Welcome to the Third Degree: Tough, Brief, Weekly Interrogations on matters public and private that force thinking and response. This Sunday we target: Recognition

  • Can May overwhelm with its various and many weeks and days of commemoration?
  • In truth, does every month mark events large and small with May holding pride of purpose on many?
  • With 126 different May days of celebration and several named weeks should there be no end of recognition and talk at the kitchen table?
  • While you may choose to blow off National Tuba Day, will Clean up Your Room Day deserve emphasis and effort, while Dance like a Chicken Day, not so much, though National Outdoor Intercourse Day should, at least, stimulate conversation?
  • While there are many seemingly silly May days, should those with military origins rightly generate discussion and recognition?
  • Do V-E day (8 May), Military Spouse Appreciation Day (the 10th), Armed Forces Day (Yesterday) and National Maritime Day (22 May), with Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, deserve special recognition?
  • V-E Day, 1945, the Third Reich of Nazi Germany was defeated and the German Army surrendered unconditionally, on May 7th but did you know that the celebration of V-E Day was supposed to be May 9th when the U.S. and Britain, to foil journalists, moved it up a day yet Russia kept it May 9th and still does?
  • Does Military Spouse Appreciation Day, the Friday before Mother’s Day, created by President Reagan in 1984, recognize the real backbone of our military? While not gender specific, for the warrior class, is the reality, we’re talking about the wives?
  • Does my USAFA classmate Hank Hoffman, a warrior, pilot, teacher, a hero, capture the essence?
    • “Was the real hero, the wife, staying home, raising the children and worrying every day that the staff car with uniformed men would stop in her driveway and a dreaded knock on the door would ruin life? Would we rather face the full fury of combat than live with that kind of stress? Many of us have been called heroes but does her continuing job of “keeping it together” and “looking after” deserve the honors and the title? As years roll on, can we, aging warriors, in return, just love forever? “
  • Does Armed Forces Day, and the whole week that ends today, recognize serving Active, Guard and Reserve forces? Established in 1949, after consolidation under a Department of Defense, do the forces now numbering 1,290,000 active and 777,000 Guard and Reserve plus 40,000 Coast Guard (Under Homeland Security) earn and deserve recognition, our thanks, not just for service but for protecting our freedoms with a blank check……their lives?
  • For now, do we take our leave from the Third Degree with anticipation of next week’s treatment of National Maritime Day and the Major General Logan inspired Memorial Day? More May time of tribute to come?

Socrates reminds: “The unexamined life is not worth living. The answers and actions are yours.