MOTHER’S DAY IS MANY THINGS.

My mother is gone, but when I think of her, I remember how strong and resilient she was. She was at her mother’s bedside through the birth of her 11 siblings. She comforted her at the death of two of those children, one at age 4, another at age 8. She lived through many tragedies but remained her grand children’s darling gramma. And, great-grandchildren, too. She was religious, faithful, polite, patient,  always helping others but able to build her own dreams. She had a catering business late in life and made it a whopping success. She did it all with civility and grace. What an example she was to me.

I have many mother’s in my life to celebrate, my daughters, my daughter-in-law. And each of them is a wonderful mother with dedication and the values we believe in and share. They too, raise their children and pursue their dreams. They are each unique with varying abilities. Women, as mothers, contribute so much to our culture, our comfort, our love, our greatness as a country, we  stop to salute them today and not forget them tomorrow.

It amuses me that at one time women were considered the weaker sex. I’m grateful my husband never considered me weak. He always recognized and acknowledged my own gifts and I have become the proud matriarch of my clan.  I’m proud to recognize their strengths and revel in my own.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL AND MAY YOU BE APPRECIATED  AS AN EQUAL PARTNER

BY THE MEN IN YOUR LIVES.

 

 

 

FREE RIDERS CARD.

Recent news about Volkswagen in Tennessee voting against organizing with the United Auto Workers Union surprised me. Union membership has fallen dramatically and Union Bashing is a favorite activity of the Republican Party, and corporate interests in general. I name the GOP because they traditionally support corporate America over labor, and especially unions. I don’t know if there was intimidation involved or not, but it worries me that young people, who have difficulty finding meaningful work to support a family, seem to have no remembrance of what Unions have meant to working people.  My surprise was augmented by watching the Triangle Fire on PBS, about the horrible working conditions women, men, boys, and young girls faced to simply feed themselves and pay for slum shelter.

Corporate America thought it was their right to pay whatever they wanted while they collected millions in profits. Millions in the 1800’s was mucho big bucks.  No safety standards or any regulation of the thousands of factory workers who produced clothing, jewelry, pots, pans, you name it, existed. New York was the center of the garment industry.

The Triangle Fire, where 145 girls perished in a shirtwaist factory, kind of woke up the nation to the idea that working people should have some protections. The girls worked 7 days a week for 14 hours a day. They were not allowed to get up and get a drink of water, nor use the bathroom until lunch time, which they ate at their sewing machines. If they didn’t sew fast enough the boss would chastise them.  If they made a mistake,  it came off their meager pay. When fire broke out,  the door to the street was kept locked so no one could sneak out for a moment, and they were trapped on the ninth floor. The bosses got out on the first packed, slow elevator. New York City FD ladders could only reached seven stories high. Those that got out on the fire escape, (some escaped,)  until the fire escape fell to the ground under the weight.

The shirtwaist factories in NYC went on strike. The policemen who girls for striking, arrested them for striking, and falsely arrested them as prostitutes, were now faced with picking up the bodies of girls they had hassled before the strike was settled. The Triangle, did not go union like most of the other shirt waist factories, but Triangle did reduce hours and paid more money. No safety regulations applied to any of them.

I have a Free Riders Card which states:

I am opposed to all unions. Therefore, I am opposed to all the benefits unions have won through the years: paid vacations, sick leave, seniority rights, wage increases, pension and insurance plans, safety laws, workers compensation, Social Security, overtime, unemployment benefits and job security.  I authorize my employer to withhold the amount of the union-won benefits from my paycheck and donate it to charity.

Unions are still needed. In the early 1970’s, when the protestors on the streets of Berkeley, were screaming at the cops and calling them PIGS, they were secretly smiling because Sheriff Houchins went to the Board of Supervisors to plead for overtime pay for Deputy Sheriffs,  a first for the Department. The department later unionized and won modern benefits unavailable to them previously.

In the 1960’s, just before retirement, the company my father worked for, took many measures to get him to quit so he couldn’t collect his pension, including midnight phone calls to my mother, tacks under his tires, etc.  My Dad walked into the administration office with both of his Sons-in-law, dressed in suits and ties carrying briefcases. He asked them to make a formal statement in front of them, never revealing they were not lawyers. The company quit their harassment and he got his pension.

Do we really learn from the past?

THE LAST SUPPER

Neighbor, Jan hosted other neighbors to a Last Supper, as it is celebrated by Christians on this date during the Easter season. Each person had a role. Sally was Jesus, and she broke the bread and offered the red wine.

We had a wonderful dinner.

Two of the guests left temporarily to attend a service at their local church after we ate.

Among us were believers and non-believers. Often warned that any topic is safe except religion and politics, we conservatives and liberals, Christians and non-Christians, had an invigorating discussion about both.

No one got angry, raised their voice or called names. Too bad our government cannot work with the same friendliness as we managed on such controversial topics. Oh, well. Maybe they need dinner and wine before they begin their deliberations. Have you all seen the email going around showing our congressional leaders playing solitaire on their computers while speakers are on the floor dealing with topics important to our lives? I’m such a cynic.

UNPRETENTIOUS TEXANS?

My niece, Melissa, messaged me about LBJ Hill Country from yesterday’s blog. She was stationed in Texas for a period of time while in the Army and afterward. Her comment, “Unpretentious Texans? Go to Dallas. I think you’ll find quite the opposite.”
Well, the truth is, Texans weren’t raised to be unpretentious, quiet and retreating, its true. And, I’m reminded of the Texas influx into Alaska during the 1970’s for work on that notorious Pipeline built across the frozen tundra in deep, deep cold. The bumper stickers went something like this:

THE ONLY GOOD TEXAN IS A DEAD TEXAN.  And:  TEXAN GO HOME. And: I DON’T BRAKE FOR TEXANS. In fact one man was interviewed at the Fairbanks Airport and was asked if he had a negative view of Texans and his answer was “I’d rather be dead in Alaska then alive in Texas.”

To be fair, its my opinion that people are good, bad and in-between no matter where you land. Maybe some areas are overwhelmed with more of one type of trait than the other. When I had my first “real” job, my pay was $200 a month. Most girls spent their money on clothes. I spent mine on flying lessons at $11 an hour for dual, and $7.50 an hour for solo. Both my instructors, Keith Padlo and Sully Sullivan, and their wives were Texans. They were warm and caring and wonderful people that I will always remember. They talked about Texas quite a lot and were lonesome for their native state and family connections. I asked them why they stayed in California. Their answer? The weather.  In any case, the Texans I’ve personally known were friendly and warm.
Donna Huffer also remembered that her parents and she visited LBJ’s boyhood home a long time ago. Her dad didn’t like his politics and stayed outside in the car. LBJ happened to drive up and waved at him. That was certainly unpretentious. I wish it had been me. I’m of the opinion that we should respect the president, no matter his affiliation and ours. Its the civil thing to do. After all,  time judges all.  The same goes for Texans.