An Extraordinary Background

My wife and I went to dinner a few nights ago with an elderly Japanese friend of ours. We thought he was purebred Japanese but we were to find out otherwise during dinner. It turns out that his father, a Japanese, went to Holland during the 1920s to work with some colleagues including Albert Einstein. He himself  was a research physicist; he then traveled to England and met a blonde blue-eyed woman who was a Norman since her ancestry dated back to the time of the Norman invasion of England by William the Conqueror. They married and moved to Japan at the beginning of the 1930s.

Our friend was born shortly thereafter; from his looks at the current time he looks as though he is totally of Japanese ancestry but he is really half Japanese and half English as we found out. Our friend lived with his parents in Japan until 1952. He survived the war years with the terrible bombing of major Japanese cities and was present through the 5 years of the Reformation of Japan under Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

In 1952, a colonel in the American Army helped him secure a scholarship at the University of Maine in Maine, United States. He studied engineering and secured an engineering degree from the University. In 1956 he was hired by one of the big automotive manufactories in Detroit, Michigan. He was a great contributor to this company in particular because he was bilingual in both English and Japanese. He made a number of trips back and forth between Japan and the United States becoming well-versed in the design of upcoming Japanese automobiles. He married an American nurse while in Detroit and had several children.

He and his wife made several trips back and forth between Japan and Detroit, Michigan; he worked in Detroit until recently when he retired. While he and his wife never had stayed in Hawaii any length of time they bought property on Oahu for their retirement. After his retirement his wife and he spent several years in their home on the island of Oahu; she passed away within the last year as a result of a fall while she was walking. Our friend still resides in his home and from time to time we go to dinner with him; it was during this last dinner that we found out his extraordinary background and ancestry.

My Life

August 28, 2014: 

I am trying to figure out what my status, as an aging adult, in life is.  Am I not still, In spite of the visitation upon me of several serious cancers, an independent soul who is still able to think for himself, is ambulatory and can do for himself many things that are life-sustaining and necessary to fulfill his role that God has designed for him?  

Certainly,  the time needed to reduce or eradicate the physical effects of these cancers, as well as the time taken up in dealing with the permanent physical disabilities resulting from them, have left me with daily time and energy reductions which infringe upon time and energy otherwise available to a normal, healthy individual; nonetheless these reductions have not made it impossible for me to still lead a reasonably fulfilling and productive life.

The primary problems that need to be dealt with in the case of a person not having the available time and energy to cope with daily existence are ones of environment and assistance. The present home environment may call for change; too many stairs or flights of stairs to frequently climb between bedroom and kitchen to prepare meals, as well as carry garbage to containers on the kitchen level may necessitate a change. Likewise, assistance from normal food providers and cleaning and maintenance providers may make the normal operation of the household, in limiting interference to others living in the home, difficult, without some change in environment.

In many cases, the best solution may be assisted living in a facility that provides a private room, housing only the person in need. In such a facility it can be arranged to have cleaning personnel available on a daily basis if needed. Food is provided, if desired, in a cafeteria where 3 meals a day are served.

In addition, worthwhile socialization with people in the same facility can be taken advantage of in a common room available for conversation and activities such as card playing or other games of interest.   Even outside activities such as going to movies or the theater can be signed up for with the participants providing their own transportation or making use of transportation provided by the facility.

If needed, transportation to and from doctor appointments can be provided, thus reducing the need of troublesome and time consuming self parking.

For such an individual herein described, there need be no medical care within the facility. Such assisted living need only provide a new environment in which an individual’s time and effort can be put to better use, while provision for invaluable and needed socialization can be taken advantage of..

The cost of such assisted living, which can be set to provide only housecleaning, meals in a cafeteria setting and vital socialization, is well within the financial means of a person with a reasonable pension, Social Security and any available insurance for assisted living.

Sometimes the only real and remaining problem is the insistence of some family members who may want things done their way without thinking about the needs of the person, who is more than capable of making his or her own decisions as an aging but functional adult.

God in Marriage

Using the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ reminds us of the true meaning and worth of marriage: God created man and woman who are to leave their mother and father and unite as one; and what God has brought together as one, must not be separated.

But God created man and woman, having not only different physical aspects, but also different mental, emotional and psychological aspects. The man is single focused and must use his strength and power to provide for the good of his family and for the good of the community in which he finds himself. His lifelong battle is to stay focused on the good he can provide; he must battle against the innate desire for companionship and union with other women.

The woman on the other hand is not single focused but is concerned with many situations and problems that arise within the family; her battle is not to get herself lost in a seeming overload of emotions in dealing with these many difficulties. The good  wife learns to do this while being provided the security and safety she needs from a well focused husband.

A husband can experience a day filled with anxiety and feelings of worthlessness in trying to keep his focus. When this happens, the good wife, in her respect and love for her husband, reassures him of his worth, of his goodness, reminding him of all the good that he has done within the family, for the family and the community outside of the family. In a case such as this a husband can be brought back to his original focus and sense of worthiness.

But if the wife succumbs to her emotions and criticizes and nags her husband he may yield to his weakness, seeking the affection of other women, even in prostitution, to try to restore his true focus; such a choice can lead to a destruction of the marriage. 

On the other hand, if the husband, being criticized and nagged, does not yield to these instinctive desires, the good husband has no other recourse but to turn to God in weeping and confusion, asking for help in restoring his focus. 

If he prays with faith, truly believing that what he asks for will be done for him, the good husband will receive assistance from the Lord, either through the conversion of his wife from her weakness or by his being given the strength to cope with his difficulty without succumbing to his weakness, with the hope his wife will gradually be restored to her strengths through the love of her husband.

The good wife who receives from her husband the love and respect due her, along with the security and safety of the entire family, is best capable of winning her battle to keep her emotions under control. If the husband does not provide these things for his wife and if she does not, in turn, seek these things from another man, she likewise should turn to the Lord for help which she will receive immediately, in some meaningful way, when she prays as Jesus instructs us, to pray believing that what we ask for will be done for us.

One of the best examples in history of a good husband and a good wife in marriage that comes to mind is St. Margaret of Scotland, who having come up from Hungary in the time of the Norman conquest of England by William the Conquerer of Normandy in 1066, journeyed to Scotland and married Malcolm, the King of Scotland. She loved and provided for the poor in the countryside and provided the love and respect for her husband, becoming the mother of three sons who became kings.  Her love was reciprocated by Malcolm in wanting to do whatever she asked for; she died within days of his being killed in battle.

There are other examples of good marriages as the above where the wife, seemingly in the background and having no other effect than taking care of the family concerns, is in reality the prime mover of good accomplished through her husband, by her respect for and reassurance of his worthiness and goodness in his moments of darkness.

The Turning Point - The Doolittle Raid

Shortly after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, by Japanese bombers from aircraft carriers on December 7, 1941, American Navy and Air Force personnel gave an okay to the retaliatory Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, Japan.  The raid, conceived by Lieut. Col. James Doolittle of the Air Force, called for attacking Tokyo from 16 B-25 bombers flown from an aircraft carrier.  These Bombers were twin engine and much heavier and larger than the single engine Japanese bombers which attacked Pearl Harbor; but the Air and Naval Forces managed to fit these bombers on the new aircraft carrier Hornet.  

It took time to gather together the voluntary Air Force pilots and crewmen to fly this dangerous mission; but by April 2, 1942, the 80 volunteers and 16 bombers were on the Hornet leaving San Francisco Bay scheduled to arrive on April 18 at the departure point for the bombers only 600 miles from Tokyo; because of early detection by Japanese fishing boats it was decided to launch the bombers from 800 miles from Tokyo, so at 8 AM the 16 bombers cleared the deck of the Hornet on their way to Japan. After they dropped their bombs on industrial sites in Tokyo, the bombers headed for China to land at certain pre-designated airfields there. 

However, none of the 16 planes made it to the pre-designated airfields in friendly China because of lack of fuel; 15 crashed in Chinese territory occupied by the Japanese and one landed in the Soviet Union. Only 3 pilots were killed and 8 captured by the Japanese; the remaining airmen found their way to unoccupied China, escaping capture, and returning home.  The Chinese who helped them were savaged by the Japanese with 250,000 civilians killed while searching for the airmen.  Three of the 8 airmen captured by the Japanese were executed, the rest held prisoner, one dying in captivity.

Following the end of World War II, Doolittle and the remaining pilots and crew of the original 80 agreed to meet every year to celebrate the heroic effort to take the war directly to the Japanese by bombing Tokyo and other major cities in Japan. The first of these celebrations involving a toast given by one of the remaining airmen at the celebration was 1954; in the following years a toast was made to honor all of the pilots and crewmen who made the raid.  

Originally it was planned to have the last toast made by one of the 2 remaining Raiders by opening a special 1896 cognac provided by their commander, Lt. Gen. James "Jimmy" Doolittle; but at their Veterans Weekend of 2013 celebration there were only 4 survivors, one of whom could not make the meeting because he was in the hospital for reasons of health. Since all 4 survivors are in their 90’s, the 3 who attended this celebration held at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio decided that this meeting would be the last; opening the 1896 cognac, the last toast honoring the 80 heroes was made. 

These 80 men were truly heroes and the Doolittle raid was not just a show of our ability to give it to the Japanese homeland; it actually embarrassed the Japanese so much that they changed their plans of securing their positions in Southeast Asia and Australia.  Admiral Yamamoto, the head of the naval forces of Japan decided to instead attack our base on Midway Island and draw the American carriers into the battle to destroy them.   

Fortunately for America this decision resulted in not only the time needed by General Douglas MacArthur to forestall the takeover of all of Southeast Asia and Australia by the Japanese forces, it also resulted in the sinking of all 4 top aircraft carriers used by the Japanese to bomb Pearl Harbor, with a loss on our side of only the carrier Yorktown. It was the turning point in the Asian war and the Japanese forces from then on were in retreat.

References:
1) http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/11/10/world-war-ii-surviving-doolittle-raiders-make-final-toast/
2) http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/misc-42/dooltl.htm

Life is Unfair

When we think of life being unfair we actually can think of some contest with another person or group of people in which we consider ourselves at a disadvantage we think is unfair. There are many examples. There are many stages in life wherein we may think ourselves in some unfair disadvantage. When we are young in elementary school we may feel that our size, weight or a host of other physical or mental abilities in comparison to our classmates put us at a disadvantage.   This may be the situation in our continued educational, social and work environments. Even in our family situations we may feel that we have been put at a disadvantage in comparison to another member of our family who might seem to have been favored unfairly in some way within the family.

In particular, sibling rivalry comes to mind as a particular situation in which one party feels at a disadvantage because of favoritism which seems to have been fostered upon a brother or sister.  Whether such a favoritism is genuine or not is not the real concern that the siblings should have in an attempt to avoid perhaps an even lifelong destruction of any normal relationship between themselves.   Determining the relative importance of the favoritism felt bears heavily upon the quality of their lives to be shared in the future.   What is the point of developing possibly a mutual hatred of one another instead of just determining that a feeling of favoritism is not worth destroying what otherwise could be a normal and good relationship?

A very good example of how God’s working with families to bring about a peaceful and loving result within the family when discord is present, is the story of Jacob’s family and the need for a resolution of a serious problem of sibling rivalry, taken from Genesis of the Old Testament; this story has been produced in a contemporary version in the enjoyable musical entitled “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”

Joseph is the youngest of 12 sons of Jacob, living in Canaan; Jacob has a special love for his son, Joseph, whom he favors. Joseph in turn is favored by God who has given him a very special gift of interpreting dreams.  Joseph’s 11 brothers become very jealous because he is so favored and additionally they feel his interpretation of their dreams puts Joseph above them. When Joseph is given a beautiful coat of many colors, the brothers determine to get rid of Joseph. On a certain day all the brothers leave on a trip. At a certain point in the trip they plan to kill Joseph, but are turned away from this murder by one of the brothers; so they determine to abandon him in a deep well but then finally decide to sell him as a slave to traders traveling to Egypt.

The 11 brothers return to their father Jacob with the many colored coat soiled with the blood of an animal; they tell their father that Joseph has been killed by a wild animal.  Jacob was greatly saddened by the loss of his son and mourns the loss for a long time. In the meantime, Joseph is sold as a slave in Egypt.  

Joseph goes through many adventures until he finds himself in the dungeons of the Pharaoh of Egypt. Through the use of his powers to interpret dreams he interprets the dreams of the Pharaoh; the interpretation of the pharaoh’s dreams predict 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine. The Pharaoh is so pleased that the dreams he had have been correctly interpreted that he appoints Joseph as governor of Egypt to carry out what is necessary to store food during the years of plenty and provide for the proper distribution of food during the years of famine.

Back in Canaan, during the time of plenty, Joseph's brothers become more and more sorry for what they did to their brother and miss even the interpretations of their dreams which are beginning to come true. At the end of the years of plenty they are caught unawares at the start of the famine and after a short period the 11 brothers are forced to travel to Egypt for food where, they have learned, the Egyptians have plenty of food; they travel to Egypt and meet the governor whom they do not recognize as Joseph.  Joseph does not immediately reveal himself until he has tested them and come to the understanding of their repentance and their current goodwill; eventually Joseph reveals himself as their brother. 

All the brothers now are happy in their renewed brotherly love for each other; Joseph grants them permission to live in Egypt after Jacob is brought down from Canaan for a happy reunion with Joseph and all his other sons. All is forgotten and forgiven and all now understand that God has used the former hatred for Joseph as a means of bringing all the family members together again in love so that God is able to continue His plan for the Jewish people − a plan promised to Abraham, the Father of Believers − who is the ancestor of Jacob.