Remembering

On this date in 73 AD, the Jewish fortress, Masada, fell to Romans after several months of siege, ending the first Jewish-Roman War. I visited Masada in 1983 and 1984. It’s a moving experience. Photo by Cristina Gottardi on Unsplash

When you’re a Hokie, you can’t let April 16 pass without remembering that horrible day in 2007 when thirty-two people were gunned down on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg.

I caught the initial news on social media.  For the remainder of the day I watched the intern in our office and later my son, as they frantically tried to contact their friends.

We will always remember. We are Virginia Tech.

 

 

 

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Recaffeinated Mondays: The Ides of April?

Photo by Robert Bye on Unsplash

Forget March, this day has enough trouble of its own.

Not only is today Tax Day in the U.S., consider…

In 1865, after being shot the previous evening, President Abraham Lincoln died.

In 1912, after hitting an iceberg the night before, the British passenger liner RMS Titanic sank. Only 710 of the 2,224 passengers and crew survived.

Then again, maybe the problem is the evening of the 14th, as in “holy crap! taxes are due tomorrow!”

On a Monday even.

Oh, the humanity! No wait, I think that was in May.

Not to make this a political post because I really don’t do that anymore. And I have to tell you that sometimes it’s really hard to scroll on by.

Let me just say that my basic philosophy is this: The government takes too much. The government spends to much.

And no matter what they say, none of those yahoos in Washington really care about us.

If we can agree with that as a starting point, we probably have a lot more in common than we think.

It’s Monday. I should be writing. I will, but I also have to travel for work again this week. Not far, just down to Virginia Beach.

I could get used to seeing the ocean every other week.

On a final, and yes somewhat political, note, I cannot ignore the news about the attacks on Israel. Suffice it to say I am a supporter of Israel. I visited there twice in the early 1980s. I’d go again if I could.

But rather than offer my $0.02 as a keyboard jockey, I’ll follow the lead of a friend who said on Facebook:

“I was contemplating a post about recent international events when this appeared on my YT feed:”

Thanks, Sam.

Am Yisrael Chai


 

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