Tuesday, November 12, 2019

The Oppenheimer Report 11/11/19


Lest we forget the invisible wounds, there are always reminders to be thankful for the sacrifices of our veterans and those presently serving in the armed forces. Everyone knows a veteran; every family has been in some way impacted by war. Sadly, loss is our common experience as humans. I have become very interested in the songs that commemorate our veterans. Many that I find moving, deal with the stress of war. As well, some great poems have been written about the experience of war. In his album, “Ours and The Shepherds”, our friend, the wonderful songwriter Jon Brooks, put to music two Canadian poems about war. One of the poems, “In Flanders Fields”, was written by the WWI Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD from Guelph, Ontario. It is arguably one of the most recognized poems in the world about the sacrifices of war. I’d never heard of Manitoba-born poet Frank P. Dixon before Jon put Dixon’s poem “Cigarettes” to music. What a brilliant song that is, made more powerful by Jon’s composition and delivery. While other soldiers wrote letters to their loved ones back home, from inside the trenches, Dixon wrote poems to his mom. “Cigarettes” was written shortly before Dixon was killed in combat in 1918, at the age of 20. I, like so many other civilians, owe my freedom to others who fought to achieve it. I acknowledge the profound sacrifices of those men and women who gave their lives, or their well-being, for my liberty. After I finish this report, I will head over to our local branch of the Royal Canadian Legion to make our annual contribution; a token of our gratitude.

Yes, winter has arrived. Quit moaning and deal with it, right? The other day, I took my little folding Porta-Bote out on the lake to run the gas out of the motor for the season and I got caught in a genuine snow squall. I suppose I left the dock and the little boat in the lake a little longer this year, as we were having water pump problems that needed to be addressed. Great timing! Luckily, that problem has been fixed, just in time for the lake to freeze. Ever the opportunist, I shot plenty of pictures of my snow squall cruise, and even posted a few with the caption “Where IS Everybody?”. The comments I received in response to these pictures were varied. Some people agreed with me, suggesting that boating season is not over until the lake freezes over. Others thought I was nuts. As a former Buffalonian, I adopt the “might-as-well-make-the-best-of-it” attitude towards winter. Just around this time of year, back in 2014, Lancaster, N.Y., an eastern suburb of Buffalo, experienced a freak snowstorm that dumped six feet of snow on that town in a very short period of time. Hopefully, we won’t get a six-foot lake effect dumping like that up here.

Many of us who are used to harsh winters pride ourselves on our heartiness. There are polar bear clubs all across North America filled with people who think nothing of plunging into icy water in the middle of the winter, wearing nothing more than their bathing suits. Along those lines, I attended a charity event last Saturday in nearby Kearney, Ontario that exemplifies the “winter-doesn’t-bother-me!” attitude. On hand to entertain a large crowd of chilly onlookers with a very unusual waterski show was a group of high-spirited young athletes who represent Canada’s Water Ski Show Team, and who will also represent Canada in the 2020 World Ski Show Championships to be held in Australia. It was highly entertaining. I recorded the whole thing with my cell phone. So far, that video has been viewed about 2900 times and is available to be seen in the video section here on the Hunters Bay Radio Facebook page.

Thank you again, to all the veterans and acting servicemen and women who are responsible for protecting our freedom and our way of life. They deserve to be commemorated more often than one day per year.

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer ©2019
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
jamieoppenheimersongwriter@gmail.com
Jamie Oppenheimer, Songwriter, Author, Blogger, Radio Producer, & Host has been writing THE OPPENHEIMER REPORT every MONDAY since 1992 and has published the articles on his blog since 2006. We are including Jamie's weekly reports, as a feature of #HuntersBayRadio, The Bay 88.7FM.


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