...and I'm never going back again

"For all the anarchy of the place, it was sometimes easy to miss the changes. A new checkpoint went up on Sadoon Street, Al-Qaeda crept into Adamiyah: those were easy. The deeper changes were more difficult to spot: the shifts in the culture, the turnings inside people's brains. The confusion lay in the violence. After witnessing a car bomb, or wading through a bloody emergency room, I sometimes forgot that violence in Iraq had a shape; that it had a direction, that the violence had a purpose. So much violence and so many purposes, all of them competing and crashing into one another, reshaping the country in their own distinctive ways. In the madness, it was sometimes hard to see." - Dexter Filkins, The Forever War

"What's the angle of deviation at 500 meters that gives you 2 inches to the right?...You don't even want to think about that." - Sebastian Junger, War

I've been meaning to share this recommendation for the past month and find myself with some idle time on my hands as we enter another week of the government shutdown which allows me to catch up. In addition, I was inspired to share this book because of a related recommendation from a dinner guest at our house last night (more on that in a moment).

The Forever War is written by Dexter Filkins, the prizewinning NYT correspondent who witnessed the rise of the Taliban in the 90s, experienced ground zero immediately following 9/11 and was embedded with armed forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. Following the two novels I have read this year about the impacts of the conflict(s) in the Middle East on soldiers, families and locals, Filken's dispatches from the front lines hit home with honest to God true stories of events that in all other circumstances beyond war, you would have a hard time believing.

This book invoked a series of emotions in me ranging from awe at people's courage in times of conflict, frustration with the blinders we see through that influence these global conflicts, to sorrow and horror at some of the visceral scenes that you experience through the author's eyes. It is intense and in my mind, a must read for anyone who wants to try to understand the complexity of the front line in the Middle East.

On to dinner: We had a few friends over last night and one of them recommended a podcast I had never heard of called The Moth. Per their website, The Moth...

"...is dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. It is a celebration of both the raconteur, who breathes fire into true tales of ordinary life, and the storytelling novice, who has lived through something extraordinary and yearns to share it. At the center of each performance is, of course, the story..."

Specifically, he recommended one podcast from Sebastian Junger, an American journalist who worked on assignment in Afghanistan and co-directed the documentary film Restrepo (2010 Grand Jury Prize winner at the Sundance Film Festival; nominated for an Academy Award). It's a short yet powerful story told by Sebastian and if you have 10 minutes to spare, it will make a difference in your day and echo for quite some after. It is called War and you can listen to it by clicking here.

The preview for Restrepo is below.

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow 

Between the crosses row on row, 

That mark our place; and in the sky 

The larks, still bravely singing, fly 

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago 

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, 

Loved and were loved, and now we lie 

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: 

To you from failing hands we throw 

The torch; be yours to hold it high. 

If ye break faith with us who die 

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow 

In Flanders fields.

Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)       

      Canadian Army

A Pen, a Memory and a Question

The act of putting pen to paper encourages pause for thought, this in turn makes us think more deeply about life, which helps us regain our equilibrium.

Norbet Platt

Was on an airplane today and something made me think of my father. Not sure what it was. I started wondering how much of my current personality is similar to his, what sort of conversation we would have today if I was able to sit down and talk to him, and if he would be proud of what his son has done with this life thus far. I decided that he would ask me if I was happy. And that if I answered this question "yes" that he would probably be pretty damn proud.

This is his Mont Blanc pen that I found a long time ago. I use it all the time now. It's not what triggered the memory but the memory triggered this as the image that I would use to accompany my note.

The Nature of Control

You’ve heard of Murphy—‘What can happen will happen’? This is where Murphy lives.

Southern Louisiana exists in its present form because the Mississippi River has jumped here and there within an arc about two hundred miles wide, like a pianist playing with one hand — frequently and radically changing course, surging over the left or the right bank to go off in utterly new directions.

- New Yorker article about the Atchafalaya by John McPhee called The Control of Nature.

I'm still wading my way through the article that the above quotes are from but as soon as I found this image, I felt like the two had to be paired together and the map was just too incredible not to share right away. The Control of Nature article was written in 1987 (published in The New Yorker) by John McPhee and explores the nature of controlling the Mississippi river in Cajun country.

The map was drawn by Harold N. Fisk in his Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River from 1944 and it shows the historical paths of the Mississippi river. For locals, the original path to the Gulf is now known as Bayou Teche about 2,800 to 4,500 years ago. Looking at the history of the Mississippi, I think one realizes the power of nature that we have attempted to bottle. I am not educated enough on the subject to say we are doing the right or wrong thing or to say that we are doing it the right way or not. I am just in awe of the forces we attempt to control and the science that we attempt to control them with. Truly amazing.

A strong brown god...

"I do not know much about gods; but I think that the river is a strong brown god - sullen, untamed and intractable, patient to some degree, at first recognized as a frontier; Useful, untrustworthy, as a conveyor of commerce; Then only a problem confronting the builder of bridges. The problem once solved, the brown god is almost forgotten by the dwellers in cities - ever, however, implacable. Keeping his seasons, and rages, destroyer, reminder of what men choose to forget. Unhonoured, unpropitiated by worshippers of the machine, but waiting, watching and waiting."

-- T.S. Eliot, The Dry Salvages

Good short article about the scene along the river near Baton Rouge in NOLA.com found here. It leads with the quote above by T.S. Eliot.

"Keeping his seasons, and rages, destroyer, reminder of what men choose to forget."

Powerful words.

King(s)

I've started to read Peter King's MMQB the last couple of weeks (yes I am late to the party) and have found it pretty amusing at times as well as simply allowing me to hold my own in conversations with my wife, who is a serious football fan. Well, she is a fan of any sport actually...and has an impressive array of stats about most players in the NFL, EPL, international soccer, you name it.

Back to King: In addition to a slew of interesting sports information, King's random reflections on various topics can be even more interesting than the latest tripping scandal in the NFL or the rantings of a team that doesn't know how to win with class. This particular reflection was an interesting one to me and I find the quote from Kennedy inspirational.

And I'll leave you with this last thing. Last week, I wrote about the Tucson shootings peripherally, and asked, in a naïve way I suppose, for people to stop yelling at each other in the media and in society. And I came across this nugget. Thursday will be the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's inauguration. In his speech that day, he asked the countries America was in conflict with -- the Soviet Union and Cuba, without mentioning them by name -- to be able to start over in discussing how to control the arms race.

"Let us begin anew,'' he said, "remember on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof. Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate.''

King's Twitter feed is pretty interesting as well sometimes. Voluminous all the time. Today it made me laugh to see the tweets come in that criticized his characterization of the "men in suits" who are negotiating the lockout in the NFL. I would say the argument was closed and won with this statement that he made but I am sure the banter will continue.

USWLeeann: Insulting. Women are probably brokering deal in back corner
SI_Peter_King: There's a slight chance I know more about this than you.

I would be remiss to not mention the whole reason I get to make a long textual blog post on a Monday morning. If you are looking for inspirational quotes to guide you along the way, these words will never fail.

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

I am a Coach, not Harry Potter

Via TOW via the Guardian, comes this great quote from José Mourinho in the face of criticism of Real Madrid's form in their first game which ended in a 0-0 draw.

"I am a coach, not Harry Potter...He is a magician. Magic is fiction and I live for football which is real. ...I am the ideal person to be at Madrid because I fear nothing."

I'm not so sure that when Harry grows up, he'll look all that different from The Special One.

...a fat kid in a track suit...

"To an untrained eye he looks like a fat kid in a tracksuit who’s won a competition. But then you see how, even now at touching 50, he commands the field. That charisma, that magnetism." - The Daily Mail

Today brought a farewell to one of the most controversial coaches of the World Cup and I was sad to see him go...but at the same time his team was not the better one. His passion on the sideline was great to watch, his tactics in question, his star power unquestionable...


...his quotes sometimes priceless, sometimes ridiculous, and sometimes baring the truth with no theater.

• My legitimate kids are Dalma and Giannina. The rest are a product of my money and mistakes.
• Pele has to go back to the museum.
• We all know what the French are like and Platini as a Frenchman thinks he knows it all.
• In the end, it is about whether God wants us to be in the final, but I know that is what God wants. This time we will not need the Hand of God, because it is the will of God.
• This loss is tougher (than any as a player). We had a chance to be one of the four best teams in the world, and we couldn't do it.

US Team Out of World Cup

"It's one thing to recognize slow starts as a problem, another thing to rectify it."
- Bob Bradley via Grant Wahl's Twitter feed.

Tough and bitter loss to Ghana today 2-1. Finishing was just as much of a problem as slow starts (2 prime examples below). Overall, I think the US team and fans should be proud of our guys. Timmy Howard challenging for that last ditch effort off that corner and follow-up cross is a symbol of what I will remember our 2010 team for. Our never-say-die attitude, heart, desire and teamwork were a joy to be a part of.

The Courage to Continue

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

- Winston Churchill

Funny People Trailer

What's funnier than watching Edtv at midnight? The trailer to Funny People. Both are keeping me up a little too long tonight.

Mark: When my grandfather died, there was one candle next to his bed. And the candle started flickering. We all thought it was him going to Heaven, you know?

Leo: You don't pass through fire to get to Heaven. I think he went to Hell.

Throw an anvil...

"When your opponent is drowning,
throw the son of a bitch an anvil."

-James Carville

I am not a man... I am Cantona.

Here is the aforementioned trailer for the film Looking for Eric. In order to understand the legend, see all BOB Eric Cantona posts here. The official film website can be found here.

At the end of this trailer is the great exchange:

Eric the Postman: Sometimes I forget you are just a man.
Eric Cantona: I am not a man...I am Cantona.

Mourinho Predicts Chelsea Return

I was watching Fox Soccer Channel tonight and they had an interview with Jose Mourinho where he spoke about the odds of him returning to Chelsea. I really liked how he answered the question:

If you are asking me if you think one day I will return to Chelsea, I tell you 'yes, I think so', although I'm not saying when.
...
I belong to their story and they belong to my story. I hope they get back to what they were, because the club has changed.

In particular, I like the phrasing of "I belong to their story and they belong to my story." Watch the brief interview here.

Time to Think

“Failures are divided into two classes --those who thought and never did, and those who did and never thought.” - John Charles Salak

Lately I've been feeling that I lack the time to step back and let everything just be at peace. Having time to think and relax is really important to me. It recharges me mentally and spiritually as much as sleep does physically.

The Man Amid a Stampede

"It is no accident that Berbatov and Cantona share onfield qualities. The one who sees things differently, does things differently. Loner behaviour can be effective when a game is raging. Berbatov has Cantona’s knack of being the man amid a stampede towards the door who stops to notice a side exit that nobody else has seen. He will pause, just as an attack is flowing, and play the hitherto unimagined pass. He will beat a goalkeeper with a sudden shot when there was little warning of danger. Cleverness ties with boldness as the prime attributes Ferguson seeks in attackers, and Berbatov is the single player..."

- Jonathan Northcroft, in the Times Online via 101 Great Goals

To enjoy friends, to fall in love, to hit a ball...

“In the best of times, our days are numbered anyway. So it would be a crime against nature for any generation to take the world crisis so solemnly, that it put off enjoying those things for which we were designed in the 1st place: the opportunity to do good work, to enjoy friends, to fall in love, to hit a ball, and to bounce a baby.”

- Alistair Cooke, Letter From America

Alistair Cooke - Letter From America

I haven't been reading a lot lately so when I was packing for my flight today I performed a quick search in our home library for a book to read. I settled on Letter From America by Alistair Cooke. Cooke was British-American journalist who had a 58 year series on BBC that was used to report on American life to the British public. The book is a selection of the most memorable "letters." I was particularly struck by the ending of his tribute to Robert Frost.

Decisions

When making a decision of minor importance, I have always found it advantageous to consider all the pros and cons. In vital matters, however, such as the choice of a mate or a profession, the decision should come from the unconscious, from somewhere within ourselves. In the important decisions of personal life, we should be governed, I think, by the deep inner needs of our nature.

(Sigmund Freud)

Vacillating people seldom succeed. Successful men and women are very careful in reaching their decisions, and very persistent and determined in action thereafter.

(L. G. Elliott)

Please all, and you will please none.

(Aesop)

Check Out Line

Thing you never want to hear as you push your cart up to the check out line:

"Holy Shit! Do you need all that alcohol!?!?"

Thankfully, this exchange occurred between the couple behind us today. So no worries, I am not going on a bender. I was chuckling for the next 5 minutes after hearing this.