Last Saturday was moving day for mom who is as excited as a kid at Christmas about her new digs. I met the movers early on Saturday morning at her house. I arrived before them so I could do some prep work. By the time they got there I was sweating pretty good. Yes it was hot. How hot was it?
It was so hot today that Dick Cheney waterboarded himself.” - David Letterman.
Sorry, I still laugh at that one.
So my movers arrived – “All the right moves,” a company I will recommend, even though what was priced ahead of time as $90 an hour turned out to be $300 for the two hours of work. That’s because three guys showed up rather than two and I also got charged for an extra half hour of “drive time.” It still seemed like a pretty good deal, I’d just appreciate knowing ahead of time what it’s gonna cost me.
The main guy came to the door and gave me a vise-like handshake, too firm, as I attempted not to grimace while giving him a squeeze back. He reminded me of NFL linebacker Ray Lewis.
In less than an hour (I was watching the clock) the guys had mom’s chosen possessions for this season of her life, loaded into the back of their big truck. An hour after that everything was set up in her new apartment, even her bed, which I didn’t have to help with at all.
After she was settled in I was walking down the hall of her wing and noticed that there were numerous motorized scooters parked along the wall. I went online and found that they are priced from $749 to $2550. The top of the line comes in silver or gray. I don’t know how mom could pass this up. Next time she talks about getting her car back I’ll suggest it. Wish me luck with that one, I’m gonna need it.
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The big news from Capital Hill this past week was about those Weiner pics. Nuff said.
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And thanks to friend J. M. “Kingbossdaddy” Davis who was inspired by the blurb last week about the veteran kamikaze pilot, which to other friend Fred sounded like a contradiction. Davis pointed out to me that the common translation of the word kamikazee is “divine wind.” (kami is the word for “god”, “spirit”, or “divinity”, and kaze for “wind”). He also recommended I do a bit of research on the subject for future columns. And as I always try to heed the sage advice of those with more life experience than me, that’s exactly what I did.
I immediately found an interesting piece on the NPR website called “‘Wings of Defeat: Kamikaze Stories, Told in Person’” by Neda Ulaby.
Ulaby writes that some 4,000 of the Japanese warriors died during the last days of World War II, but as Fred pointed out, not all of them perished. Three years ago many of the veteran pilots were traveling around the United States, visiting classrooms and telling spellbound students of their experiences over half a century ago.
“Sixteen-year-old Anika Warner, Ulaby writes, “a student at Springbrook High School in Silver Spring, Md., says she never thought the experiences of kamikaze pilots could suddenly feel so personal.
“‘As good a teacher as you have, no teacher can explain to you how it feels,’” Warner says. ‘[That] your family won’t be with you ... you know you’re not going to win the war, and you’re dying because your country told you to.’”
“The former kamikaze pilots on the schools tour are featured in a documentary called ‘Wings of Defeat,’ which examines the frantic, desperate nationalism that engulfed Japan toward the end of the war. The film makes clear that the kamikaze corpsmen weren’t volunteers. Most were drafted as teenagers, barely able to fly.
“The kamikaze were told that they were gods, heroes, divinely chosen to save their country. They were beaten and brainwashed. ‘Wings of Defeat’ includes archival footage of officers exhorting their young charges to die.
“Ena Takehiko, one of the men visiting Springbrook, flew two suicide missions; both times his plane crashed into the sea. He still has his funeral portrait – a wrinkly black-and-white photo of a handsome 22-year-old staring down the camera, standing by the cockpit he believed would be his coffin.
“Takehiko is 84 now, grandfather-age to the Springbrook students. He speaks to them with one of the ‘Wings of Defeat’ producers translating.
“‘You know, at the time the kamikaze strategy was a completely last-ditch resort,’ Takehiko says. ‘For every 10 kamikaze planes that took off, nine were shot down by the Americans.’”
“The former kamikaze say they never could have imagined that they would live to discuss their legacy with American high-school students one day – nor could they have expected those students’ compassion.”