On D-Day: History We Must Never Forget

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

John 15:13

Seventy-eight years ago.

On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 Allied troops landed along a fifty-mile stretch of the French coastline. While the beach areas were heavily fortified, this operation gave the Allies a foothold on the European continent, and the long, slow march across Europe began. More than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded that day, many of them barely out of high school.

Then General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less

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than full victory.”

Many battles, many sacrifices later, the Allies were eventually victorious. At great cost.

I’m only one cup of coffee in this morning, and the pressures of the day are calling. Certainly nothing like the pressures of that day, but there are things that must be addressed.

In 2014, I had the privilege to be part of “A Night at the Quartermaster Museum” at Ft. Lee, Virginia. I was able to participate for several years. This night, I played the British gardener outside General Eisenhower’s command office prior to the Normandy invasion. In the story we told to educate the children, I accidentally intercepted a copy of the invasion plans and, with the encouragement of the kids, of course I read them. A great way to teach the lesson, however unlikely.

So, I won’t pontificate about the meaning, or about how I shudder to think how we as a nation would respond were we to face a similar challenge today. No doubt our media would have blasted our plans all across Twitter.

Let’s not go there this morning.

Let’s just remember to say thank you to those who gave all to protect our freedom and, ironically, our right to be idiots on social media.

Too soon? Nay, my friend, it may be too late.

Think about your freedom today. Think about what is really important.

Thank a veteran, any veteran.

It is Monday and, like you, I am heading into a busy week after a weekend where I was productive, but not with any of my own projects.

But this morning, our flag that still stands for freedom flies from my front porch.

May we never let them take that away.


THINGS YOU SHOULD READ

We’re sick of the QR codes already — bring back real restaurant menus!
New York Post
“Dining out should be carefree and fun. QR codes kill the mood and turn what should be a pleasant experience into a chore,” says New York-based communications consultant Rachel Antman, who likes to dine out frequently. Read More.

BORN ON THIS DAY

1755 – Nathan Hale, American soldier (d. 1776)
1954 – Harvey Fierstein, American actor and playwright; twice a winner at the Tony Awards
1967 – Paul Giamatti, American actor and producer

 

 

BENEDICTION

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:15-17

Four for Friday

Photo by Serghei Savchiuc on Unsplash

“It ain’t dying I’m talking about, it’s living. I doubt it matters where you die, but it matters where you live.” 

Spoken by Augustus McCrae in Lonesome Dove

American novelist, essayist, bookseller, and screenwriter, Larry McMurtry, was born on this day in 1936 (d. 2021)

I’m rising earlier than I want to these days. Let’s face it, since and actually before Last Summer’s Great Unpleasantness™ I’ve also been rising a lot more in the middle of the night.

My morning pattern has changed. As of two weeks ago, I am no longer transporting the young offspring to school. A long story. A different post. All that to say that I regained about an hour and a half of my morning schedule.

Time for more sleep. Except not.

Having that time then shifted my writing of Your Daily Dose of Brilliance™ to the morning hours. That will shift again when, roughly one month from today, my day job switches back to mostly in the office work. Has it been forty-seven years already?

Leaving the writing to the morning often meant, and still means, that I would go to bed not knowing what to write for the day.

Fast forward to this morning whilst the coffee was brewing and I was scrolling through email on the phone. I

The Write Side Shop

had a flash of brilliance and thought I should write about “Five I Follow.” After all, that would be a great post and would give some props to the people who inspire and motivate me.

By the time I reached the keyboard and worked my way through my other routines, I had a nagging feeling…I’ve read this post before.

Worse than that. I’ve written this post before. Back in March of this year. Five I Follow.

It’s still a good list. Check it out.

But what to do about today?

I compared the list I’d been building this morning against the list from March and proceeded to modify the headline to Four I Follow.

Four that I listed this morning were not on the list in March.

I follow lots of people. The ones on this list, and the list from March, are the ones I actually read. So, here’s today’s list.

JAMES CLEAR

James Clear is the author of the New York Times best seller Atomic Habits, which I still need to read. He writes about habits, decision making, and continuous improvement. Once I week I read his 3-2-1 newsletter. Short and to the point.

SETH GODIN

Seth Godin is a writer of over 20 bestselling books. His daily emails are often short and to the point (are you sensing a pattern regarding my attention span?). Seth also developed the altMBA, an online leadership workshop.

JEFF GOINS

Jeff Goins is probably the one I’ve followed the longest. Many years ago, he was the one who taught me to stop saying “I want to be a writer” and start saying “I am a writer.” Jeff has gone through some personal and business transitions, about which he has shared openly. But he’s back producing good content again.

THE ART OF MANLINESS

Sure the title is probably politically incorrect, but Brett McKay and Kate McKay have been producing The Art of Manliness, the largest men’s interest web magazine since 2008. I told read every article, but they offer good stuff and practical advice.

Maybe you’re thinking, if he’s reading all of this, how can he get any writing done.

To the contrary, if I don’t read, I can’t write.

I need to make more time to do both.

In other news, today is National Donut Day.

Pay no attention to the post from yesterday where I talked about the need to give up refined sugar.

Also, I’m not having donuts today.

But, I have a road trip for the day job tomorrow. I make no promises regarding car snax.

Have a good weekend.


BORN ON THIS DAY

1808 – Jefferson Davis, American colonel, President of the Confederate States of America (d. 1889)
1906 – Josephine Baker, French actress, singer, and dancer; French Resistance operative (d. 1975)
1911 – Ellen Corby, American actress and screenwriter (d. 1999)
1924 – Colleen Dewhurst, Canadian-American actress (d. 1991)
1925 – Tony Curtis, American actor (d. 2010)
1927 – Boots Randolph, American saxophonist and composer (d. 2007)
1936 – Larry McMurtry, American novelist and screenwriter (d. 2021)
1951 – Jill Biden, American educator, First Lady of the United States

BENEDICTION

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians 3:15-17