Valentymbs

                                                               Valentymbs

There was a candy store on the way to school when I lived in Camden, New Jersey, you stop in there with your pennies and look up through  glass at the candies on display in trays and make your selections. Gosh that was good. I'm sure most of you have similar memories. Kids like candy.

But, there was no "Valentymbs" in Camden - at least not in second grade - I don't know why, but the candy was really good anyway. "Valentymbs" (rhymes with Valentines) didn't really start until  the third grade when we moved to West Philadelphia.  Now, you have to understand the association of Valentines Day with candy to an eight year old. This is obviously the importance of that holiday - like Halloween - that's what it's about - see? Nothing complicated here. This little story is a true story - absolutely true - about little eight year old people.

I had a little girl friend - I won't mention her name - but she "liked" me. Liking someone was something that happened sometimes. Some girls liked boys - it was hardly ever true that some boys liked girls - boys just didn't do that - well not then -  not in West Philly for sure . That all changed later!     

Anyway - "liking" was a formal thing  - it was an accepted fact - like - "he's a good second baseman."  Now you also had friends that you liked , but that was different. That's as far as "liking" people  really went. Now, I was new in West Philly and I had to be shown around . I had to pick up on a lot of stuff that I'd missed not growing  up there - like playing second base.  There's a lot to learn when you're a kid.                

Our teacher explained that tomorrow was Valentines day and that we each would have to buy Valentines cards and give them to the person we liked.  Well, no one understood this. There was a lot of talk about this, among other things was the fact that you could buy about a hundred little cards for a nickel or something at the candy store (certainly West Philly had a candy store too) and "you should  give cards to all your friends".  

Well, it was Valentymbs Day and I had to make a lot of important choices. I started writing the names of my closest friends on the envelopes and signing my name on all the "Be My Valentine" cards. I doubt that they have those little cards around any more. Things were more special and "magical" in those days. Things just happened somehow. 

I didn't want to slight anyone. Kids are very sensitive - they bounce back from just about anything, stay friends no matter what - but still, they're sensitive

So there it was, all the kids in the class got a card from me. Black, white, boys and girls - they were all my Valentymbs. Boy, you should have seen the pile of cards on my desk that I received when I got back from delivering my own Valentymbs. I was president of my class for every sememster except one all through sixth grade. This is true. I was the male lead of our graduation show and my little girl friend was the girl - boy could she sing - my own voice was cracking - every one laughed including me. Boy was she pretty - gosh - as pretty as a chocolate bar!       

Tel Graeta

                                                                     Tel Graeta

It seemed like an endless chain of tunnels and Ilana worried that they had lost their way and were going in circles. "Don't worry, we'll be there soon",  Aminadav was leading them up to the surface along one of the carefully constructed escape routes that served as a "last resort" method to exit the base enclosure. "We were down over 150 feet, we could have withstood a direct hit."

The tunnels had been hastily cut through fused layers of earth and foam, formed from molten magma-like material, all engineered against shock, heat, and radiation. The small party rose through the last stairway and outer port. For all the careful ventilation below, it was still very special to breath in fresh surface air. It was good to feel the sun on your face. Aminadav looked across the crater to the Israeli side and remembered his home at Tel Graeta.

Among his first memories, were the precious moments his spent at his bedroom window looking out across the fields of Tel Graeta,  a  small farming community within a larger region of technical facilities and  defense manufacture. Both of his parents worked as scientists and engineers. His uncle owned and kept the farm where they all lived. Aminadav recalled the smell of the animals and the dust from the fields, the grass and the sounds of the birds, the hum of the generator plant a few miles to the south.

He looked at them looking at him and smiled. "Can't I have a few seconds for myself", and laughed.

The Threat Passes

The threat came and went. There were near misses and no great damage to their facility. Aminadav 
smiled at the captain of the defense domain. "Thank you Mordechai for your fine preparations." 
Mordechai smiled in return. "We expected a heavier force",  and questioned, "has Perfect Hit struck a 
target?"  "Indeed it has", answered  Aminadav.  "There is no enemy left within our range", as if he were 
asking for more sweet to his hot drink. This was his specialty, his pride. He spoke like a chess master of 
the early days when he has forced his opponent into an impossible situation through sheer familiarity, 
and recognition of patterns  within the game , simple rules to follow, do your homework and you succeed, 
matter of fact. Mordechai liked this about him and so did most of his command

Rising to Battle

The room smelled of the dust of recently worked rock. Aminadav stood and greeted the evaluator whom he'd known and worked with many times over the years. A light kiss on the cheek was proper and reassured  Ilana that all was well between them. They argued often about her interpretations. Aminadav preferred to take her analyses in and come up with this own solutions, but he could rarely prevent her from adding her "summaries". It annoyed him. It annoyed her that it annoyed him. It was part of her training to end with a summary. "Why didn't he know that?" She decided that he was simply flirting with her in his way and avoided solving it.

"We are in great danger, I'm afraid", he confided. "Let me hear the recording again please", she needed to check some words and intonations she missed.  "He is sending a hostile reply very soon", she summarized. "He probably decided  that you have already launched your forces, and means to damage your position." Thank you Ilana, I did not need your conclusions, just your view of his temperament." "He fears making an error and embarrassing himself in front of his staff", she added. "The direction of his message of greeting was not to us but more "through and to his staff" she said. "In addition there was real personal fear of failing his mission in his voice, especially the pause between "now"  and "please".  "Here his thoughts were all about standing in front of a court martial, the room the countenances of the judges, the advocates. It is doubtful that he prepared these thoughts, he wouldn't have had time." Aminadav thanked her and wondered how he missed that. He agreed with her and thought again. He heard the same thing, but somehow did not fully understand it. These girls are carefully trained to be totally objective. He didn't have that.  It took a while to develop. "Well, we might as well launch if they've already countered for it..."Start Perfect Hit and prepare for a level 5 shock."  His men immediately went into action. Ilana saw this coming too and wondered if it would affect her hearing. She would protect her ears. "Please G-d protect my ears",  she thought and covered her ears with her shock helmet, sat and waited. 

Colonization

Moving In

Commander Evron of the upper central fringe sector (UCFS) was no sooner inside and seated by a night illuminated periscotropic area model control panel than he saw the current weakness and ordered the correction loud and clear and without panic. "Hard missiles coming in from destroyers on the Caspian Sea. Neutralize everything and send them a thank you."   "What a welcome - eh?" Amminadav Evron sat back in his seat. drank his hot coffee and relaxed a bit. This day had just begun.

"It was always the same", he thought. "Shoot first and ask questions later- imbeciles. They don't have any idea what they're up against". Commander Evron considered what he would do if confronted with a sudden unannounced mass landing of what could be hostile troops. Each time he thought about it, he came to the same conclusion. "Investigate, improve your cover, your defense posture. If they've going to attack, they're going to attack., like a bird of prey landing on a nearby tree on a hill. Dig in, hide,  keep watching what it does, prepare some kind of defense or flight plan."  "Not these guys, they scream their location and send projectiles. So foolish, and yet so common. They will pay for this. They will pay with their servitude if they are lucky and their lives if they are not." Commander Evron was naturally upset at the immediate attack. Two or three minutes and he could possibly have lost their position, all the fighters, himself, the whole base. Well, the "thank yous" he sent out would suffice for revenge. All their launch sites would be demolished, along with their control and communication systems. "You can't send out a  particle without giving information about the sender to the receiver."  The "hostile reply" system they used, was based on that principle. It analyzed the source(s) of antagonism, located them and destroyed them.  

"What now Commander?" Captain Bar Adiyna asked despite the fact that they had all been through repeated briefings on each stage of the establishment process in detail.  Amminadav smiled. "it's all work now. Every step is work from here on out. We are all of us slaves to the Monarchy." He laughed and smiled wryly.

     They had to clean up pockets of resistance now. Tens of thousands of persons across the planet simply wouldn't abandon their ways. Many wouldn't attend meetings to discuss this. "Look he would say, I don't really want to be here either...and he would pause and look around. I would rather be elsewhere doing something else. I would rather have my own private villa on my own private island where it was warm and fruit grew and all I had to do was pick it." This usually brought a flutter of interesting sounds. There is Law in the Galaxy. It is good Law. It provides for each of us, our families and the common good. We obey it. You must learn it and obey it too. Right now, you have no real choice. Later you can vote and amend the Law. That's just how it is."  And there would be a long silence.

But now, something new: "We already have our law, G-d spoke to us through Moses, we will not allow any force other than G-d himself to change even a word of it." 

"Well, you'll be very happy to know," and a very broad smile broke Amminadav's  otherwise overtired and serious face, "that this Law is based on the very Law of Moses that you speak of. We are a battalion of Fighters from Markab" ,  and he left it there for them to digest.

The reply was long in coming since there really was no "Jewish, Christian, or Muslim" civilization outside of the Earth. "We are not aware of any such civilization." , came the reply. "In any case, we follow no laws of anyone except G-d almightly, and that is how it is." , mocking Aminadav's ultimatum.  "That's fine with me",  Aminadav answered and nodded approvingly. Something special and undefined passed through the hall, something not totally unlike the angel that stayed Abraham's hand from the sacrifice of his son Isaac thought Yehoseph, the Rabbi who had spoke in defiance to Aminadav's ultimatum. Now, suddenly, it became clear to Yehoseph the meaning of Abraham's giving up his son as a sacrifice to G-d - that his son, Isaac was not his own, but G-d's creation and that he had to leave go of Isaac to return to his creator that he be blessed and duplicated in various forms and that all the people of Israel were now the brothers and sisters of Isaac from the same source exactly, a very special people not only born of the devotion of Abraham to his G-d, where he shared in the special relationship of the creator to Isaac apart from the reality of the flesh.

What Yehoseph did not know what that his thoughts were travelling to Aminadav almost as clearly as if he'd been speaking aloud. "These people so want to believe in a continual miracle that defines their lives that they reshape every event that happens as a support for that belief",  Aminadav thought, and  breathed in and breathed out and replied: "Do as you wish then. If there's a conflict with our plans, we'll let you know. " Yehoseph bowed his head slightly in agreement. "He seems to have understood me very well", he thought.

Intelligence Arrives

Ilana enjoyed the voyage to the Earth as she did nearly every time she had the opportunity to travel the "hydroturn"  as it was called for the motion perception associated with the screaming fast, almost dreamlike, almost static, almost the speed of thought itself, movement across space. It felt like dancing through water. The only problem with it was the expense. The energy cost rose exponentially with the mass transported. Another very minor problem was that it induced a memory lapse that filled in over time but tended to blur recent memories to the point of exhausting persons from making an effort to recall their embarkation points and the thoughts surrounding their exits. A few days and all that filled in. Ilana was used to this and had developed a routine that circumvented all that tiring thought. She slept! When Aminadav called in to welcome her, he could only reach her messaging machine. "Ilana is sleeping now, please leave your message and she'll contact you as soon as she wakes." He smiled, he loved her - everyone did. He was glad that she had arrived and had activated her messaging machine.

It was morning and "Arabian Coffee" was brewing on the "Skitcher", a funny name given to an automatic heater, possibly after an ordinary crewman named Skitch who, it is said, constantly burned himself preparing food. Ilana smelled the coffee and stirred. "Oh, I wish we didn't have so much scheduled for today", she spoke out loud, even though she was alone in the room. The phone went off again, "ding - Ilana, it's me again', Aminadav's voice, yes, Commander Evron, so friendly, don't ever make the mistake of not carrying out his every wish, spoken or otherwise! "Yes, Commander, here I am", as politely as she could. "We have a meeting in about an hour", which meant to be sure and be there five to ten minutes early, "will we be having the pleasure of your company?" "Of course - I'll be early, I'm looking forward to it", she replied. She hated him at times, but it was the demands of the job. She'd been through this so many times before. They  needed her for her "thought evaluations", and she wondered how much the Commander knew already about her own state of mind. "Good, see you - click". She evaluated this quickly - "he's in trouble already!"

Catchin' Up

Catchin' up.

One of the first things I remember seeing that I hadn't yet noticed after six years abroad was how very quickly things happen here. Now, truthfully, not everything that's happened here in the US since about 1968 has been truly great. Some things have. I keep waiting for the movie to end all movies about the moon landing to come out and all I've seen is Apollo 13 - or "a near total failure that didn't really prove anything anyhow." Not fair in my book. The Lunar Landing was an intensely important and difficult achievement. This all occurred during the "Vietnam War" and extremely hostile and continual and well publicized criticism of our country as some sort of evil place that never could and never would do anyone any good - sort of like Israel right now. We were the bad people we had slaves and were racists, war mongers and otherwise ignorant people. The Jews were slaves in Egypt you know. The whole story is in the bible. Of the four years I lived in Israel, I never heard one person say that any of his problems stemmed from slavery in Egypt. The attitude in Israel was that the people themselves were ultimately responsible for their fate and that's life. And, in fact, that's how it is. So, vicious forces seem to have aligned against the good ol' USA in ways not so flattering to us.

So, we had a general falling out and away from our very fine and very deserved patriotism, pride in our country, loyalty to our own here. I noticed that too. I also noticed very heavy suppression of white people here in our cities. It's still going on and I'm sure most of you are familiar with the effects though many persons might not have experienced times when there was a full and unembarrassed pride in our country.

In 1974 when I came back here from England, there were convenience stores that stayed open until late at night and then all night long. The music was pretty good too. The ice cream was never better and I spent most of my time drinking coffee - which is especially good here- and eating ice cream which is a special case of happy that is unknown elsewhere and taken for granted here.

I enlisted in the US Army, remarried and eventually changed my major in college and became a science teacher. It took a long time and was very difficult. It was very much an "against the current" swim.

I've seen the widespread development and use of personal electronic information processing systems, cell phones, and the internet. I worked on this stuff. I was a technician for RCA and worked on one of the Apollo cameras. I also worked for Univac (now Unisys) on the development of third generation random access computer memories. It's very satisfying to see this particular thing take hold. Sure beats the bad PR from Vietnam and all the slavery.

An appreciable number of our people found some sort of comfort from drugs. I didn't know any, but I did witness some use of marijuana and odd laughter here and there. I think this was also blown way out of proportion by the media.

All in all, I'd say that these past few decades have seen enormous and significant change including a near doubling of population and somehow the "Americanization"  of new tens of millions of persons who've at least learned the basics here, including, "people are all different, but we are all human beings" and "we are much stronger as a nation united than as scattered people." This is who and why we are as far as I can tell.

Blowing Up The Berlin Wall

Blowing up the Berlin Wall

I do not want this to be misunderstood. It is important to understand that we are a great nation and have stood up to and fought against some very bad enemies. Many great Americans have perished defending our country from real evil -  crazy people.  This is no joke so don't view it the wrong way. When you're in the army, you're in the army. You do what you're told - what's expected of you - and everybody else in the army is your brother in arms (sisters in arms as well.)

Sure, you have to think for yourself. Of course you do. We are a free country, still, and aim toward freedom for the individual and self-determinism. I kid you not - the guys in the service in this country are self-determined to as large a degree as possible if you're actually on active duty. That's the way we are - simple as that.

We learn that growing up - "He'll kill you if you say that", and he will, and he does!

Dodge city all over the place. You get used to it.

We don't even need wars - we kill each other every day! We're Americans. I love this country of course and I am very patriotic! I make no secret of that.

I had spent about six years abroad and I had forgotten how great it was here. After I got back, I spent about ten hours a day eating ice cream and drinking coffee, chewing gum and smiling. I had been in Israel four years and then in England and Scotland for two years. It was great to be back home, but I was disappointed to find out how badly we were doing in Vietnam. I decided that Vietnam was a no-win situation. No way to win there at all. I wanted us to have a win out there, so I decided to enlist in the army, get a couple of the guys together, go over to Germany and blow up the Berlin Wall. I'm not kidding. I was gung ho! You have to be there.

Well, the army likes that kind of stuff you know. Don't get me wrong and I asked you not to get me wrong - the army is all about winning wars and battles and going through it - you know - rite of passage - beat the heck out of the enemy and have a beer and tell stories to your grandchildren. That's what it is guys - it's simple. Today, they lock you up for thinking bad thoughts about others. The real problem here is that it's wrong to beat the heck out of good people - very wrong in fact - and that's what just about tore our country apart over Vietnam. You have to understand that what you're trying to do is give the young people a chance to prove their loyalty to our country despite real risks by defending our values, and includes helping others in trouble. We seem to be losing at that today. You have to be able to take sides, resolve any doubts about who your friends are. Yet young people are punished today for asserting most forms of patriotism. Older people are punished for displaying their patriotism as well. See - we are failing here at exactly what we were all trying to succeed at - join the ranks of American Heroes. That's not easy my friends, but I had a plan.

Here I was on my way to the field artillery, young, inspired - a fire in my eyes and my sights on Berlin and its infamous wall. This is true. You laugh, but you would have come along - I'm sure. Certainly, it you've read this far down!

I would get a chance to preview this situation at company headquarters in Basic Training. There were a few desks in the office and, of course, "Top" himself. "Top" is what the top sergeant is called in the army. He's a well known character - burly, knuckles dragging on the floor, all arms and chest. Top is in charge. He's in charge of the army. He does everything. He's been in the service forever. Everywhere. His bed is a foxhole. He survives on C - rations. He likes C -  rations. Don't make any mistakes - Top would give his life for you or any other soldier if needed - he would not hesitate either. He knew that, you knew that - and so you followed his orders.

On the inside of a door hung a poster that read: "This Is Your Enemy". Underneath was a picture of a Russian soldier with an AK - 47 automatic rifle. I looked at this picture and I saw this Russian farmer that was probably drafted into the army. This was my enemy waiting for me in Berlin. I looked at Top and I looked back at the poster. Now who was really my friend. Top looked at me. I'm sure he would have charged right into hell, right along side of me if it came to that. "You get to know things about people as you get closer to killing them." Ideas started coming at me. The army knows about killing - it knows about people and survival. I started having doubts about my goal...Top looked at me. "Let's go". We had to go over my paperwork for AIT (advanced training)...