El Gringoqueño

This is a gospel passage that Laura and I have been getting a kick out of lately.  I am the first son. 

Matthew 21,28-32.

What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ He said in reply, ‘I will not,’ but afterwards he changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did his father’s will?" They answered, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.

"Jim, will you take out the trash?"

"No, I’m busy."  Laura goes off and does something else.  I think about it for a bit, and go take out the trash.

"Jim, a client is requesting a change on X Y or Z."

"Why do they want that?  That’s stupid.  They’re idiots.  They don’t know what they want.  I won’t do it.  I quit!"

Laura goes off and does something else.  I think about it for a bit, and make the change.

I’m such an idiot sometimes, but at least I go to the vineyard and get the job done.  Laura tells me I’m a loveable grouch. 

Now get thee, Jim, to the vineyard.

I sat down with Olaia last night to read her a book.  "Hmm, let’s see… what shall we read?"  I grabbed a collection from her bookshelf, flipped through the table of contents for something fun to read.  I read the titles aloud so that she may shout out when she heard something she’d like. 

"No.  No.  No," she answered to each of the selections.

"How about Encyclopedia Brown?  I used to read those when I was just a little older than you are now - when I was a little boy.  I always liked Encyclopedia Brown."

"Okay, Daddy, sounds good."

I began to read.  The story started with a little introduction to Encyclopedia Brown’s family.  Idaville was an idyllic little town where no crimes went unsolved.  Encyclopedia’s father was the chief of police.  He was very successful.  Little known to all, though, was the fact that his son Leroy "Encyclopedia" Brown was behind his father’s success.  His prodigious intellect had earned him his nickname.  It was a happy family, happy and successful and perfect. Dad was the chief of police and his son was the crime solving engine powering Idaville’s crime-free environment.

"Daddy, what does Encyclopedia Brown’s mommy do?" 

A funny little crooked smile crept onto my face.  "Well gosh, Olaia, that’s a mighty  good question."  Quick Jim, think fast.  What does his mommy do.  I am always unmasked by my insightful daughter.  She has this knack for cutting through pretense and slicing snip snap right to the incongruence of a matter.  Myself, I carry my load of 1970’s preconceptions and "common" sense.  I’m a child of the rising action of the feminist movement, with all its rancor and discord. 

"A woman’s place is in the home," I heard from one. 

"A woman’s place is in the office," came another. 

"Equal rights! Equal rights!" was screamed all around.  What was it all about, I had no idea.  Something was being birthed, but I knew not what.

Fast forward to present day.  Maureen Dowd laments the failures of feminism. "We pushed too hard to be like men.  We took the fun out of being women, and now there’s a backlash.  Now we’ve gone too far the other way, back to sex objects, back to finding husbands to complete us," she flirted in a recent interview with Tim Russert. "Maybe some things stuck, though."

How do I explain to Olaia what Encyclopedia’s mom did without demeaning her role?  After all, she loved her family, we just didn’t notice her. 

I didn’t notice her. 

"Olaia, back when this book was written, mommies didn’t work outside of the home as much.  People didn’t like for them to have jobs, so they took care of their families.  They would cook dinner, clean, and make sure everybody was okay.  Things have changed since then.  It was a long time ago, but now mommies and daddies work together in the house and outside of the house.  Mommies can do anything they want.  Does that make sense."

Olaia had noticed her, and now that I had explained myself and Encyclopedia’s unnamed mother, she was ready to go.  "Yes, okay, let’s read the book."

Of course it made sense to her.  What didn’t make sense was there was no mention of Encyclopedia’s mommy and what she did.  For all intents she didn’t exist except as an apron clad figure serving a casserole to Encyclopedia Brown and his dad.

Today’s beautiful "common" sense is the unassailable expectation that girls can do anything boys can do - anything they desire.  It’s as common and natural as anything could ever be, as real as conceived, born, nurtured, educated, tortured, and eventually fully grown.  Feminism and feminists should take heart.  Today’s girls and young ladies come of age with a new common sense, a new and entirely distinct awareness of what is possible and expected of them.

And my lovely lovely little girl, Olaia, what of her?  She gets to wear a dress if she wants too.  She gets to study what interests her.  She gets to be what she was meant to be without the limiting oligarchy of generations past. 

And my personal observation:  overlook her insight at your own peril.

Ha! I was looking for information to clear up just what my status is as a veteran, having been mobilized for Iraqi Freedom in March of 2003.  We were on active duty for 89 days before Bush declared victory and sent everyone home.  Ahem.

So, because I’d like to know, I’m looking around for information about benefits (if any) to which I am entitled for my obviously worthless 89 days of active duty service in time of war.  I was wrong, dead wrong, it turns out. 

War it is not, never been.  Funny, it tastes like war, though.  I smack my lips.  It’s kinda bitter with a smokey flavor.  They call it a war, use it to justify "wartime" suppression of civil liberty and routine ass-wiping with the Constitution, but let’s not fight over little words, shall we.  We’ve got a war to fight.  WTF?! There you go again with the "W" word.  Geez!

Then I found this on the Office of Personal Management for the US Federal Government:

War Service Creditable for Veterans Preference.  In the absence of statutory definition for "war" and "campaign or expedition," OPM considers to be "wars" only those armed conflicts for which a declaration of war was issued by Congress.  The title 38, U.S.C., definition of "period of war," which is used in determining benefits administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, includes the Vietnam Era and other armed conflicts.  That title 38 definition is NOT applicable for civil service purposes.

Thus the last "war" for which active duty is qualifying for Veterans preference is World War II.  The inclusive dates for World War II service are December 7, 1941, through April 28, 1952.

I blinked.  I read it twice.  So, the OPM for purposes of preference, only considers those that fought in WWII (The last declared war) to be veterans.  Those ranks are getting pretty thin, I’d say.

I read it again.  So what this is saying is that the last armed conflict for which the people of the United States had a say was WWII (I always knew that, but to see it put so bluntly was startling).  Put another way, the last time our duly elected representatives in Congress declared war was 1941.

Doesn’t that seem funny to anyone?  Funny, not in the "ha ha" sense, but funny in the "we’ve lost complete control of our country" sense.  From Truman, to Lyndon B, to Reagan to Bush Sr. to Bush Jr.  we have engaged in one "conflict" after another, all of which were deemed to be of "utmost" national importance, but not quite enough to get the endorsement of the American people with an official declaration of war.  These conflicts were important, we were told - important to whom?  Obviously though, they were not important enough for the failsafe vote in Congress to sanctify the "war."  Don’t worry your puny little minds with these big and complicated issues of "national security" we were/are told. 

We will protect you.

And don’t worry about the messy little details like Americans dying and being maimed.  It’s all for a good and noble cause, just not good and noble enough for a vote of the representatives of the people of the United States of America.  Details details.