before the day is over...

A thank you to my relatives, including my dad, Kenneth Franklin Spoor, and his brothers Don and Jack, who served in World War II, and my grandfather, Nathaniel Burton Paradise, and great-uncle Robert Campbell Paradise, who served in World War I. And to all my friends and acquaintances who have served, and continue to serve, our country, in uniform and out. And to all those I do not know who have given (one way or another) their lives and skills and hearts, their blood and bone, their todays, and many of them their tomorrows too, to defend our country.

I'm sure it's a hope not likely to be fulfilled, but I hope that the war (for such it was, whatever we call it) that we withdrew from this year is the last that we leap into, heedless of the cost to ourselves and others, for no reason of need or national safety, but just to please the crabbed egos and fears of proud, pointless men who never took the step into danger they were happy to send others on. And may the war we remain engaged in end as soon as can be.