War and wind -- two things you can't control

August 2005



An old saying says we talk a lot about the weather because we can't do anything about it. I'm starting to think the same is true of war. Weather and war-- maybe the two most popular topics that are good for conversation but mostly out of our control.

            Also, the two most common "lead stories" on television news broadcasts, I should think. I'll bet if you check the tapes since, oh, say, the first of March, you will find that either weather or war has been the lead story more times than any other single topic on the local news. I have never seen a spring and summer when weather was such a hot topic in Utah. I pick up on weather stories because being born and raised in Randolph, weather is a big deal. We don't just talk about it there, we live it. Eleven months of winter and one month of rough sledding.

            We can talk about the weather any time. Let's talk war. I jotted down some odd little news items about war I heard on the radio just last week as I was knocking around the Tetons. (Spouse hit the big 5-0, you see, and wanted to commiserate/celebrate.) These little news blips are odd in that I can't get a good handle on them or I thought them unusual.

            A Muslim group is protesting -- making a fuss in some way -- that they are being "unfairly represented" by the news media and popular media. That is, they feel their image is being tainted by the way media and movies portray Muslims and those from the Middle East.

            This one's not so hard to get a handle on after all, I guess. If Muslims want to see their image improve on the evening news, they might want to start a housecleaning -- inside first, then out. As long as Iraqis kill and maim their own and take refuge in mosques; as long as terrorists hide behind religious rhetoric and recruit suicide bombers in the name of their god, yeah, their image is going to take some hits. Being portrayed unfairly in the movies? Get in line.

            The average American understands that the average Muslim in not involved in hand-to-hand combat and is not to be feared. We understand the war is not against a religion or culture. But to ask the media to avoid the obvious because someone's feelings are getting hurt over how others within that culture are portrayed is nonsense. Thinking Americans can sift through all of the images, positive and negative, as they formulate opinions, including this one.

            On a related subject, the day after a bomb ripped through an Egyptian resort hotel killing 88 people, two extremist groups battled over who should take credit for it. More than one (dare I say) Islamic terrorist organization wanted to be recognized for this act. Is there a double-dog dare thing going on between oddball militant organizations? Is there a pecking order? Will more recruits will be impressed if they hear who did it? Are scholarships involved? This competition, I admit, I don't get.

            I also don't understand the thinking of militant Palestinians this past week. For a generation, they have been pleading and fighting and killing to get Israelis out of the Gaza Strip. Ariel Sharon overcame resistance from his own people and began a pullout of Israel residents from settlements in the Gaza, the first step in perhaps returning the land to the Palestinians. And what the Palestinians do? They harass those pulling out by lofting bombs at them, angering Sharon and slowing down the entire pullout process.

            Does the heat over there slow down clear thinking or something?
            A few more miles down the picturesque highway, I then heard this quick radio report of the  funeral of Gen. William Westmoreland. The reporter said that the funeral ended with a "17-gun salute." Spouse and I both looked at each other with raised eyebrows. Isn't a 21-gun salute the proper memorial marking for military personnel? Surely a four-star general rates the full 21, doesn't he, or do they eliminate one shot for every star on the shoulder?

            Turns out I'm the dummy on this one, which surprises no one.
       
        Military salutes -- which some say have root in the Elizabethan era of English history -- are not always 21 guns. Shakespeare even alluded to the practice in Hamlet: "Go, bid the soldiers shoot," in reference to a funeral. There is even some mystery as to why gun salutes are always odd numbers, with some historians suggesting they are luckier than even numbers. There is a full compliment of salutes, all with different meanings. While the 21-gun salute (sometimes called the royal salute) is the most common and often heard on holidays, there is a salute featuring 19, 17, 15 and down to five guns. The 17-gun salute is used to honor admirals, generals and governors.

        War is a lot like the weather, I guess, in another way -- there is usually a lot of wind involved. Wind was a big deal in Randolph, too. It blows plenty there. I never bothered to comb my hair until I was 17. In fact, one year I remember it blew so hard all winter than one morning in April (April 22, 1969, as I recall), it stopped blowing.
        And everyone in town fell down.