Bin Laden

Photo my Mark W. Laughlin

The news is breaking at this moment…

Sunday evening, May 1, 2011: All television channels have switched to Breaking News coverage. We are told that the President of the United States will address the nation and the world in just a few minutes.

We are told that he will announce the confirmed death of Osama Bin Laden, at the hands of U.S. forces.

No details yet, we sit, and wait, and wonder.

Is it the end of terrorism ? No, no way. At most, it sends a clear message to those that would attack us, that it isn’t possible to evade the long arm of justice forever. Hopefully, it will further disrupt the operations, funding and organization of Al-Qaida. At worst, it will further encourage others to dedicate themselves to our destruction.

I am reminded of the words of then British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, speaking of the great victory of the Royal Air Force in the Battle of Britain in 1939, where Fighter Squadrons of the RAF held back the German Luftwaffe and helped turn the tide of World War II:

          “Now this is not the end.
          It is not even the beginning of the end.
          But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.”

And though it has taken almost 10 years, I am also reminded of the words of President George W. Bush in his first address to the nation after the attacks on September 11, 2001, referring to the resolve of the United States to bring those guilty of those attacks to justice:

          “We will not tire,
          we will not falter,
          and we will not fail.”

Gloating? Not me, and hopefully not my countrymen. It’s time to watch for a counter-attack. It’s time to further search for the roots of the anger and desperation that push people to resort to such violence, for only in its understanding, can we find a cure.

Once again, I hope.

- Mark W. Laughlin

01-May-2011

Invictus

(Latin: “Unconquered”)

We saw the movie last weekend, Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, Matt Damon as the Captain of the South African Rugby Team at the beginning of Mandela’s Presidency.  Enjoyed it. 

Below is the text of the poem, Invictus, which had helped inspire Mandela to continue on during his imprisonment, and which he gave to Matt Damon’s character, to help inspire him to win the Rugby World Cup.  See it.

- M. Laughlin

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

- William Ernest Henley

(1849 - 1902 / Gloucester / England)



Photo by Mark W. Laughlin



View from the prison yard, Alcatraz,

fence now eaten away by rust.

The Smell of Rain

I’m not sure how it is for the rest of the world, but here in Texas, we can smell the rain. 

I’m sure in some parts of the USA, or of the world, rain is falling almost every day and so, it seems a bit less remarkable, less memorable.  But here in Texas, we get spells during Spring, Summer and Fall where it won’t rain, sometimes for weeks at a time.  In the heat, the sun bakes the last bit of moisture out of everything.  When rain finally comes, the first drops seems to liberate the sweet, fresh smell of grass and other thirsty plants, and the scent is carried to us on the cool breeze that signals an oncoming thunderstorm.

I visited New York a few years ago and stayed at the home of a friend of mine, out on Long Island.  He set me up in a bed room, and all went to bed.  Before long, I noticed that the windows in the room were open.  This seemed awfully strange to me, because in hot, humid Houston we rarely would consider opening a window as a means to cool a room.  But, open they were and I began to notice how quiet it was.  In that part of Long Island, the houses are spread well apart, which makes for wonderful, quiet evenings. 

Then, I noticed the sound of approaching rain.  It fell straight down, without the wind blowing it about.  It fell almost silently as the cloud slipped by overhead.  A gentle, steady, cool rain fell on the lawn and the trees outside.  No thunder, no lightning, no gusty wind, just sweet, softly falling rain.  Very strange to me.  I got up to check that the rain wasn’t coming in the windows, but without wind to carry it, none tried to enter. I relaxed and listened as it slowly, softly passed over the house, and was gone.

That is NOT the way it rains in Texas.  For us, it’s more of an exciting event.  During the winter months, the rain is a bit gentler.  We get “waves” of clouds and rain carried on storm fronts that slide down to us from the northwest corner of the country.  But in the early spring, the warmth and humidity of the Gulf of Mexico seem to push back against those fronts, causing them to slide to the east rather than coming this far south.  As the warm, moist air rushes north to meet the oncoming fronts, tornadoes, high winds and hail are the result. 

Seventy-Five percent of the world’s tornadoes happen in the area between the Rocky Mountains and the US East Coast, and between the US Gulf Coast and the Canadian border.  A few percent happen along the southern border inside Canada, and the rest are spread around the rest of the world.  This year, the upper level Jet Streams have shifted a bit north.  The storm and tornado activity has also pushed a bit north, out of the Houston and Gulf Coast area, concentrating in the Central and Mid-Western areas.  The number of tornadoes is running almost exactly double what it was this time last year, resulting in substantial destruction and almost 600 deaths.

So at this moment, the wind is blowing outside.  The trees are swaying back and forth, and the sky is growing dark.  It’s been perhaps 16 weeks since we have had measurable rainfall in Houston.  As the sky flashes, and the windows rattle from the thunder, we hope for rain, and hope we don’t blow away in the process.

It smells really great outside !

- Mark W. Laughlin