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Monday, September 8, 2008

You could have heard a pin drop

When in Switzerland at a fairly large conference, Colin Powell was asked by the Archbishop George Carey if our plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush. He answered by saying, "Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return". You could have heard a pin drop..............................................................

Then, there was a conference in France where a number of international engineers were taking part, including French and American. During a break one of the French engineers came back into the room sharing "Have you heard the latest dumb stunt Bush has done? He has sent an aircraft carrier to Indonesia to help the tsunami victims. What does he intend to do, bomb them?" A Boeing engineer stood up and replied quietly;"Our carriers have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallon of fresh water from sea water each day and they carry half a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and injured to and from their flight deck. We have eleven such ships; how many does France have?" You could have heard a pin drop....................................................................................................

A US Navy Admiral was attending a naval conference that included Admirals from the US, English, Canadian, Australian and French Navies. AT a cocktail reception, he found himself standing with a large group of Officers that included personnel from most of those countries. Everyone was chatting away in English as they sipped their drinks but a French admiral suddenly complained that 'whereas Europeans learn many languages, Americans learn only English.' He then asked, 'Why is it that we always have to speak English in these conferences rather than speaking French?' Without hesitating, the American Admiral replied 'Maybe it's because the Brits, Canadians, Aussies and Americans arranged it so you wouldn't have to speak German.' You could have heard a pin drop....................................................................

A group of Americans, retired teachers, recently went to France on a tour. Robert Whiting, an elderly gentleman of 83, arrived in Paris by plane. At French Customs, he took a few minutes to locate his passport in his carry on. 'You have been to France before, monsieur'? the customs officer asked sarcastically. Mr. Whiting admitted that he had been to France previously. 'Then you should know enough to have you passport ready.' The American said, 'The last time I was here, I didn't have to show it." 'Impossible. Americans always have to show your passports on arrival in France!' The American senor have the Frenchman a long hard look and then he quietly explained. 'Well, when I came ashore at Omaha Beach on D-Day in '44 to help liberate this country, I couldn't find and Frenchmen to show it to.' You could have heard a pin drop..........................................................

What is a Veteran? whether active duty, discharged, retired, or reserve -- it is someone who at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America,' for an amount of 'up to, and including his life.'

How easily we forget.............................................................................

10 comments:

JeanMac said...

If there were a place to vote "best post", this one would win. My body is full of goosebumps.

Thank you for posting - it' swell worth printing out and reading when we get disillusioned.

Granny Annie said...

That is a spectacular post! My husband and many, many of his friends are those blank check writers. How can anyone treat our military badly?

Chatty Crone said...

Excellent Post.

Lady Di Tn said...

Well if I could give you an Emmy for this post I would do so. Instead I will give you Two Paws Up from Kitty Justice. 9-11 is coming soon and I wonder how many flags we will see flying. Peace

Shammickite said...

Nicely written.

Changes in the wind said...

Thank you for all your comments but I did not write this...I received it as an email and after checking it out to be sure it was the truth decided it was worth passing on via blogville. Glad you, like me, enjoyed it and was moved by it.

bigbikerbob said...

Hi, A really great post, who ever wrote it was spot on, as someone said it deserves an "emmy". I have passed it on to friends as an e-mail.

Oldqueen44 said...

These were awesome.

Adele Gannon said...

This one makes the frig. Thanks for the reminders.

Another Human said...

The anecdotes are fictional. The one with Colin Powell is 'inspired' by an actual event; but if you research the other three, you will only find numerous versions on the Internet.

Does anyone care if this material is true or not? Most of us, or all of us, are happy to embrace any 'news' or 'information' that fits well with already held emotions and beliefs. Who can resist that good, righteous feeling that comes from having ones views endorsed? Still, some of us feel that we can not reach our human potential unless we favor truthfulness over feeling 'right' and persist on questioning, evaluating, trying different angles, and deepening our understanding of humanity and the world we live in.