and show the greatest variability of any casting ever. “

Unfortunately, at that point, the video stopped and since I don’t have cable TV, I was forced to do my own research. There are dozens of websites, blogs and other data on Bigfoot. It turns out that tracking Bigfoot is a big deal! And the lake prints are being touted as probably the most significant footprint find in the last 40 years.

So what does Bigfoot look like? Well, Barackman and Moneymaker say they’re all different. Basically, he looks like a giant ape-shaped human completely covered in ape hair. A scientist described them as Great Apes 6-10 feet tall; bipedal uprights covered with brown, white, yellow or (in Oregon green) hair from head to toe. They have a relatively low birth rate and live long lives.

And where do these creatures live? Well, in wooded areas all over the United States—but especially in Oregon because we are the second most wooded state in the nation. Oregon, one commentator said, is exactly the habitat that Sasquatch wants.  It is wet, has lots of coverage, long periods of winter darkness and plenty of food and water.

So why haven’t those of us who live in Bigfoot turf seen any of these creatures? Well, again, according to those who know these things, it’s because Bigfoot searches out places where there are no humans living en masse. They live in places with dense forest, vegetation, deer and elk. Kind of like the same secluded places where airplanes go down and are never seen again. Spooky!

So the next question is: Have there been other documented sightings in the Cottage Grove area? Yes. There is a website that has collected this data. Oregonbigfoot.com has compiled a total of 85 sightings in Lane County beginning in the early 1900s. The sites range from Bend to Oakridge to Veneta, McKenzie Bridge, Florence, Lorane and…wait for it…Cottage Grove.

The earliest sighting was in the 1930s. The source “The Bigfoot Casebook “ simply says, “Bob Bailey, hunter saw Bigfoot at the headwaters of Mosby Creek.” Another local sighting was by Brad Chambers and a friend in the summer of 1972. Details as reported in the Cottage Grove Sentinel are sketchy saying that the “youth claim Bigfoot sighting on the hill.” 

Another local sighting was reported in June 1982. A family was swimming and picnicking at Blue Mountain Park with their Doberman. They could hear loud splashing down the creek and later, growling coming from the forest. This kind of spooked them so they loaded up their truck to head home. It was then that the woman saw Bigfoot.

 “He was about 6-foot tall, maybe 450 pounds,” she said. “Very human looking, reddish-brown hair all over his body. He was walking with his head down. His arms hung below his knees. He didn’t seem to be afraid of us or even curious about us. It was as if he could of cared less. My children didn’t see it nor did my husband. My husband wanted to go back, but I was too upset and afraid. So we went on home.”

There are many sightings but seldom an exchange of hostilities with the presumed Bigfoot creatures. So far, most of the stories portray him as peaceful. By and large, loud vocalization, a disgusting odor and huge footprints seem to be the summation of all encounters.

I found one 1972 Sharps Creek Rd. terrifying incident where a group of bikers were rebuilding a cabin (illegally). One night they awoke to pounding on the walls and doors and retreated to the loft with their rifles. The next morning they awoke to a destroyed woodshed, firewood thrown about and two chain saws carted away. The Forest Service evicted them. Bigfoot is probably still there.

So, I have to ask—are you a Bigfoot Believer? Do you have a Bigfoot story? I would love to hear and share it in another column. As for me, I’m still a bit of a skeptic. But I will admit that I’m a little worried about the effect our recent clear cut might have on his mental health. I really don’t want to make him mad. You know, just in case he’s ‘my’ Bigfoot!

Betty Kaiser’s Chatterbox is about people, places, family, and other matters of the heart.

I nominate Dorado and May sled dogs of the year!

3/27/13 Chatterbox

Betty Kaiser

Mitch Seavey 2013 Iditarod  winner and dogs (Internet Photo)

My previous column on the history of the “Last Great Race On Earth” began Mar. 3 in Willow, Alaska. Dogs happily barked, nervous drivers checked their rigs and on-lookers cheered as sixty-six teams of sled dogs and mushers began the 1,000 mile harrowing race across the frozen landscape to Nome. Nine days later, Mitch Seavey, 53, claimed his place as a two-time (and oldest) winner in the 41-year history of the event. Last year, his 25-year old son Dallas won.

I followed the race via the Internet with fear and trepidation. I am not a fan of events where people or animals die. And for years, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), has released statistics about the dog death rate of this particular race. According to their records, at least 136 dogs have died under horrible conditions.

Last year, a column in the Alaska Dispatch newspaper, accused PETA of spreading misinformation and falsehoods about dog mushing and how poorly dogs were treated for the purpose of fooling the media. In the same column, the author validated PETA’s concerns with this statement:

 “Every time you lodge a protest, mushing figures out a way to remove the causes of your concerns. Mushing is much less cruel today: fewer dogs die or are injured; veterinarians outnumber mushers; dog booties are everywhere; and even the oldest among us can’t recall the last time they saw a musher carry a bullwhip or axe handle because everyone’s found a way to discipline teams without looking mean.”

Well. That’s interesting. I don’t know about you but I think putting on dog booties and not wielding axe handles is a good thing. In fact, it seems to me that whether they know it or not, both sides are cooperating in the best interests of the dogs—a win, win situation.

Unfortunately, once again, according to an AP story, the strange and possibly preventable death of another dog is raising hackles among handlers and PETA. From the outside looking in, it appears that this death could have been prevented.

Five year old, sled dog Dorado, died after being removed from the race on Mar. 11 because he was moving stiffly. He and other dogs were left in a lot set up to care for dogs left behind because of illness or injury. Most of those 135 dogs spent the night inside two airport buildings. Dorado and others slept behind a building that handlers believed would protect them from the elements. Instead, Dorado was buried by drifting snow during a severe windstorm and died by asphyxiation. Others survived.

Dorado’s death was the first incident of its kind and has sparked changes in the way dogs dropped from the race will be handled. Those include construction of shelters at two major checkpoints. Race officials have declined to assign blame to anyone including the volunteer veterinarian who checked the dogs at 3 a.m.

Dorado’s team went on to finish 34^th in the race under Iditarod rookie, Paige Drobny of Fairbanks. Her husband, also a musher, said, “We thought our dog was being cared for. That’s the race organization’s responsibility. We, as mushers, trusted them.” Charges are pending.

In contrast, according to the Anchorage Daily News, another dog lived to race another day. On March 7, Newton Marshall, a Jamaican musher, stopped to help a fellow musher repair her sled. Somehow, May, an experienced, 9-year old race veteran, got loose and headed for freedom! (Newton ultimately withdrew from the race.)

May was on loan from another Iditarod Musher Jim Lanier. His wife posted the situation on Facebook and flew to Alaska to help in the cold search. May was spotted near checkpoints but eluded capture and it was feared that coyotes or wolves would attack her.

But May was on a mission. She wasn’t running to Nome, she was running back to the starting line, just miles from her home; scavenging food leftovers from other teams as she bypassed checkpoints.  There were lots of sighting reports of her but she wasn’t going north. She was heading south.

Her story was on television but the guys who found her were just as surprised as she was grateful. They were on machines. She was on foot and had been on the run, alone, in the Alaskan wilderness seven days. She had traveled 300-400 miles, subsisting on scraps; was skinny, limping with a bloody paw.

“We had just pulled over…and about 100 yards away a dog was trotting down the trail. It was coming at a pretty slow pace and we were waiting to see if someone on a four-wheeler or snow machine was with her,” said Matt Clark.

“I stopped my sled and got off and went to the ground and she came right up to me. She sat in my lap the entire trip back to Big Lake,” Kaitlin Koch said. “I’m still in utter amazement at how far she got.”

“It’s not so far-fetched for May. She’s a sled dog. She has completed the Iditarod numerous times,” according to Smith. “Everybody who has a dog has a tendency to think these sled dogs are Poodles or something and they’re not,” he said. “These are absolutely incredible athletes and they have the internal drive of an athlete.”

Like many traditions, the Iditarod will go on. It is a living part of Alaska history. It combines historical memories of the Great 1925 Race of Mercy with Alaskan’s love of mushing over machinery.

So here’s to Dorado and May, sled dogs of the year. One paid the ultimate price for running this race and the other lived. Neither won the race but both demonstrated before the world the qualities that endear all canines to humanity:
Endurance•Fidelity•Intelligence.

Betty Kaiser’s Chatterbox is about people, places, family, and other matters of the heart.

Celebrating the Great 1925 Race of Mercy

 

3/13/13 Chatterbox

Betty Kaiser

Photo from the Internet

The so-called “Last Great Race On Earth” is held in Alaska every year in the month of March. This famous week long, Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race has always been somewhat of a mystery to me. Sixty six musher teams each led by 13-16 sled dogs, run a grueling 1,000 mile trek from the town of Willow through the punishing frozen wilderness to the gold rush town of Nome on the western coast.

It gives me chills just thinking about it. But when asked why they do it, one race organizer responded, “We do it because it’s important; because we love the dogs, the race, Alaska and this sport. We do it because there is history and this is the Last Great Race on Earth.”

Yes, there are prizes: bragging rights, first place is a 2013 Dodge Ram truck and a $50,400 cash prize; plus other prizes including $3,000 in gold nuggets. However, most of the mushers say that whatever prize money they win is barely enough to feed their stable of dogs (some have over 100), let alone pay their other bills. BTW: the last musher to finish extinguishes (and wins!) a red finish lantern.

Why do they really do it? They do it because they love it.

The most common sled dog breeds are Alaskan Malamutes and Siberian Huskies. The dogs appear well cared for. Photos show them being fitted with booties for the day’s run, fed, resting on piles of hay, checked by veterinarians and loved on by support teams. Still, the weather, ice and sheer stamina needed to run the equivalent distance from Cottage Grove to Los Angeles in horrific weather, takes its toll. Over the course of 40 years, several dozen dogs have died.

The Iditarod Race was originally conceived in 1973, as a way to celebrate Alaska’s centennial as an American territory, it eventually came to include a lifesaving mission by mushers and their sled dogs in 1925. In fact, there was even a movie made about it that I didn’t see. So if you didn’t see it either, here’s the story…

It was Jan. 25,1925, when Dr. Curtis Welch discovered an outbreak of diphtheria in a village outside Nome that could kill the region’s population of 10,000 people. Soon this upper respiratory disease killed three boys. Welch didn’t have enough antitoxin to save the rest of the villagers from this highly contagious disease. Anchorage had a supply but it was nearly 1200 miles away and un-accessible in winter.

Nome’s ports were blocked by ice for the winter. Transportation options were few. The engine of the primitive aircraft that was available was frozen and wouldn’t start. The nearest railroad was 674 miles away and would take 30 days to reach by dog team. The only way in was overland, via the Iditarod/Seward-to-Nome Mail Trail that ran from Seward to Nome, along the Bering Sea.

Dr. Welch pleaded for help via telegrams and ordered quarantine.

Alaska’s Territorial Governor ordered the serum put on a special train and picked up in Nenana. A relay of the 20 top mail carrier mushers (sled dog drivers) would take it from there. The dogs delivered mail in 15-20 days. But could they get the serum to Nome in time?

Here, the facts get a little fuzzy. When the train pulled into Nenana at 11 p.m. on Jan. 27, the temperature was 40°-below. A man of (formerly) dubious character named Wild Bill, loaded the serum and headed down to the frozen Tanana River, where the temp would dip to minus-62. He covered 52 miles by 5:30 a.m. The physical cost was high. When they stopped, Bill’s face had frostbite; blood was dripping from the mouth of his dogs; two others would die from frozen lungs and more dogs would die before the race was over.

Wild Bill handed off the serum and the race to Nome was on! Miraculously, one-by-one, in relay fashion, through whiteouts, blizzards, and impossible conditions, connections were made. On the final leg, the musher had snow blindness and was unable to see. Balto, his magnificent Siberian Husky, unerringly led the team to Nome and became a legendary hero. The Great Race of Mercy was completed in 5 days, 7 hours.

The serum was delivered to Dr. Welch at 5:30 a.m. on Feb. 2. It arrived with only 12 hours to spare. He thawed the frozen serum, administered it to a patient and it worked! Each musher was paid $18.66 plus a $25 trail bonus from the Alaska Territorial government. Four of them would die within two years on the trail.

By the time you read this, we will all know the winner of the 2013 race. His or her incredible skill, courage and stamina will be celebrated. I, however, will be congratulating those amazing dogs. I think of how blindly obedient they are and how confused they must be as they run across the treacherous Alaska wilderness. After all, they don’t know about the Great Mission of Mercy of their predecessors.

Balto is honored with a statue in New York’s Central Park. A male Siberian Husky, he was born in 1919 in Nome, Alaska, (that’s why he knew his way home!). He died in Cleveland, Ohio, after being rescued from a humiliating life on the vaudeville circuit by George Kimble, a Chicago businessman. The statue’s plaque says:

“Dedicated to the indomitable spirit of the sled dogs that relayed antitoxin six hundred miles over rough ice, across treacherous waters, through Arctic blizzards from Nenana to the relief of stricken Nome in the winter of 1925.

Endurance•Fidelity•Intelligence

As a dog lover, I can only say, “Amen!”

Betty Kaiser’s Chatterbox is about people, places, family, and other matters of the heart.

Good news: People are still helping people

 

2/27/13 Chatterbox

Betty Kaiser

It’s time for a good news column to chase away the gloom and doom of dreary winter days, How about some news in which humanity brightly shines? We’ll start out with a headline that looks like anything but good news.

“Widow, 91, Sells Everything to Bury Husband.” The morning of Feb. 16, this ABC News headline jumped right off my Yahoo homepage and stabbed me in the heart. A photo of a sweet lady, nearly penniless, mourning her husband’s recent death, accompanied this story from KOMO News Seattle:

“A 91-year-old Arlington, Wash., widow is selling all of her belongings so she can afford to bury her late husband. Elsie Smith told ABCNews.com she is hoping that by selling all of her possessions through an estate sale, she can bury her husband in the same cemetery as their family members in Snohomish, Wash.

“Smith had been married to her late husband, Joe Smith, for "46 and a half years," she said. Joe Smith passed away at the age of 88 on Feb. 5. For the past two years, he had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease.

"I loved that man more than anything in this whole wide world," she told KOMO. Smith has a total of $9 to her name and she thinks it will cost about $3,000 for the funeral." "I would like to get some help in any way that I possibly can," she said. Everything is up for grabs in Smith's apartment when the sale takes place, except "her makeup and her clothes and her husband's clothing.”

The story was followed by 1,110 online comments. All of them positive and sympathetic. People wrote of the toll Alzheimer’s takes not only physically and emotionally but financially. Some were amazed at how long she and her husband were married. Others wondered why our nation doesn’t take better care of our elderly.

Many were looking for a link to help her financially. James said, “This is one cause I would donate to.” Robert agreed. He said, “If 3,000 people could give her a dollar we could all help. Come on, people!”

Well, it turns out that there was a link and it was on the newspaper’s website. “Anonymous” gave instructions: Google ABC Seattle page, click on Problem Solvers, click donate and put her name on top of the page. Well, it was a beginning. But by the time I got there contributions weren’t needed. Elsie’s husband’s funeral was paid for and she had a little extra money to boot.

The good news was heralded in another news story on Feb. 18: “Generous KOMO viewers step up to help Arlington widow. ‘It's completely unbelievable. We get donations from our viewers all the time, but I have never seen anything like this in the entire time I've been here,’ said News Director Holly Gauntt.

Donations and well wishes were pouring in even as Elsie was having her estate sale, even as people who had seen her story were looking at her things, wanting to help in some way.

Elsie's story was picked up and shared on websites all over the world, and KOMO got calls from all over the country. People offered cemetery plots, a minister offered to preside over Joe's funeral, and there were donations big and small.

One man and his wife donated $3,000. "My wife and I are doing well, and there just comes a time in life when you have to do something for someone else. It was just that compelling," he said.

The following Monday, KOMO was able to present Elsie with a check for $12,000.  "I don't know what to say. I'm just dumbfounded," Elsie said. "I'm just overjoyed," she said.

Elsie and a friend visited with an attorney on Monday to figure out how best to handle the money and the upcoming funeral. She recently moved full-time into the Regency Care Center in Arlington, and thanks to the generosity of KOMO viewers, she will now be taken care of.”

Now if that doesn’t warm your heart, I don’t know what will. But maybe you’re thinking, ‘I’d like to help, but I don’t have much to give.’ Let me tell you about the Shoe Shine man at the Children’s Hospital in Pittsburg, PA. The hospital is his charity of choice and he has donated over $200,000 to their patients—shining shoes!

Albert Lexie began shining shoes in 1957 and has been shining shoes at the hospital for 32 years. A shoeshine costs five dollars but his customers are big tippers. “Most of them give $6, some of them give $7,” he told WTAE-TV News anchor Wendy Bell. At Christmas a doctor gave him a $50 bill. That’s some tip!

The money goes to parents of sick children who can’t afford to pay medical costs. Dr. Joseph Carcillo says, “He’s donated over a third of his lifetime salary to the Children’s Hospital Free Care Fund. He’s a philanthropist, is what he is. He’s an entrepreneur.”

So I did the math. A lifetime total of $200,000 divided by 32 years of donations equals $6,250 per year. Assuming that Mr. Lexie takes Sundays off and maybe a two-week vacation, that means he works about 288 days a year. That is an average of $21.70 per day that he is able to give to the hospital. Amazing!

Most of us can’t save that much money but I know from experience that it is possible to save something every day just by dumping change in my piggy bank.  My conclusion is that if we can’t help everyone…we can help someone. If we like, we can chose to be mini-philanthropists and bring a ray of sunshine into someone’s life—even in February.

Betty Kaiser’s Chatterbox is about people, places, family, and other matters of the heart.

The movie "LINCOLN"

2/13/13 Chatterbox

Betty Kaiser

Thanks to  Steven Spielberg’s blockbuster movie “Lincoln,”, there has been a huge resurgence of interest in Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States. Lincoln was born 204 years ago on Feb. 12. Although that was a long time ago, the story of his life and service to our country as played out on the screen, are still fresh and relevant.

As the lights go down, the movie draws you into the life of our country’s most beloved president. Each scene feels so historically accurate that you seem to be an eye-witness to history. In fact, the movie is based on the 994 page book “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin. The 2-1/2 hour long movie moves at a fast clip so there’s no time to doze off between scenes.

The film is perfectly cast. Daniel Day Lewis, an English actor, was cast as Lincoln. And the moment he appears on the screen there is no doubt—he is Lincoln. He is tall, well-spoken and haunted by the horrible war he has drawn the country into—driven by the need to abolish slavery. And he is not above playing the political game to get the job done. Even if that includes stretching the truth about the whereabouts of the Southern peacekeepers or buying votes with political favors to get the Thirteenth Amendment passed.

Sally Fields does a magnificent job as Mary Lincoln. She takes Mrs. Lincoln’s reputation as a raging maniac into the realms of reality. She is real—not a caricature. She mourns the deaths of her sons, answers the critics of her spending habits and confronts her husband with his aloofness in such a manner that the source of her so-called craziness is understandable.

Tommy Lee Jones is riveting as the nasty, radical Republican Congressman Thaddeus Stevens. An ardent abolitionist, he was feared and hated by opponents on both sides of the aisle as he fought for abolition. He and Lincoln were on the same side but had diametrically different ways getting to their goal.

In the movie, Day-Lewis’ Lincoln is exactly as I pictured him. He is thoroughly human, intelligent and compassionate but calm almost to a fault. He reminds me of other self-educated country boys that I have known. His plain exterior hides a brilliant lawyer’s mind; he has a sense of humor; he appreciates poetry and has a self-sacrificing heart.

The movie covers the final four months of Lincoln’s life. It begins shortly after his second inauguration in 1865 and ends with his assassination in the Ford Theatre. He was 56 years old and the first of four American Presidents to be assassinated.

A look at his life before the presidency (not shown in the movie) gives a glimpse into the person that he became but certainly no hint of future greatness.

He spent his early years in rural Kentucky. Growing up on the frontier, he spent less than 12 months in attending regular classes in school.  He was poorly educated but well read and ambitious. He studied and passed his law exams after running for the state legislature. He is the only president to have a patent. Issued in 1849, the patent was for a devise to free ships that had run aground in shallow water.

There were lots of interesting firsts in his life. He was the first president to be born beyond the original 13 states. He was the first president born in Kentucky. His first dollar was earned ferrying passengers to a steamer on the Ohio River in 1827. He was the first president to sport a full beard. He and Lyndon Johnson tied as tallest presidents—6 ft 4 in. but he was first! 

He had many nicknames. “Honest Abe” is everyone’s favorite but no one knows its origins. I say that it just described the character of the man. Others say that it had to do with his honesty in judging horse races. Still others say that he would charge little or no legal fees when he knew his clients were poor. “The Great Emancipator” refers to his issuing the Emancipation Proclamation and strong support of ending slavery. “Father Abraham” refers to his leadership during the Civil War.

Lincoln and his parents never owned slaves. In fact, his parents joined a Baptist congregation that had separated from another church in opposition to slavery. Other family members owned a few slaves. Mary Todd Lincoln’s father owned several slaves but she was very opposed to the idea. His views against slavery were formed while working on the Mississippi River.

There’s one more thing we know about Lincoln. He and his father were estranged but he loved his mother. It is reported that he said of her, “God bless my mother; all that I am or ever hope to be I owe to her.”

The Civil War (1861-1865) took its toll on the entire country. With the population still divided, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The battle to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to the constitution banning slavery was fierce and close. The Senate vote passed easily but the House vote was only accomplished with arm-twisting and promises. Finally, it narrowly reached the 2/3 majority and passed the bill by a vote of 119 to 56. On Feb. 1, 1865, the document was signed.

“Lincoln.” It’s a great movie. It will inspire you to appreciate this country and all those who have served to make it great. Go see it.

 Betty Kaiser’s Chatterbox is about people, places, family, and other matters of the heart.

School Killings: Doing nothing is no longer an option

1/23/13  Chatterbox

Betty Kaiser

 “On Jan. 11, in Columbia, S.C., a boy armed with a gun killed one of his schoolmates and severely wounded several others. Presumably firing upon them in retaliation for bullying, he expressed no regret for his deed. It’s a disturbing story…the kind of story that makes us long for simpler times. The year was 1890”*

Since that time, history has continued to repeat itself. CNN reports there have been over 100 school shooting related deaths in the last 20 years. The deadliest was 35 in the 2007 Virginia Tech shooting.

Just six weeks ago, a young man, bearing a mini-arsenal of weapons, added to that number in Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Conn. He went from room to room and deliberately killed 20 children and six adults; wounding many others. The actions of one deranged, irresponsible, self-centered individual plunged our nation into deep mourning—again.

The barrage of bullets snuffed out young lives and riddled tiny little bodies with multiple holes. The thought of such needless devastation ripped holes in my heart. I can only imagine what it did to the hearts and minds and souls of the surviving families and community.

One family lost an adorable little girl in the violent slaughter. Later, at a press conference, as parents held photos of their dead children, her mother simply said, “I am Anna’s mom. On Fri. Dec. 14, I put two children on the bus and only one came home. I pray that no mother, father, grandparent or caregiver ever has to go through this grief.”

At that same conference, Dylan’s mother stood with tears running down her cheeks, holding a photo of her son, as her husband, the boy’s father, spoke these very simple and eloquent words: “Ask yourself what is it worth doing to keep your children safe? What is it worth to you? What is it worth doing?” The answer was silence.

Personally, I don’t understand why the safety of children on every level of life isn’t everyone’s priority. Sane or insane the instinct of man and beast is usually to protect the young. Who changed the rules?

Safety is a problem we didn’t have to grapple with when I was in school. Our parents dropped us off at school, watched us walk in the front door and picked us up in the afternoon. We were safe. We were in school. Although there are reports of school shootings as far back as the 1700s, school children were not generally the target of out-of-control, enraged gunmen.

A half century ago, my school had three safety drills. “Drop, Cover and Hold” was the most memorable. We lived in earthquake country and the ground often rolled. The principal would give the command over the intercom and we would drop down under our desks and stay there until given the “all clear.” Fire drills were universal across the nation and always a welcome relief to march outside in the sunshine and wait until danger had passed.

The atomic bomb drills were a little trickier for the teacher to keep us under control. All of the classes lined the school’s interior hallways, away from the possibility of breaking glass and deadly fumes. The effort, of course, would have been futile in a real attack but the threat could not be ignored. We had to be trained to respond.

At home, our parents would constantly remind us not to talk to strangers on the street. All parents of that generation remembered the famous Lindbergh toddler kidnapping in 1932. The boy was eventually found dead of a massive skull fracture. His killer was found, tried and executed but our parents never let us forget what could happen if we weren’t careful.

Still, those were the sweetest days of my life. Looking back, my life was like the scene in the Lion King when they sing, “Hakuna Matata! It means "no worries for the rest of your days.”

Things didn’t change much when my own three children went to school. Life was pretty uneventful. They all took the school bus to their respective schools where the biggest danger was from their rowdy fellow students! Weekends it was not unusual for the boys to ride their bikes (without adult supervision) three miles into town. Kathy and her best friend would dress up, go to the bus stop and ride into the shopping mall (alone) to eat lunch at Woolworth’s.

My grandsons do not have those privileges. Times have changed.  Today, children no longer ride bikes or buses to town alone. It’s a dangerous world out there. We live in a charged atmosphere of anger. Everyone is concerned about safety but the senseless violence continues.

My oldest son is a teacher and doctoral student at UCSD where they receive text messages warning of trouble. He said, “We function more like a city than a small school and we have our own police department. There are giant blue buzzers attached to light poles that can be pushed in case of trouble. An emergency signal is sent into the police and the problem is addressed.” 

Most schools have rules for lockdowns in dangerous conditions. Sandy Hook Elementary School had a new security system that required visitors to be identified and buzzed in. But the gunman allegedly used an “assault weapon” to shoot his way into the building and destroy the innocent. 

I read this report and shuddered. What causes an individual to do this? Is it anger, mental illness, bullying, a desire for power, available weapons, violent movies or games? I don’t know. It's despicable and terrifying.

But this I do know: If it takes a village to raise a child, it will now take a nation to save them. Doing nothing is no longer an option. Open minded, compassionate dialog has to prevail. Only then will wise decisions and progress be made.

Simply put, we must stop the killing and start the healing.

*The Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 16, 2013

Betty Kaiser’s Chatterbox is about people, places, family, and other matters of the heart.