Halation Effect (a Sermonette)

Blog Post
Larry-Lambert

 

Seasonal Cognitive Dissonance

An Editorial of sorts

At Christmas, there is an unrealistic expectation that everything will be better, and I call it the halation effect. I don’t blame – heaven forbid. It’s simply the way that we’d like it to be. I ran into an interpreter from Iraq the other day, now relocated to the USA, trying to survive life in the Big PX. He still can’t acclimate to the culture, and who can blame him? He’s from Kirkuk and here about as far from there as he can be in all respects.

I found him hanging with one of the more dysfunctional people who live on the Mogollon Rim (no, not me), whom I help out from time to time, trying to hide from the world. Ok, this is not a bad place to separate yourself from the world. I’ll give you that. “No phone, no lights, no motor car, Not a single luxury, Like Robinson Crusoe, It’s primitive as can be.” He drove his car up so he had a ride. He codes for Amazon.com in Phoenix, looking for the American Dream.

Maybe at Christmas? He’s an Iraqi Christian, but not a Chaldean (The Chaldean Catholic Church is an Eastern Catholic church in full communion with the Holy See and the rest of the Catholic Church and is headed by the Chaldean Patriarchate.) I probed further. He is not a member of the Antiochene Syriac Maronite Church, either. It turned out that he is a member of the Eastern-Rite Catholic Church or simply the Eastern Church. There are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous particular churches of the Catholic Church, in full communion with the Pope in Rome. Don’t beat yourself up if you’re not familiar. Essentially, it’s Catholicism with an accepted twist. I bring this up because you need it for context as I continue my story.

The Iraqi translator is spending the weekend sleeping on the floor of a single-wide trailer, off the grid, in the middle of the largest ponderosa pine forest on the planet, eating hot dogs and canned beans with a dysfunctional guy in search of some sort of balance. American culture beats him up because he has to live in it, but he can’t reconcile himself to it. He thought maybe at Christmas time, he could find clarity. If you haven’t thought that at some point, too, I worry about you. The problem he has is he thinks that he’s the only one.

American women are so different from the modest, self-effacing women of Kirkuk that he has been unable to find a mate. And for those of you who are unaware, once women from outside of “the West” show up at American shopping malls, their DNA changes dramatically. Don’t beat me up for saying it, I’m only an observer. If you want an “Eastern woman,” you must keep her in the East.

So, my dysfunctional, off-grid friend in the mountains brought the middle-aged Iraqi interpreter to the White Wolf Mine to drink fresh squeezed fruit juice, have a sandwich, and consult the oracle.

The halation effect of Christmas (spurred on by incessant Christmas music in the cities) caused him to believe that things in his life would be made right at this time of year (even though Jesus was born at Passover in the spring). I felt bad for the guy and allowed him to cry and pour out his heart as he ate his sandwich and drank his juice. He can’t go home and is a stranger in a strange land. When he came to the US, he trusted himself to fate, and fate threw him away like a stone. The halation effect is difficult because problems at other times are only magnified and somehow distorted at the same time by the Season.

You’re going to ask what I told this Iraqi American as if my words dripped of gold. Of course, they didn’t. But I did give him something.

** None of us can go back home because it doesn’t exist, so embrace the suck for what it is. The only easy day was yesterday. Value in life comes from making the most of every day.

** Jesus Christ (Son of God) preached a message of love, and they hammered him to a cross and stuck a spear into him. If you expect more from life than that, you’re really expecting too much from humanity. At the same time, the only way to make anything from your time here, the practice of treating people the way you’d like to be treated, is the standard you need to set for yourself.

** I gave him two emergency clown noses. One for him for those times when he thought that he was taking himself too seriously and one for a woman he might be interested in. If she accepted and understood the value of the emergency clown nose, she might be a keeper. If not, keep looking.

I keep a few emergency clown noses in stock. Jules wears one (proudly) on her profile photo. I gave it to her years ago. They are just as useful as a first aid kit. When life gets you down, put it on. And if you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re doomed.

And that’s the Christmas Sermonette.

 

Rockwell

“Breaking Home Ties (Boy and Father Sitting on Truck)” by Norman Rockwell (1954)

The details of the picture, as with most of Rockwell’s works, tell a story, in this case, a story of endings and beginnings, as a boy from New Mexico leaves home for the first time. The young man, his father, and a dog sit on the running board of the family’s stakesided farm truck. The ticket protruding from the son’s pocket and the single rail visible at the lower corner of the painting, by which the trio sits, suggest they are at a whistle-stop waiting for the train.

The son’s books are stacked on a new suitcase bearing a “State U” pennant. With his tie and socks perfectly matched, wearing pressed white trousers and a matching jacket, he is ready for his new life in college. The young man’s shoes shined to a polished gleam as hands folded, and with the family dog resting his head in his lap, his gaze focused eagerly toward the horizon and on the next chapter in his life.

In contrast, the father sits slumped with his and his son’s hats clutched in his hand as if reluctant to let him go. The direction of his gaze is opposite to his son’s. The tag from a Bull Durham tobacco satchel dangles, near at hand, from his shirt pocket. There is a red flag and a lantern at the ready, near his right hand, atop a well-used trunk. With the son’s luggage unloaded and waiting next to them, there is nothing left for him to do but signal the train to stop, and his pose suggests that he is looking up the track, dreading the imminent arrival of the train that will carry his son away.

Though the two figures are not looking at each other, their legs are touching, emphasizing the strong sense of family ties.

 

Exactly

Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb – Defend your precious bodily fluids.

 

“We’re surrounded. That simplifies our problem.” – LTC Chesty Puller, USMC

 

Black Guns Matter

 

Cartoon of the Day

 

Histories Mysteries

Autumn 329 BC

Alexander has just spent nearly a month fortifying his new settlement, Alexandria Eschate, on the banks of the Jaxartes (Tanais) river.

The Macedonians have not been able to work in peace, however, for on the far side of the river, Scythian cavalrymen have been watching them, firing arrows and shouting insults. The Scythians have heard that Sogdia is in revolt and want to join the action.

Angered by their threats and insolence, Alexander decides to cross the Jaxartes to teach them a lesson. But how will he do it? The weather is good, and there are no islands to hide behind. The Scythians will be able to watch his men as they cross and pick them off at their leisure with accurate light artillery (archery).

He turns to his catapults (heavy artillery).

As the Macedonian soldiers stand ready to cross the Jaxartes, Alexander orders the catapults to let loose their barrage of missiles.

Stones hurtle through the air. The Scythians, who have never seen catapults, are amazed at the sight of them. Some watch the projectiles for too long and are struck and killed.

Those that miss their targets hit them in a different way, for they force the Scythians to retreat from the far bank. Alexander sees this. His men now have the space they need to form up and take the fight to the enemy. He gives the order for the crossing to begin.

It’s another (of many) example of why a combined arms force tended to win in military engagements. What was true then is also true now.

**

Identify the Tank

1

2

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44 thoughts on “Halation Effect (a Sermonette)”

        1. Real tanks and Ken would be mowed down with machinegun fire from the cupola as the opening credits rolled.

  2. The story is one of the reasons I prefer Rockwell over, say, Picasso (despite being an art student early in life I thought PP was on drugs). What a terrific précis, never looked at it that deep. Now I get to rediscover his paintings with a more critical eye to the story.

    Mixing cultures- Despite what Libs say/demand (aka force down American throats), multiculturalism does not work because it involves actual people and from whence they came, especially transplants. When cultures are so vastly different or at odds there is little one can do to mitigate the situation. It’s not the 18th or 19th century anymore, people are dug in, which now includes those who were born here generations later but still “identify” as African or Mexican, somehow believing their delusion they aren’t fully American (the hyphenate is a cancer).

    I think my entry needs a catapult….especially since the Hydra-6 deal fell thru (still waiting on my Paypal refund).

    1. It would make a statement…or, to update it, a turret that combined a .50 BMG and a direct-fire mortar.

    2. I like Rockwell because you can actually see reality in his paintings. Picasso, not so much.

  3. The header picture (On Top of the Rim) is great, one heck of a view.

    I wish the the two guys in your story the best coming year that they can have.

    1. The guy who lives here and doesn’t have a working car is repairing one of three broken-down wrecks on his property, and maybe with luck, it will run this coming year. He lives half an hour’s drive from me (in a place where everything is at least an hour’s drive) and I give him lifts here and there when I can.

      He applied for a USDA loan for the poor and it looks as if he’ll be able to build a structure on his property instead of living in a travel trailer.

      1. A simple fully outfitted drop-in-place cabin can be had for not a lot of money. Could put it on a slab or corner support blocks. Be done in a day or two…assuming the delivery guy can get back there.

  4. What works for me is to arise each morning and start putting one foot in front of the other. The attitude I learned in the car biz, “Winner do what losers won’t”, keep the, “Woe is me”, at bay. The day will happen, can’t be avoided, so attack and don’t be a sniveling victim.

    1. Gen. Patton’s favorite saying was a French saying of Frederick the Great: “L’audace, l’audace, toujours l’audace.” En anglais … “Audacity, audacity, always audacity.”

        1. Napolean was supposed to have said God is on the side of the big battalions. That may be the way to bet, but following the crowd is not the way to live.

          I hope the Iraqi figures that out somehow. Presumably those two guys met in Iraq? I can’t imagine how else.

  6. Beautiful picture of the Rim.

    “embrace the suck” words of wisdom if there ever were any. While I personally try to be honest and charitable I have pretty low expectations of people so I am either pleased that I am right or pleasantly surprised if someone acts well. When I need a reset to reality I go out and look at the night sky and just think.

    I like art that sends me a clear message that can get through my thick head. Norman Rockwell did that in spades. So did C.M. Russell and others of that generation. Now, not so much.

    The SR 25 looks like it is set up nicely as a well balanced weapon but I bet the owner feels it after carting it around all day.

    Catapults. Amazing the amount of energy you can store in a coiled rope.

  7. Dang LL, great Sermonette and the blog in general. Sound advice I need never to forget. The air here in Texas must have a lot of dust in it. eyes are watering.

  8. “And for those of you who are unaware, once women from outside of “the West” show up at American shopping malls, their DNA changes dramatically. Don’t beat me up for saying it, I’m only an observer. If you want an “Eastern woman,” you must keep her in the East.” -LL

    This brings to mind the cause of the British being driven from Afghanistan back in the day.
    My reading indicated that the Afghani wimmens preferred the treatment (and routine bathing) of the British to their indigenous males.
    The indigenous males were without…
    So, “I keel you!” became the solution.
    Wimmens can cause a lot of problems.

    1. Rudyard Kipling wrote a basic truth about Afghan women: “When you’re wounded and left on Afghanistan’s plains, and the women come out to cut up what remains, jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains and go to your gawd like a soldier.”

      Keep that last round for yourself, soldier. Or you can bite down on the L pill sewen into your collar if you have one. Maybe keep both options open

    2. A pastor visited our church to speak this morning.
      He’s from far out of town, but his daughter is a freshman at University of Michigan and she came to see him.

      I pity both of them.

  11. I feel for the translator. It sucks to be completely on your own in a strange land. The Middle East is a very different place than the USA, and the people who live there have different values, traditions, and culture.

    Rockwell was a genius. He could capture a moment in time, and put it on canvas like few others. The “real” art community put him down as “just an illustrator”, and ignored the quality and poignancy of his work.

    And while I enjoyed Rockwell’s work as a young man, the depth of what captured on canvas has a profoundly different look and feel now that I’m an old man.

  12. Speaking of translators, I have a couple friends who worked intelligence in the ME.
    We went to dinner in Dearborn.
    John Mark ordered and the waiter stared at him.
    Finally the waiter asked the blue-eyed, blond haired guy what part of Lebanon he was from.

  13. I did read about a middle eastern transplant who , when asked what he would do in the US of A said ,,,” I will be a goatherd , everyone needs a goatherd. “ I think the interview was in Boston.

    1. Are you speaking of his harem or his profession?

      Yes, it’s an issue when they come to the Big PX.

  14. Christ didn’t promise a better life on this mortal plain. He promised a better life in Heaven. And those that suffer in the here and now for their Faith will not suffer in the future (after death.)

    The Interpreter. Does he have a church that he can attend or people he can talk to about his faith? That will help if he can find similar people. And finding a church that has likeminded faith worshipers can also lead to a westernized woman who isn’t totally westernized.

    The sad thing about Interpreter-Man? There are lots of western men in the same boat as him. Can’t find a traditional-minded woman easily, getting older without children, without a future to carry on. That’s what’s behind the slowly building movement to repeal the 19th Amendment, or to at least get people to acknowledge what damage the 19th has done to this country.

    I don’t have children, sadly (though probably genetically best for them.) I can’t travel to see the family anymore until the missus passes, and by then I’ll just be the weird forgotten brother or uncle. None of the nieces or nephews are breeding and time is ticking. A world is slowly ending, with no real good future in sight.

    Bah. Humbug.

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