Clouds on the Horizon
In a small Virginia church at the end of the Roaring Twenties my grandfather married my grandmother – a month later the Stock Market crashed. During the Great Depression he struggled for a decade. Hitler marched into Austria and Czechoslovakia, German tanks rolled over Poland, Belgium, France, British soldiers fled Dunkirk. Staring at storm clouds on the horizon, trying to make ends meet, he told himself, Hitler’s no threat to us – and ignored warning signs.
Tojo bombed Pearl Harbor. Hitler declared war on us. My grandfather stood in line in the draft board in his hometown to enlist.
American soldiers stormed across Omaha Beach, liberated Paris, survived the Battle of the Bulge – in Berlin in his bunker Hitler shot himself. The Air Force dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The battleship Missouri sailed into Tojo Harbor. The war ended.
Storm clouds rolled again. Stalin got an atomic bomb. The Cold War started. Hot wars broke out in Korea and Vietnam. Korea ended in a stalemate. We lost Vietnam. In 1975, Tom Ellis, a World War II veteran, watched Russian tanks rolling into Saigon, people fleeing clinging to helicopters skids, staring at the television thought shocked, We’re about to lose the Cold War.
When Reagan ran for president Tom Ellis led his North Carolina campaign. Reagan lost to Gerald Ford in 1976. Ford lost to Jimmy Carter. Nations in Asia, Africa, and Central America toppled to the Soviet Union for the next four years.
Reagan ran again, beat Carter in 1980, détente ended, our army became more powerful than the Soviet Union’s. The Berlin Wall fell. The Soviet Union broke apart. The Cold War ended. At 39-years-old, I stared at a clear blue sky. No clouds in sight.
Three decades rolled past. Storm clouds reappeared. Putin’s tanks rolled into Ukraine. Russia, China, Iran joined arms. Ignoring storm clouds a friend told me, Ukraine doesn’t matter to us. Putin’s no threat to us.
Iran sent Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis to attack Israel, American soldiers in Iraq and Syria, ships in the Red Sea. Biden said he supported Israel 100%, then said he supported Israel somewhat, then, stepping back again, said Israel should stop – at the same time Trump, scowling, derided NATO.
We’re in a New Era. Which will end in someone’s defeat. Will it be us? We stopped Hitler and Tojo and the Soviet Union but can we stop three dictators – in China, Russia, and Iran – with one goal: Defeat America.
Clouds on the Horizon
In a small Virginia church at the end of the Roaring Twenties my grandfather married my grandmother – a month later the Stock Market crashed. During the Great Depression he struggled for a decade. Hitler marched into Austria and Czechoslovakia, German tanks rolled over Poland, Belgium, France, British soldiers fled Dunkirk. Staring at storm clouds on the horizon, trying to make ends meet, he told himself, Hitler’s no threat to us – and ignored warning signs.
Tojo bombed Pearl Harbor. Hitler declared war on us. My grandfather stood in line in the draft board in his hometown to enlist.
American soldiers stormed across Omaha Beach, liberated Paris, survived the Battle of the Bulge – in Berlin in his bunker Hitler shot himself. The Air Force dropped nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The battleship Missouri sailed into Tojo Harbor. The war ended.
Storm clouds rolled again. Stalin got an atomic bomb. The Cold War started. Hot wars broke out in Korea and Vietnam. Korea ended in a stalemate. We lost Vietnam. In 1975, Tom Ellis, a World War II veteran, watched Russian tanks rolling into Saigon, people fleeing clinging to helicopters skids, staring at the television thought shocked, We’re about to lose the Cold War.
When Reagan ran for president Tom Ellis led his North Carolina campaign. Reagan lost to Gerald Ford in 1976. Ford lost to Jimmy Carter. Nations in Asia, Africa, and Central America toppled to the Soviet Union for the next four years.
Reagan ran again, beat Carter in 1980, détente ended, our army became more powerful than the Soviet Union’s. The Berlin Wall fell. The Soviet Union broke apart. The Cold War ended. At 39-years-old, I stared at a clear blue sky. No clouds in sight.
Three decades rolled past. Storm clouds reappeared. Putin’s tanks rolled into Ukraine. Russia, China, Iran joined arms. Ignoring storm clouds a friend told me, Ukraine doesn’t matter to us. Putin’s no threat to us.
Iran sent Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis to attack Israel, American soldiers in Iraq and Syria, ships in the Red Sea. Biden said he supported Israel 100%, then said he supported Israel somewhat, then, stepping back again, said Israel should stop – at the same time Trump, scowling, derided NATO.
We’re in a New Era. Which will end in someone’s defeat. Will it be us? We stopped Hitler and Tojo and the Soviet Union but can we stop three dictators – in China, Russia, and Iran – with one goal: Defeat America.