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Sunday, May 27, 2012Living in the greatest nation in the world due to the work of a past generation.
Memorial Day 2012
There are many outdoor festivities planned around the country this week including RC flying and I hope you will get in on the festivities over this Memorial day long weekend.
For those of you outside the USA or who are new to our country you can find more about the Memorial Day celebration and remembrance by going a quick Google search.
Is Memorial day a bad celebration? Is the celebration or remembrance of war a bad thing? Memorial day is not actually memorializing or celebrating war but we are remembering those who have fought, served and for many given their lives. War has been waged to stop oppression and the spread of rogue empires who wished to exterminate some and impose their ways on the rest. Wars have been fought for many worthy and un-worthy causes and if it were not for some wars we would indeed be speaking other languages and some of us would not exist at all.
For those of you who are Americans, from school you should know that our country was born out of the need for religious freedom. We went to war to declare our independence and a new free nation was formed. Our founding fathers set guidelines on how to grow a free nation and how to go to war if needed.
When studied, religion has been the cause of most wars but it is funny when you study most religions as they are peaceful and all really have very similar roots. In modern times it is only when you bring in the radical participants of religion and power hungry and controlling governments that you see the need or the spread or continuation of war and lets face it, war is a driver for the economies of the world…. but at what cost?
In most parts of the world we are living in easy modern times. I remember stories from my grandfather and my father telling me about
wartimes when people would knock on the door at meal times and begging for
food. It seemed like people were more helpful in those days. I have heard my father n law tell of his experiences of seeing his
brother and brother-in-law going off to war, one coming home wounded and the
other not coming home at all. He tells of red & gold stars hanging in the
windows, air raid drills and yes, people going to church during the week for
special prayer services to pray for our boys & girls in the war. I
remember 90 year Frank who was in my office last year. He told me about being
in high-school and graduating in the mid-'40s. He talked about the Great
Depression grinding on, and the guy across the street from him never finding a
job; crying in the arms of his girlfriend in the high-school hallway because
his older brothers were shipping out to "The War" that day; he told
me about ration stamps for meat and sugar, butter and gas.
Think about this for a minute, ration stamps, in the United States of America! Frank said he remembered the sense that due to war his whole life had been under one darkening cloud after another, tempered only by the family bonds and friendships that had always been more important than material goods.
IMO there should be no more need for war, no cause for it
except in extreme situations and our government should abide by the engagement
rules set up by our founding fathers. If other countries want to blow themselves up, so be it but why? Why should we send billions of so called aid over seas only to have the
recipients become our enemies, hate us and want to war with us. Then again, reality is reality and some of this is our own fault. I
am worried, worried for our current and future generations. I am a believer
that most all of what we are seeing and will see has been foretold. If this is
the case should we go crazy and engage the media to expose it, how about
getting into politics to try and stop it all….. or is it to late and we should
take an alternate path, buy guns, ammo, food and watch prepper shows waiting
for the end to come?
In reflecting on these conversations I know that my
kids and indeed even I have no clue how good we have it. We worry about the
size of our home, not that we are lucky to have one. We worry about what our
next toy will be, not where our next meal will come from. We worry about being
seen on the various social networks and not that our neighbors are unemployed.
All of us are beneficiaries of those who have served but most could care less. IMO this should be a week where we actively remember our ancestors, our family members, our loved ones, our neighbors, and our friends who have served. We all should use this holiday to start actively working to prevent future wars. Instead, I fear that during this week we will see Americas biggest challenge which is apathy.
We live in the greatest nation in the world due to the work of a past generation. Most of today’s Americans take for granted that "somebody" will take care of them. We believe that we will always live "free" and be able to celebrate events with our hot dogs and hamburgers. Apathy is rampant here and is not good for our country. Apathy is what our enemies of the world are counting on, it is what they have planned for and waited for. An entitlement society we have become and that is what it takes for us to slowly slip over the edge. Apathy is what the enemy wants for us, to catch us off guard “from the inside”. I am a believer that if we do not wake up…. it is most likely already to late.
What does this have to do with RC flying and a hobby store? Nothing at all with the exception that I am a concerned American who has no apathy. During the upcoming weeks festivities when we are all out flying, eating our Hot Dogs and hamburgers and celebrating with friends, and if the reach of this weekly newsletter/blog can cause a few to stop and think, remember and take action by spreading a little history and current events to today’s generation. If it can cause a high school senior who's graduating to better understand and to consider what and who has given them the ability to be where they are and then to stay pointed in the right direction as the future leaders of our country then some purpose will have been served by this rambling.
Be assured as my family celebrates Memorial Day I will talk
to my kids, one of which is in High School, is a full size pilot and who will
soon be considering the military. I will be telling them about my my
Grandfather and what he went through when he made multiple landings of the
Higgins boat on the shores of both Iwo Jima and Okinawa,. I will be thinking
about my Dad who served in the Air Force, my Father in law who served in the
Navy, my good neighbor Cal who flew the F-105 Thunderchief on over 70 combat
missions in Vietnam, my good friend Rick who served on the ground in
Vietnam and lost a lot of his shoulder to gun fire. And then there is Atlanta
Hobby's own Veterans, Russell Huff who served on the carrier CVS 21 and Joel
Shreenan our webmaster who from 1966-1990 served all over the world including
Bad Kreuznach, Germany in the 8th Inf Division and later in the 82nd Airborne
Division out of Ft Bragg.
To each of these men and to all of you who have served and are currently serving, I have great admiration and my family thanks you for your service, which has allowed us (up to now) to live free.
Enjoy your weekend, do your part to spread the word of the past and be thankful that we are all so very fortunate to live in the greatest nation in the world.
Good Winds, God Bless America.
Cliff, Joel, Greg, Gary, Ryan, Eli, Dr Huff, Ronnie & Mr. Lopez
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Sunday, December 18, 2011The "W" in Christmas [Author unknown]
Each December I vowed to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. This year I cut back on nonessential obligations… extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even over-spending. Yet I still found myself exhausted and unable to appreciate precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.
My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six year old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school's Winter Pageant. I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the
production.
Unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his
teacher. She assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation, and all parents who were unable to attend that evening were welcome to come to the rehearsal. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.
The morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early and sat down. Around the room I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class was
accompanied by their teacher and then they all sat cross-legged on the floor. Next, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song.
Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas," I didn't expect anything other than songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer.
So, when my son's class rose to sing "Christmas Love," I was a little surprised by its bold title. Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates. They were all adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, and had bright snowcaps upon their heads.
One by one, those in the front row - center stage - held up large letters to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing, "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C, then, "H is for Happy," and so on, until each child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "Christmas Love."
The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her: a small, quiet girl in the front row holding the letter "M" upside down - totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a "W".
The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake, however, she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall and proudly held her "W".
Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued, until the last letter was raised and then …we all saw it. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrate this holy day in the first place, and the purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:
"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"
And He still is.
HAVE A BLESSED HOLIDAY SEASON AND A VERY
Merry Christmas Everyone!
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Thursday, November 26, 2009Where Do Pumpkin Pies Come From?
It was a very busy day last Monday and I was just swamped with
ten thousand things to do, the phones were ringing, I was planning Thanksgiving
Emails and shop specials and some one was beating me up on the phone because their
solder connectors were lost in the mail and the world was going to end if they
did not get them that very moment.
As soon as I hung up the phone and took a deep breath and turned around I saw a older man in my lobby. He was looking at the 40 some odd planes hung and positioned in our lobby. I was really busy but he was interested in the history of my 1/4 scale Waco (built by Mr. Slick larson) so I invited him to have a seat in my office.
I had a great chat with this gentleman (Frank) and as it turns out he was 90 years young. In my recent years I have learned that when speaking to elders I need to relax and take my time with them. There are several reasons for this, most of the time it will take them a little longer to get their point across but primarily because anyone that has been in this world 90 years deserves some respect and I have also learned (after many hard lessons) that these folks have been around the block a bit and there is generally some wisdom to be learned in their words if we take the time listen.
I turned the phone off dialed down the Jimi Hendrix from the new RCRN website and one thing led to another and we got to talking about what he called the old days. Now I know what you are thinking and this was not the real estate bust and, no, not the first dot-com boom or even the Reagan years. He was talking about World War II, graduating high school, and buying his first Ford. everything that he talked about was about being young in the middle of the last century.
He told me about being in high-school and graduating in the mid-'40s. He talked about the Great Depression grinding on, and the guy across the street from him never finding a job; crying in the arms of his best girlfriend in the high-school hallway because his older brothers were shipping out to "The War" that day; ration stamps for meat and sugar, butter and gas.
Think about this for a minute, ration stamps! in the United States of America! He had a great story about the black market in fake ration stamps that you'd buy from somebody's cousin's friend; and the sense that your whole life had been under one darkening cloud after another, tempered only by the family bonds and friendships that had always been more important than material goods.
He left after about an hour and this morning in reflecting on that conversation it struck me that on this Thanksgiving Day that my kids and indeed even I have no clue how good we have it. We worry about the size of our home, not that we are lucky to have one. We worry about what our next toy will be, not where our next meal will come from. We worry about being seen on the various social networks and not that our neighbors are unemployed.
Hopefully we can learn from our elders and their history and step back a bit this weekend turn down the Hendrix (at least during dinner) and focus on family bonds and friendships. We are not in the Great depression (yet) and the rationing has not started (yet) but we should be mindful especially on Thanksgiving to be kinder than necessary as everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle, even the Pumpkin who has to make all of those Pies.
My Family wishes each of you a
great Thanksgiving
Cliff, Gail, Elijah, Sierra
Posted By: Cliff Whitney @ 9:55:55 AMTop
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Wednesday, November 11, 2009Thanking all who have served
I also offer a special prayer for the tens of thousands who are stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere around the world. Please keep in your thoughts and prayers those who were killed in the Fort Hood terrorist attack a few days ago. We should be ever mindful of the sacrifices that these men and women of the military -- and their families -- make for us each and every day. We give thanks to those who have strengthened our liberties, all too often at great personal costs to them and their families. Please join Gail and I and all of the associates here at the shop in lifting up a prayer for all our veterans and their families on this day. Pray also that we, as a country, remain worthy of their sacrifices. Thank you,
On this Veterans Day, I salute everyone who has served in defense of our great nation and preserved the liberties that we enjoy today.
Because of these folks service (mostly volunteer) we Americans take for granted that "somebody" will take care of us. We believe that we will always live free and be able to celebrate events with our hot dogs and hamburgers. Our countries problem is Apathy and it is not good for us so we should all stop and think and be ready if/when the need arises.
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