Greetings one and all. Are you are sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin. Today is Veterans Day (Remembrance Day to those from Europe, Canada, and “The Colonies’). For the last six years, my good friend Steve Sparks, with help from the AV Veterans, has presented a special event at the Evergreen Cemetery to commemorate and show support and gratitude for those who gave their lives or were wounded in wars of the past, and for those who have served or continue to serve so that we may have the freedoms and liberties that we continue to enjoy today. Unfortunately there will be no such event today in Boonville. Steve writes, “I am very sorry to report that, after six successive commemorations, there will not be a Veterans Day/Remembrance Day event in Boonville this year. I cannot imagine anyone being more disappointed than me but I have simply not had time this year to give it the attention it needs and deserves. Nobody else has mentioned it and certainly no one has offered to organize the occasion in my absence, which is understandable of course. We all get wrapped up in our lives and, in my case, unfortunately the Veterans Day event has ‘slipped through the cracks.’ Just writing this gives me a heavy heart and a wave of sadness and disappointment, and some annoyance with the way less significant things seem to unavoidably get in the way of what really matters. All too often life seems to thwart the important reasons for living. I shall do my utmost to see that this important event returns next year.”
That is too bad, SS. Hopefully it will happen next year. While there is no service here in the Valley, for those who can make it, there will be the dedication of a Vietnam Veterans Memorial at 2pm today at the County museum in Willits.
In terms of taking a deep breath and thinking about what really matters, today at 11am is one of the more important moments to do so. The actual day and time mark the anniversary of the end of hostilities in World War One which took place specifically at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. “The Great War” (the so-called “War to end all Wars.”— if only it had been) had seen an average of 4,000 (four thousand) lives lost every single day for over four years. A tragedy that is hard to even contemplate, much less to comprehend. Today is not a day to celebrate victories but rather one to take a moment for remembrance of those who fought and, in many cases, gave their lives in that war and the many others since so that our lives may be better today and in the future.
With this in mind, I am going to step away from the usual column content and, as I did some years ago on this day, present a poem. These very moving words are entitled “Disabled,” a poem written in 1917 by World War One poet, Wilfred Owen, arguably the finest war poet of all. They express the tormented thoughts and recollections of a teenaged soldier in the Great War who has lost his limbs in battle and is now confined, utterly helpless, to a wheelchair. The subject contrasts the living death he is now facing with the youthful pleasures he had enjoyed “before he threw away his knees” and he goes on to recall the impetuous and frivolous circumstances in which he had joined up to fight in the war. He also notes how the crowds that greeted his return were smaller and less enthusiastic than those who cheered his departure, and how women no longer look at him but instead at “the strong men who were whole.” In the opinion of many, it is one of the finest anti-war poems ever written. Please read on.
“He sat in a wheeled chair, waiting for dark,
And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey,
Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park
Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,
Voices of play and pleasure after day,
Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.
About this time Town used to swing so gay
When glow-lamps budded in the light blue trees,
And girl glanced lovelier as the air grew dim---
In the old times, before he threw away his knees.
Now he will never feel again how slim
Girl's waists are, or how warm their subtle hands.
All of them touch him like some queer disease.
One time he liked a blood-smear down his leg,
After the matches, carried shoulder-high.
It was after football, when he'd drunk a peg,
He thought he'd better join.---He wonders why.
Someone had said he'd look a good in kilts,
That's why; and maybe, too, to please his Meg,
Aye, that was it, to please the giddy jilts
He asked to join. He didn't have to beg;
Smiling they wrote his lie: aged nineteen years.
Germans he scarcely thought of; all their guilt,
And Austria's, did not move him. And no fears
Of Fear came yet. He thought of jewelled hilts
For daggers in plaid socks; of smart salutes;
And care of arms; and leave; and pay arrears;
Esprit de corps; and hints for young recruits.
And soon, he was drafted out with drums and cheers.
…
Some cheered him home, but not as crowds cheer Goal.
Only a solemn man who brought him fruits
Thanked him; and then enquired about his soul.
Now, he will spend a few sick years in institutes,
And do what things the rules consider wise,
And take whatever pity they may dole.
Tonight he noticed how the women's eyes
Passed from him to the strong men that were whole.
How cold and late it is! Why don't they come
And put him into bed? Why don't they come?”
* * *
PS. Wilfred Owen was killed in action at the age of 25, on Nov 4, 1918, a week before the war ended. Ironically, the telegram from the War Office announcing his death was delivered to his mother's home as her town's church bells were ringing in celebration of the Armistice, signaling the war’s end.
Onward. Public Service Announcements. Calendars and pens at the ready.
#711. The monthly Barn Sale is taking place at The St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church Refectory on AV Way just north of Boonville from 9am-3pm on both this coming Saturday and Sunday, November 14 and 15. #712. The Vets from the Mendocino Animal Hospital will be visiting the Valley on just one occasion this month. that’s next Thursday, November 19, at the Anderson Valley Farm Supply on Highway 128, north of Philo. They will be here twice in December. #713. The Boonville Farmers Market resumes this Saturday, November 14 at its winter venue, The Boonville General Store, from 10am-12:30 pm. For more info call Cindy at 895-2949. #714. The Mendocino Bookmobile returns to the Valley on Tuesday, November 17. They are here on alternate Tuesdays for 45 minutes at each of these places and times: Navarro Store 9am (for just 30 minutes); the Floodgate 12.30pm; Philo 1.30pm; Boonville (Apple Hall) 2.30pm. Phone 463-4694 for further details. #715. The AV Museum is open every Saturday and Sunday, from 1-4pm. Situated in The Little Red Schoolhouse next to the Elementary School on AV Way, this is a perfect thing to do in the Valley when you have a couple of hours spare on a weekend afternoon at “The Best Little Museum in the West.” #716. There’s Karaoke at The Buckhorn a week from today. Wednesday, November 18. The show is hosted by Sarah Songbird Larkin of The Real Sarahs and it runs from 9pm until close. #717. The Food Bank is open on the 3rd Tuesday, November 17. Gardeners, farmers and produce growers of all kinds, remember to donate your extra produce. It will be greatly appreciated. Please drop off on the Monday before, behind the Boonville Methodist Church. If you need someone to glean your produce to take to the Food Bank, contact Valerie Kim at valerie.h.kim@gmail.com. Denisse Mattei is the Food Bank director. You can reach her at 895-3763. #718. I am led to believe that the “Second Wednesday Drumming Circle” will be taking place at The Grange tonight, Wednesday, November 11 from 7-9pm. To confirm, perhaps call Andy at 895-3020.
Here is the menu for the Community lunches over the next week in the Senior Center at the Veterans Building in Boonville. The Center asks for a $6 donation from Seniors and $7 for Non-seniors. Tomorrow, Thursday, November 12, the lunch, served by Marti Titus and her crew at Noon, will be Vegetable Beef Barley Soup, and Bread Pudding for dessert. Then, next Tuesday, November 17, the lunch will feature Honey Mustard Chicken, with Pecan Bars for dessert. All meals include vegetables, salad bar, and fruit, plus milk, coffee, tea, and lemonade. What a deal. it maybe the best $7 you’ll spend all week! Hopefully you will be able to attend, and remember – ALL ages are welcome! Hope to see you there.
Time to take my leave; have to see a man about a sheep. That’s enough for now. “Please take me drunk, I’m home.” Until we talk again, “Keep the Faith’; be careful out there; if you break a leg don’t come running to me; stay out of the ditches; think good thoughts; be wary of strangers with more dogs than teeth; please remember to keep your windows cracked if you have pets in your vehicle; and may your god go with you. A final request, “Let us prey.” Sometimes poking, often stroking, but almost always humbly yours, Turkey Vulture. Contact me through the Letters Page or at turkeyvulture9@gmail.com. PS. Keep on wagging that tail, Fred. Hi, Silver Swan; behaving yourself? Hopefully not! Keep up the good work, Round-eyed Robin.
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