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Date with fate post 45 - The Molotov incident
This entry was posted on 7/28/2011 1:30 AM and is filed under Fate Fairies.
Tons of research has been done regarding the influence of media - television, news, movies - on kids and or people in general. Some of the studies are longitudinal that have lasted for decades. Others opportunistically beseige us during any particular new trend or event. Lately video games have been in the academic research cross-hairs. Back in my day, the Viet Nam War news coverage, and its connected domestic war protest coverage, and World War II movies were all good possible culprits for scrutiny.
Let me say, I hesitate telling this story, should readers feel ill of me, but in today's world of crack cocaine, meth labs, spousal abuse, perennial war, thieving Wall Street types, and general poor behavior by the public and government at large, my tale is nowadays mild.
Any one who grew up on a farm, especially an old dairy farm, knows there is a million things a kid can get himself injured with - old equipment, fuels, oils, rusty barbed wire, nails, sharp cutters, rusty tools, machines with blades, pesticides, high poorly secured places, lots of roofs, and unpredictable animals, to name but just a few.
Let us focus on the combination of the growing proliferation of television in the 1960s, the Viet Nam War news coverage, and those ubiquitous World War II movies, Somewhere repeated images of people throwing Molotov cocktails (flamming bottles of gasoline) was beginning to stick in my mind. There are the movies about the French Underground Resistance fighting the Nazis in World War II. The Viet Nam war protesters were filmed on the nightly news. And, images of "race riots" came out of Los Angels, New Jersey, and other American cities.
Take one 12 year old kid with time on his hands, with farm fuel at his disposal, and garbage cans full of old bottles next to the shed. And, a couple of likewise shenanigan-laden neighbor kids over for the summer day, vivid and innovative imaginations at the rapid development stage all around, and same said kids with impressionable characters - and we have a dandy recipe for a marginal disaster.
The thing that deconstructed our endeavor was good farm discipline. We lined up a half dozen old soda bottles out by the gavel driveway adjacent to the farm tractor gas pump. We neatly filled those bottles with gasoline, stuffed some old oil rages in the tops - just like the French Resistance - and then looked at each other.
No matches.
Some of the neighbor kids twelve years old and up, smoked cigarettes. None of the three of us did.
Where the hell are the matches?
To no avail anyway. It was too late. My Dad, the man who could cut you to pieces with just a glower, entered the fray.
"Jesus Christ!" The booming voice came closer as Dad stomped out from the barn. "What in the hell are you damn fools up to?"
A quick survey by said father and another admonish boomed out, "You damned idiots do not have the brains you were born with. You will all kill yourselves."
Each bottle was quickly dumped in the weeds behind the shed - by us - as angry father stood sentry. The rags were thrown in the open trash barrel. The neighbor kids were summarily sent home with a phone call to parents who would be waiting for their unfortunate arrival and another round of admonishment.
I, well I got off rather easy I suppose, I was banished to the house for a couple summer days, that is until some hay had to be stacked or bailed or loaded. In the mean time I clicked on the old black and white television.
On popped the old movie The Train, with Burt Lancaster starring as French Underground fighter Paul Labiche trying to stop a train full of art treasures the Nazis have stolen from Paris. To create a diversion to distract the Nazis, one of Labiche's comrades stuffs a rag in the gas tank of a German Army truck and lights it on fire. He essentially turned the whole truck into a giant...., flamming Molotov cocktail.
Poetry.
Note: This blog "Fate Fairies" Category does not list the brushes with fate chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older event. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Fate Fairies Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Army Private First Class Andrew Nimir Meari, 21 Plainfield, Illinois (his father, Mahmoud Meari, lives in Grafton, Wisconsin), was killed on Monday, November 1, 2010 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. Meari and Sergeant Jonathan M. Curtis were guarding the entrance to Combat Outpost Senjaray in the Zhari district of Kandahar province. The two soldiers intercepted an insurgent, wired with explosives, attempting to enter the outpost on a motorcycle. The insurgent detonated himself, killing both Meari and Curtis. Private First Class Meari was assigned to Company A, 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky.
The Web site heraldnews.suntimes.com mentioned Meari was born September 14, 1989, in Chicago. His mom moved to Plainfield when she remarried. Meari attended Drauden Point Middle School and Plainfield South High School. However, he graduated from Port Washington High School in Wisconsin; and he graduated early. The Web site went on to quote family as saying, "He was remembered as outgoing and a bright student." Meari's grandfather was a Korean War veteran.
The Chicago Tribune noted Meari died trying to defend his unit comrades. He was know as "DJ Tiger" after his middle name Nimir, which means tiger in Arabic. Andrew joined the Army in October 2008. He arrived in Afghanistan in May of 2010. Some of Private First Class Meari's military awards and decorations include: National Defense Service Medal; Afghanistan Campaign Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; Combat Infantry Badge; and, the Purple Heart.
At the time of his death Andrew Meari was survived by his mother Denise (Gerald) Meehan; his father Mahmoud (Aisha) Meari; step brothers Ethan and Andrew; one sister Jenna; grandmother Vivienne Williams; uncle and Godfather Todd (Stacie) Williams; and uncle Samir Miari.
Army Private First Class Andrew Meari was the 25th military service person with Wisconsin connections to be killed in Afghanistan since October of 2001.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
101,906 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
10,100 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,477 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1679 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
927 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
1 American/Coalition casualty in Libyan "Operation Odyssey Dawn" since March, 2011
32,158 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
12,765 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
107 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
34 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
3 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in the U.S. related to "The War on Terror" since October, 2001.
149 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
5 journalists (regional and independents) have been killed in Libya since March, 2011.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org.
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