Are We Doomed To Repeat History?

I was researching the man who said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," George Santayana.

George Santayana was born December 16, 1863 in Madrid Spain, and passed away on September 26, 1952 in Rome, Italy.  He was a philosopher, essayist poet and novelist.  The man was a genius.

This is the full quote from Vol. 1, Reason in Common Sense, and other ways the famous quote has produced variant and paraphrased statements.

"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

• Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

• Those who do not remember their past are condemned to repeat their mistakes.

• Those who do not read history are doomed to repeat it.

• Those who fail to learn from the mistakes of their predecessors are destined to repeat them.

• Those who do not know history's mistakes are doomed to repeat them.

Another thought he had on the subject of history repeating itself was from Vol. 5, Reason in Science.  This is my personal favorite...

"History is nothing but assisted and recorded memory. It might almost be said to be no science at all, if memory and faith in memory were not what science necessarily rest on. In order to sift evidence we must rely on some witness, and we must trust experience before we proceed to expand it. The line between what is known scientifically and what has to be assumed in order to support knowledge is impossible to draw. Memory itself is an internal rumour; and when to this hearsay within the mind we add the falsified echoes that reach us from others, we have but a shifting and unseizable basis to build upon. The picture we frame of the past changes continually and grows every day less similar to the original experience which it purports to describe."

What are your thoughts?  Are we doomed to repeat history?

G.I. Bill

G.I., "Government Issue",  is a noun used to describe members of the United States Military and items of their equipment.

On, June 22, 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the G.I. Bill.  It was an unprecedented act of legislation designed to compensate returning members of the armed services for their efforts in World War II.  The American Legion, a veteran's organization, successfully fought for many of the provisions included in the bill, which gave returning servicemen and women access to unemployment compensation, low interest home and business loans, and most importantly funding for education.

By giving G.I.'s money for tuition, living expenses, books, supplies and equipment it transformed higher education in America.  Before the war, college had been an option for only 10-15 percent of young Americans.  By 1947 vets made up half of the nation's college enrollment.  Three years later nearly 500,000 Americans graduated from college, as compared to 160,000 in 1939.

The G.I. Bill became one of the major forces that drove an economic expansion in America after World War II.  Only 20 percent of the money set aside for unemployment compensation under the bill was given out, as most veterans found jobs or pursued higher education.  Low interest home loans enabled millions of American families to move out of urban areas and buy or build homes outside the city, changing the face of the suburbs.  Over 50 years, the impact of the G.I. Bill was enormous, with 20 million veterans and dependents using the education benefits and 14 million home loans guaranteed, for a total federal investment of $67 billion.  Money well spent starting with America's "Greatest Generation".

In 1973 the military went to an all volunteer system rather than the draft.  In 1976 the requirements to qualify for the GI benefits changed and have continued to change through the years.

NATIONAL FLAG DAY

In the United States Flag Day is celebrated on June 14.  It is an annual celebration of the adoption of the flag which happened on that day by resolution of the Second Continental Congress in 1777.  As the story goes, Betsy Ross, who was an upholsterer by trade and a fellow parishioner at the Christ Church with George and Martha Washington, sewed the first American Flag in 1776.

On June 14, 1885 BJ Cigrand, a school teacher, arranged for the pupils of Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School to observe the 108th anniversary for the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes as "Flag Birthday".

In 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration.  Over the next 30 years many cities between New York and Pennsylvania held their own celebrations mostly for school children.

Inspired by these three decades of state and local celebrations, Flag Day was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30, 1916.  While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after President Wilson's proclamation, it was not until August 3, 1949 that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year as National Flag Day.

What Honor Looks Like

What honor looks like: The flash mob at Gate 38 of Reagan National Airport

May 23, 2012

By Chris Muller

Honor is a hard term to describe. It doesn’t have a color or weight or shape. If someone were to ask me what honor looked like, I’d probably struggle with what to say.

But something happened on May 23, 2012 at 9:31 a.m. at Gate 38 of Reagan National Airport that might change that.  A flash mob of sorts broke out. But not like you’ve seen on YouTube with highly choreographed dance numbers or people singing a song in unison.  In fact, virtually all of the participants of this “flash mob” didn’t know they would be participating until moments before it happened.

Let me explain.  Shortly before 9:30 over the loud speakers, a US Airways gate attendant announced that an Honor Flight of World War II veterans would be arriving momentarily and encouraged anyone passing by to help greet them.  Five or six people looked like they were officially part of the welcoming committee, and the rest of the people in the secure section of the airport were regular old travelers going somewhere.  Then I had a terrible thought.  What if these veterans came off the plane and just those five or six individuals were there to greet them.  I walked a gate over to help see the veterans out.  But – then it happened and frankly, I wasn’t expecting it.  All throughout the terminal, people left their gates and gathered around gate 38.  A few active military personnel in plain clothes approached the gate attendant and politely asked if they could  join in the salute within the jet way as the heros first stepped off the plane.  Every human being in the terminal stood at attention and faced the door.  Someone held up an old newspaper from 1945 that had a banner headline that said, “Nazis Quit!”  And when I saw that newspaper, I realized that World War II wasn’t just a chapter in a history book.  It was men and women who saw an evil like the world has never seen before and traveled across the world to meet that evil.  And they defeated it.

I wonder if in 1945, any of those brave soldiers could ever imagine that 67 years later, we’d still be basking in the freedom that they preserved.  And some of those heros were about to walk through Gate 38.  The first soldier walked through the door.  Old, frail and needing help walking.  And every person I could see in the entire airport stood and applauded.  No – maybe cheered is more like it.  But here’s the thing – the applause didn’t stop.  For a full 20 minutes, as veteran by veteran stepped out of the jet way, the US Airways wing of Reagan National Airport thundered in appreciation.  Travelers stepped out for the opportunity to shake their hand while others held back tears.

This is the America we picture in our heads.  Heros getting a hero’s welcome and those who enjoy the freedom adequately conveying their gratitude.

Now, I know what honor looks like.

To see video click on "Freedom Flight" photo.

Pam Murphy

This obituary for Audie Murphy's widow, Pam Murphy, was sent to me by Darryl Adamson.  It was written in 2010, but is so touching it should be printed over and over.  What an example of enduring love she is.  Not just to her husband, but to all veterans.  She was a true patriot.

Los Angeles Daily News  4/14/2010

Pam Murphy, widow of Audie Murphy, was every veterans’ friend and advocate.

Pam Murphy was involved in the Sepulveda VA hospital  and care center over the course
of 35 years, treating every veteran who visited the facility as if they were a VIP. Pam Murphy
died last week at the age of 90.

-

After Audie died, they all became her boys. Every last one of them.  Any soldier or Marine who walked into the Sepulveda VA hospital and care center in the last 35 years got the VIP treatment from Pam Murphy.  The widow of Audie Murphy – the most decorated soldier in World War II – would walk the hallways with her clipboard in hand making sure her boys got to see a specialist or doctor — STAT. If they didn’t, watch out.

Her boys weren’t Medal of Honor recipients or movie stars like Audie, but that didn’t matter to Pam. They had served their country. That was good enough for her.  She never called a veteran by his first name. It was always “Mister.” Respect came with the job.  “Nobody could cut through VA red tape faster than Mrs. Murphy,” said veteran Stephen Sherman, speaking for thousands of veterans she befriended over the years.
“Many times I watched her march a veteran who had been waiting more than an hour right into the doctor’s office. She was even reprimanded a few times, but it didn’t matter to Mrs. Murphy.  “Only her boys mattered. She was our angel.”

Last week, Sepulveda VA’s angel for the last 35 years died peacefully in her sleep at age 90.  “She was in bed watching the Laker game, took one last breath, and that was it,” said Diane Ruiz, who also worked at the VA and cared for Pam in the last years of her life in her Canoga Park apartment.  It was the same apartment Pam moved into soon after Audie died in a plane crash on Memorial Day weekend in 1971.  Audie Murphy died broke, squandering million of dollars on gambling, bad investments, and yes, other women.  “Even with the adultery and desertion at the end, he always remained my hero,” Pam told me.  She went from a comfortable ranch-style home in Van Nuys where she raised two sons to a small apartment – taking a clerk’s job at the nearby VA to support herself and start paying off her faded movie star husband’s debts.

At first, no one knew who she was. Soon, though, word spread through the VA that the nice woman with the clipboard was Audie Murphy’s widow.  It was like saying Patton had just walked in the front door. Men with tears in their eyes walked up to her and gave her a hug. “Thank you,” they said, over and over.  The first couple of years, I think the hugs were more for Audie’s memory as a war hero. The last 30 years, they were for Pam.

She hated the spotlight. One year I asked her to be the focus of a Veteran’s Day column for all the work she had done. Pam just shook her head no.  “Honor them, not me,” she said, pointing to a group of veterans down the hallway. “They’re the ones who deserve it.”  The vets disagreed. Mrs. Murphy deserved the accolades, they said.

Incredibly, in 2002, Pam’s job was going to be eliminated in budget cuts. She was considered “excess staff."  “I don’t think helping cut down on veterans’ complaints and showing them the respect they deserve, should be considered excess staff,” she told me.  Neither did the veterans. They went ballistic, holding a rally for her outside the VA gates.  Pretty soon, word came down from the top of the VA. Pam Murphy was no longer considered “excess staff.”  She remained working full time at the VA until 2007 when she was 87.  “The last time she was here was a couple of years ago for the conference we had for homeless veterans,” said Becky James, coordinator of the VA’s Veterans History Project.  Pam wanted to see if there was anything she could do to help some more of her boys.

Funeral services for Pam Murphy will be held Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the chapel at Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles.