"When angry, count four: when very angry, swear." Mark Twain

...I was injured yesterday.I don't know if this is a suitable subject for this blog, but I don't have anything else to discuss at the moment. (Oh, yes, I just thought about it. All four published versions of my blog and eventually this one are for the benefit of my great, and great great grandchildren, if I ever get any, so that they will know something about me if they are curious enough). But now I believe you may be curious enough to know how I got hurt yesterday in Wal*Mart.

.....I was standing by a greeting card stand that had four sides which you could spin around to look for the perfect card. I found two cards for Mothers' Day and as I was about to walk away, seven or eight cartons of bottled water fell down right behind me and a couple of them hit the side and back of my left leg and produced bloody lacerations--like I had on the auto train ride. The cartons fell because they were piled too high in the aisle. Since I'm on coumadin, I bleed alot with an injury like that, so when no one appeared to help me off my knees, I pressed the two cards against the wounds. (They were $5 each, ha ha) Finally, a tall black employee picked me up and we walked together (with my cane, of course) to a bench near the rest room. The bench also happened to be right near the product return area and two women were there. I yelled to them to get the manager or someone to bandage the wounds!! One was on the outside of my left leg and another right under the bend in the knee.

.....After what seemed like a lifetime, the Ass't. Manager came and looked annoyed that blood was on the floor. Then an employee showed up with wads of toilet paper which she used to wipe up the blood with her foot. You would think a store like that would have a mop, at least. The Ass't. Manager, Rosemary asked one of the women behind the return desk for a first aid kit which she did produce. Quite a kit; it had no gauze pads large enough for my needs, no bandages, no rolls of tape! I said to Rosemary, please do something for my lacerations. Her response? "We're not allowed to do that, do you want 9ll?" "NO, NO, I WANT SOMETHING RIGHT NOW,OR I'LL GO AND BLEED ALL OVER YOUR FRUIT!" So, a customer put a small square of gauze on my leg and held it down with bandaids! I have no clue as why Rosemary didn't send someone down to the pharmacy to get the products I needed. After the wounds were covered sloppily, Rosemary gave me a clip board with a form to fill out explaining what happened. I told her I couldn't write because of the tremors in my hand. Her response? "Well, we're not allowed to do it."

.....So, I got up and left for my car. No one offered to help me get there. I know I was somewhat in shock, but I courageously caned my way to the car and drove directly to my doctor's office where he pulled the skin back over the wound and taped me up. He wants me back tomorrow. Well, that's my story. Every day a new adventure. Right above the bench I sat on was a big sign which read, "SAFETY FOR OUR CUSTOMERS IS OUR FIRST CONCERN."

The Battle of Agincourt 1415 A.D.

.....As I was thumbing through the books in my "library" the other day, I found a rather hefty volume of Shakespeare's plays, and my thumb just happened to stop at a page in "Henry V". The play has been performed many times since it was written, but perhaps none better than the films starring Kenneth Branagh and Lawrence Olivier. One scene in the play never fails to tear me up; the scene where Henry tries to rally his troops before the Battle of Agincourt on October 25, 1415 A.D. The war, as usual, takes place in France and the speech rallying his troops is better than any coach could make to inspire his team. The battle, during which a rather ragged and small band of Englishmen routed a powerful French army, took place on the Feast of St. Crispin's Day. (St. Crispin and his twin brother, Crispian, were tortured, martyred--and as if that weren't enough-- beheaded at Soissons in 286 A.D. for preaching Christianity to the Gauls.) A curious fact is that the Battle of Balaklava during the Crimean War 1854 (Charge of the Light Brigade) and the Battle of Leyte Gulf 1944 also took place on St. Crispin's Day.

.....I have no understanding of how Shakespeare, a man who had never been in combat, could write such a stirring speech--it makes me want to get in a plane and fly up to shoot something! Patton and MacArthur could not have done as well. So, here it is:

KING: ..... he which hath no stomach to this fight,

Let him depart; his passport shall be made,

And crowns for convoy put into his purse;

We would not die in that man's company

That fears his fellowship to die with us.

This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,

And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,

And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'

Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,

And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,

But he'll remember, with advantages,

What feats he did that day.

Then shall our names,

in his mouth as household words-

Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,

Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-

Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.

This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered-

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition;

And gentlemen in England now-a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

....Now, every time I read this remarkable speech, or hear it read, I somehow feel a kinship with "that few, that happy few, that band of brothers." And as Shakespeare says, "...old men forget but will remember what feats he did that day." How true--and forever.

"I am for religion against religions." (Victor Hugo)

.....The other day I read a column on the op-ed page of our newspaper that I found to be bigoted, intolerant, and offensive. It was written by Kathleen Parker a member of the Washington Post Writers Group--whoever they are. She lauded a decision by Mary Ann Glendon, a Harvard University law professor who "quietly" declined Notre Dame's Laetare Medal, whatever that is. Parker contends that "principled people are so rare as to be oddities" which implies that Glendon and Parker are part of that rare principled group and that the rest of us are unprincipled. In actuality, Glendon's rejection of the medal was unprincipled. Her reason for rejecting it? President Obama was invited to be the commencement speaker and to receive an honorary degree. According to Parker, Obama is more radical than all previous presidents on the "life issue" because he is loosening federal funds for abortion and embryonic stem cell research, as well as his campaign promise to pass the Freedom of Choice Act.

.....Glendon's snub of Notre Dame's award to her was not only insulting to the Board who nominated her, to the University that proffered it to her, but also to the President of the United States. How "principled" is that? This was not an act based on her principles--as Parker contends, but an act based on her intolerance of those who do not adhere to the beliefs she would like all of us to believe. Parker goes on to ask ".....is there ever a time when we should be comfortable with the ratification of abortion?" And, ".....we've somehow managed to convince ourselves that life is a mistake"; and, ".....it is consoling that there are still those who relentlessly defend life's sanctity." What terrifying arrogance! To me, and to many other Americans, it is consoling that there are still those who relentlessly believe stem cell research will eventually learn how to save millions of lives around the globe by finding cures for diseases that destroy lives; that we, not of Glendon's persuasion--and many who are, find that kind of research to be a scientific attempt to sanctify life--not a religious one.

.....Ms. Parker notes the U.S. bishops' opinion that Catholic institutions "should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles." However, she fails to mention the fact that our former avid pro-life president, defied just that when he sent over 4000 of our young men to die in a war based on the flimsiest of reasons. How "moral" was that? How "sanctifying of life was that?And speaking of morals, Ms. Parker needs a reminder that our Constitution guarantees our fundamental freedoms, and one of them is freedom of choice. In America, at least, women have the right--and thankfully so--to decide what is in their best interests when it comes to decisions about their bodies.

.....In America, Jews don't flagellate the government to hold the sabbath on Saturday instead of Sunday; Muslims don't march in the streets protesting the fact that women are not required to wear burkas; who are also permitted to drive; that we dishonor the Koran by not praying several times a day; and so Ms. Parker ought to hesitate before writing columns lauding the morals of those who hold to her beliefs, and in no uncertain terms implying that all the rest of us non-believers are Yahoos.