I had a house full this Christmas and therefore one of the rules of the Christmas season in my house this year was no talking about politics.  I wanted to keep things festive.

So with politics off the table, the debate immediately shifted to something more near and dear to my heart yet equally as volatile…

My toilet paper.

Yup, my choice of toilet paper came under attack.

“It’s too rough…it’s not soft enough… it’s too thin,” yeah I heard it all.

I don’t really care about any of that when it comes to my toilet paper what is important to me is…

Surface Tension.

Now I realize from my Respiratory Therapy days that the true definition of surface tension relates specifically to a liquid.

But I like to apply those same qualities to my toilet paper, you know, binding together, like an elastic membrane so that nothing breaks through.

 

And as you know I don’t usually like to venture into commentary on what may be construed as political. I like to write about important things like meatballs, making fart noises, The Dave Clark Five, and Publix employees snapping my French bread in half, and even toilet paper.

You know, real cutting edge stuff.  But there are recent events that I find are more troubling.  But not necessarily from a political aspect, I don’t really care whether you are a democrat or a republican, or a socialist, or whatever.  My concern is more about our ability to stand together as Americans, bound, strong, like an elastic membrane. Impenetrable.

Like my toilet paper.

Hayley gave me a book to read called Barbarians and Brothers: Anglo-American Warfare 1500 to 1865. In his book, author Wayne E. Lee looks at issues like race and ethnicity in war and also how culture, strategy, and logistics determined the nature of the fighting.   I recently started reading this book and though I am no scholar of war, you don’t have to venture too far into it to find meaning in current events. Lee says, “War is intended to convey specific messages to an enemy; only rarely in history has that message been merely ‘die.’”

You see the elimination of this most recent terrorist with minimal collateral destruction, sent a great message.

Unfortunately, the actions of a rather large number of Americans to align themselves with the enemy afterward, to apologize for this military action, and to even maybe try to limit our future ability to protect our country, sent an entirely different, not so great message.

“It is always distressing to find American citizens who benefit from the protection and assistance of this government lending their voice in any way to governments such as the [enemy, whoever that might be] distressing indeed,” said State Department spokesman Charles W. Bray, according to a July 1972 Reuters story.

That statement was made in 1972 in reference to Jane Fonda’s support of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) who was at the time our enemy.

This most recent action against terrorism seems to have generated a lot of Jane Fondas.

 

The attacks on America by the terrorists on 9/11 in 2001 brought our country together and since that time we have been in a war against terrorism.  Last week another terrorist responsible for the loss of American lives was terminated.

Unfortunately, those sentiments that brought us together in the early days of this war have waned quite a bit.

 

Today is Donny’s birthday.  He would have been 33 years old today.  I remember watching the events and the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks unfold on TV with Donny.  I remember his passionate support for the country and the fact that even at the then age of 14 he was ready to sign up for the military and join the fight.

I remember a lot of passionate support for our country back then.

We had surface tension.

But this is America where we are free to pledge our allegiance to Charmin or Scotts; the USA or Iran.  You are free to choose.

Times sure have changed Donny, that passionate support for our country that you had is not as popular now.

I hope someday, out of respect for those who have paid the price of defending us these last almost twenty years, we can get that back again and stop the urge to lend our voices in support of our enemy governments.

To be impenetrable once again.