Time to regain our place
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In My Humble Opinion
Jodi McDade
I was thinking about Joe Collier last week. He is the last WWII veteran still alive in Coosa County and, while visiting the WWII Museum in New Orleans, I told another WWII vet about Mr. Collier. This vet was 107 years old, and his sons who were with him live in Birmingham. It’s just always such an honor for me to meet these remaining members of the “Greatest Generation.”
My reason for going back to the museum (I’d already been four or five times) was to share it with Emily Campbell who is going with me to Normandy in September. You may remember last year when I wrote about booking a tour with the Band of Brothers group after giving up on finding anyone to go with me.
I can’t remember if I also wrote about finding the perfect roommate a few weeks later – that is Emily. She is just as intensely interested in that period of history as I am and, after hearing about what I was doing, she signed right up. Since then we have been watching movies, reading books and researching D-Day along with the rest of the war in Europe.
We spent two full days in the museum and still did not see all of it. They continue to add on pavilions and exhibits so I’ll continue to go back every couple of years! We were able to see everything except the war in the Pacific Theater area before our time ran out.
All the other times I have gone I’ve been with people who, even though I said I wanted to stay ALL DAY, were ready to leave by noon! This time I read every caption on pictures, watched every recorded interview, watched both the documentaries, and looked at every exhibit! It was an absolutely wonderful experience, and now we are really getting excited about seeing these sights in person! We even came home and watched “The Longest Day” – again!
Being immersed in the history of World War II brought up similarities between how that war started and some of the things we are seeing in our world today. The middle east conflicts between Iran, Iraq and the people who call themselves Palestinians trying to wipe Israel and the Jewish people off the map is just one of the examples.
And the name “Palestinians” originated with the land that was originally called Philistia and referred to the enemies of Israel, the Philistines. It was not called Palestine until 1947 when the United Nations partitioned land from Israel to create the West Bank and Gaza to separate the Jewish people from the non-Jews. This was called the “Two-State Solution.” Israel was recognized as the State of Israel, but a Palestinian state was not established.
There has never really been peace between Israel and her neighboring countries over land disputes. Skirmishes would pop up at any time but, in 1967, the Six-Day War broke out. Israel attacked Egypt’s and Syria’s air forces after it appeared they were gearing up to attack Israel. Jordan also attacked Israel. Russia was a part of creating the situation by spreading false rumors. At the end of the sixth day Israel had reclaimed Gaza, the West Bank, the Sinai Peninsula, and East Jerusalem.
But the root of the problem is the Arab-Israeli hostility that has existed for thousands of years. Both lay claim to the same land. Both claim their ownership goes back to the days of the Bible. Christians believe God gave that land – The Promised Land – to Abraham to make a great nation. But Muslims do not accept that.
Obviously, all this is very confusing and divisive for all concerned. In my opinion, the Bible is the best history book ever written, but there are lots of newer books with differing opinions of their own. It’s worth looking into because it looks like World War III could break out in that same area. The new players are now Russia, China and Iran, who would love to see Israel destroyed. And they would like to see the United States go down with Israel.
The propaganda and false news reports – probably from both sides – are fueling disruptions all over the United States, but predominately in our colleges and universities where very anti-Semitic opinions are taught to our children. The indoctrination of our culture is bursting at the seams and unraveling more every day.
We have our own problems here in America, but we also need to keep an eye on what is going on around the world because it all will eventually win or lose together. Because of that we need to again become the strongest country in the world with the strongest military in the world. It’s time we regain OUR place in the world.