Hotlips O'Houlihan: [to Father Mulcahy, referring to Hawkeye] I wonder how a degenerated person like that could have reached a position of responsibility in the Army Medical Corps!
Sally Kellerman, as Major Margaret "Hotlips" O'Houlihan
Father Mulcahy: [looks up from his Bible] He was drafted.
-- M.A.S.H. (1970)
1970. I was a junior in high school. Hormones were playing songs, but I didn't have much rhythm, not back then. I wasn't serious about much of anything. My grade-point average was barely able to drag me into the "C" range, so I was more concerned about what number my local draft board was going to "gift" me with when I turned 18 than I was about more than some one-night tryst. My draft number, so far, had been in the area above 300 and, if this luck continued, there was no way I was being called up for military service. Don't get me wrong, I was brought up to be a patriotic American, but I really didn't want to be part of the statistical fodder littering some irrelevant battlefield across the "pond" in Vietnam.
The movie "M*A*S*H*" hit the big screen in 1970. I immediately fell in lust with Major Margaret "Hotlips" O'Houlihan. What red-blooded American man didn't? She wasn't Barbi Benton but, for a realist, she seemed more like a woman who might live next door. Accessible.
The draft lottery gifted me the number "9" for my 18th birthday. Oh, joy. My junior-college grades were evidencing some interest in psychology and pushing me into the "B+" level, but good sense told me not to rely on a college deferment from the draft, even though Stanford was looking mighty sweet. After no thought whatsoever, I made plans to join the Air Force.
America ended the draft a couple of weeks after I joined. I was pissed, but I wasn't sure why. It had been my decision to join. Woulda, coulda, shoulda; I dug my heels in and never looked back. The "Cold War" beckoned. Besides, I was soon to learn that it is what it is until it isn't, and then it is... again.
As I approached my 20-year mark in the military, I couldn't help nut reflect back upon Kellerman's character of "Hotlips" and her statement about Captain "Hawkeye" Pierce, the Chief Surgeon of the 4077 M*A*S*H* unit: "I wonder how a degenerated person like that could have reached a position of responsibility in the Army Medical Corps!" I had to ask, of myself, how a degenerated person like me ever rose to a position of responsibility in Air Force Intelligence. The Air Forde didn't seem to mind. They kept me three years longer, just to prove it.
I was never one to take life too seriously. After all, the girls in the Intelligence Division didn't go out of their way to dress up a Barbie doll in a black dominatrix outfit, replete with boots, whip, and such, as a retirement gift for just any Master Sergeant. I'd like to think my people appreciated me and my work philosophy of "work hard, party hard, and take care of your people." We weren't as loose as the folks on M*A*S*H*, but I made sure we all had as much fun as possible while we enjoyed being one of the very best at what we did. The downside of all this? My military career helped to destroy my marriage. There was a life lesson here, as well: Don't pay more attention to work than to your family. Certainly, don't have more fun at work, and don't have a job you can't share with them due to high-level security issues, either.
I found life after military service about five years before my divorce. Yes, I hadn't learned the lesson yet. I put myself full-bore into that job, as well. Hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Twenty years later, I filed for Social Security and retired for good. I forgave her trespasses by accepting the apology I never got, and then I learned to forgive myself for being so selfish and ever expecting one. We were both at fault, and I bore the lion's share of the blame. I also learned that I'm not the marrying kind.
I found life after military service about five years before my divorce. Yes, I hadn't learned the lesson yet. I put myself full-bore into that job, as well. Hard to teach an old dog new tricks. Twenty years later, I filed for Social Security and retired for good. I forgave her trespasses by accepting the apology I never got, and then I learned to forgive myself for being so selfish and ever expecting one. We were both at fault, and I bore the lion's share of the blame. I also learned that I'm not the marrying kind.
So, where am I now? Still not married, but I am in a longterm relationship that works. Still retired, but keeping busy ministering folks through my blog and volunteering as a chaplain at the local medical center, a chaplaincy which I've cut back on after my father's passing. I dabble in woodwork and constantly consider picking up brush and canvas again or going fishing. I think about that Barbie doll, occasionally, and wonder how I let twenty-five years blow passed me like I was standing still. Life seems to move faster the older you get, but, like time, that acceleration is just imagined.
Technology has allowed me to rediscover my cherished past. I found a "joy" I thought I had lost, and many other old friends as well. Technology allows me to keep close those few people I hold dear to my heart and those I have held dear in lives past. And, there lies the final lesson: Time.
Where am I? I am now. I exist. Is anything else really more important than the fact that we exist, now? Perhaps the realization that we always will, and always have. Time, being a human construct, gives structure to this reality, but it really doesn't seem to have any purpose other than to stress people out. Life is, whether we recognize time or not. I live life for each moment, as much as I can, and try not to plan the next moment any more than necessary to please government requirements or those around me. When I consider the concept of time, I smile at my knowledge that the "next great adventure" is only a moment away.
I will enter the next reality knowing that I bring this life with me, as I have before, and will do so again, and again. Those we love, we love, now and in the next moment. On the infinite canvas of reality, there are many lessons to be learned. One lesson is that love is. Love might change, but love always is. Some folks foolishly think there is a magic switch to turn love off. The anger and frustration one might feel is not a switch, it is a change. If you don't feel the change, then it wasn't really a loving relationship. It was probably just using someone to satisfy some urge and, no, that is not okay, not right. It is always better to be with the one you love or, at the very least, truly love the one you're with; an homage to Stephen Stills.
I can only define life in one way: It is what it is until it isn't, and then it is what it is... again. Life, any life, is constructed of the choices we make at any moment. The consequences of those choices define the next moment. These moments, if we string them together, define our concept of time. We know our past. We live in the now. We try, sometimes too desperately, to predict our future. The only "time" that is written exists behind us. The only "future" exists as a concept in our minds to be written once, and if, it occurs. The only constant concept is change, and we all tend to change our minds constantly.
Revel in that which has gone before so can you learn the lessons of mistakes and successes. Make good choices now so the consequences of the next moment, the future, might be brighter. There are no guarantees in reality except the change which happens now. All we can really do is be the impetus for that change.
I stand at the cusp of infinity, where everything is not. I stand at the edge of the void and fearlessly stare down into it, prepared to step off. The void stares back, and I smile with the knowledge that I am prepared for nothing. It is what it is until it isn't, and then, voila! It is...
...and I am.
Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint.
Technology has allowed me to rediscover my cherished past. I found a "joy" I thought I had lost, and many other old friends as well. Technology allows me to keep close those few people I hold dear to my heart and those I have held dear in lives past. And, there lies the final lesson: Time.
Where am I? I am now. I exist. Is anything else really more important than the fact that we exist, now? Perhaps the realization that we always will, and always have. Time, being a human construct, gives structure to this reality, but it really doesn't seem to have any purpose other than to stress people out. Life is, whether we recognize time or not. I live life for each moment, as much as I can, and try not to plan the next moment any more than necessary to please government requirements or those around me. When I consider the concept of time, I smile at my knowledge that the "next great adventure" is only a moment away.
I will enter the next reality knowing that I bring this life with me, as I have before, and will do so again, and again. Those we love, we love, now and in the next moment. On the infinite canvas of reality, there are many lessons to be learned. One lesson is that love is. Love might change, but love always is. Some folks foolishly think there is a magic switch to turn love off. The anger and frustration one might feel is not a switch, it is a change. If you don't feel the change, then it wasn't really a loving relationship. It was probably just using someone to satisfy some urge and, no, that is not okay, not right. It is always better to be with the one you love or, at the very least, truly love the one you're with; an homage to Stephen Stills.
I can only define life in one way: It is what it is until it isn't, and then it is what it is... again. Life, any life, is constructed of the choices we make at any moment. The consequences of those choices define the next moment. These moments, if we string them together, define our concept of time. We know our past. We live in the now. We try, sometimes too desperately, to predict our future. The only "time" that is written exists behind us. The only "future" exists as a concept in our minds to be written once, and if, it occurs. The only constant concept is change, and we all tend to change our minds constantly.
Revel in that which has gone before so can you learn the lessons of mistakes and successes. Make good choices now so the consequences of the next moment, the future, might be brighter. There are no guarantees in reality except the change which happens now. All we can really do is be the impetus for that change.
I stand at the cusp of infinity, where everything is not. I stand at the edge of the void and fearlessly stare down into it, prepared to step off. The void stares back, and I smile with the knowledge that I am prepared for nothing. It is what it is until it isn't, and then, voila! It is...
...and I am.
Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint.
It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.
We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.
Pastor Tony spent 22 years with United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world renowned, Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research. Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteers as lead Chaplain and Chaplain Program Liaison, at the regional medical center.
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