Thursday, September 10, 2020

dereliction of duty

This is my dad's army issue Hamilton watch from WWII. He watched as thousands of these watches were run over by a steam roller on an airport tarmac to keep them from being carried home by servicemen and thus destroying the American watch market. It is a 17 jewel watch, and the inner workings were made to last a lifetime. The case was not.

I had a jeweler friend cover the case with gold as it was made of nickel plated bronze and was severely decayed. 199 days of combat will do that to a watch. After 75 years it is in need of cleaning to get it working again.

My father was in the 104th Infantry division the specialty of which was night fighting. The radium dial with numbers that glowed in the dark was a help with that.

What a difference we have been shown between courage in those days and what we see in Washington, DC now.

Now we learn that Trump was fully aware of the severity of the Coronavirus pandemic, but downplayed it, in his words, to prevent panic. A bit of panic earlier would have saved thousands of lives. But what do human lives mean to those grasping at power?

We can expect Republicans in congress to rush to Trump's defense, as they always have in the past, too cowardly to stand up.  For Trump to have purposely and deceptively downplayed the severity of the threat was a serious dereliction of duty. He should once again be impeached. His enablers should be voted out of office. Do not forget to vote. Vote like the lives of your children and our democracy depend on it. 

In the meantime, I'm in the process of making 48 boxes for an order and will receive the engraved lids today to finish their assembly.

Make, fix and create...


1 comment: