To Whom We Owe All Our Christmases

Trying a new way of posting--via iPhone.

Just wanted my friends to see the Col's granddaughter and great granddaughter on Christmas morning in snowy Colorado. Fire on the hearth. Blessings galore.

Prayers from here for our country--may selflessness and integrity return to our leadership. May facts replace marketing in our public discourse and civic virtue return and our leaders re-learnn they are accountable. To We The People.

These things the Greatest Generation fought for, died for, and handed over to us--in trust. For their sacrifice may we be worthy.

We owe them all our peaceful Christmas blessings. Happy Christmas to all!

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Comment Alert and Spamming or Why We've Added More Filters for Comments

12th century Chinese calligraphy. It's lovely, but I don't want to see it in my "comments"!

I began to notice lately that quite a few of my old blog posts have popped up on my Google Analytics list of my "most popular posts" and, in addition, I noted these particular posts had dozens and dozens of "comments" attached to them. Trouble in blog land.

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Tucson Shooting Aftermath

Robin's note: Dr. Perry Klein served in the military in Tucson, Arizona in the 1990s. As a mental health specialist--now working in Israel--he knows what trauma can do to a community. In the case of Tucson, it involves a community he knows well. He wrote this guest post for Robin Chapman News:

Tucson Trauma
by
Dr. Perry Klein

"Many thoughts enter my mind, as I find myself thinking about the people of Tucson since the January 8 shooting: I myself lived in Tucson for 10 years.

Dr. Perry Klein in 1994, when he served as a specialist in Behavior Science with the 306th Military Intelligence Battalion at Ft. Huachuca in Tucson, Arizona.

The shootings took place in Northwest Tucson, a very nice community that has never experienced anything like this. This was a combat scene in the Catalina foothills, and probably more people are affected by this than anyone may ever know. Housewives that were never at the scene are hugging their children tighter, before putting them on school buses; people who drive to their offices on a daily basis are listening to the morning talk shows in their cars more closely and, perhaps, paying less attention to the routes they take to work.

These are the unknown people who may be having a normal reaction to an abnormal situation. These are people, albeit a minority, who may be experiencing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD, as it is called, can occur in a situation where a person experiences, witnesses, or is confronted by a traumatic situation that is of such magnitude, that any individual would be overwhelmed by it. And that is true even if the event was just witnessed on television or heard over the airwaves.

Symptoms include recurrent and distressing recollections, nightmares, flashbacks and a whole range of associated feelings. I would be willing to bet that there are people in Northwest Tucson who won’t ever shop at that Safeway again.

These are the people who may leave more lights on in their home at night, check to see if their doors are locked more than one time, or maybe walk their dogs while carrying a stick. These are the people who, over time, may sleep more than usual. Or, it may just be a law enforcement officer who finds himself responding to a crime more zealously than usual. Northwest Tucson became a little bit less safe last week.

If you go there for a visit, don't take it personally, if the driver in the car behind you leans on his horn a little too much, because you happen to be driving too slowly on Speedway Blvd. In time, most of these people will be all right. Tucsonians are tough; they have cacti in their front yards; they eat prickly pear fruit; and they put hot chili peppers in their omelets. In time, life in the Old Pueblo will go back to normal. It just won’t happen tomorrow."

Dr. Perry Klein. LMHC, NCC
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