Sorry to have missed the 55th reunion, but as I had conveyed earlier, JoAnne and I were in France, Luxembourg and Belgium at the time. There were three objective of our travels, 1.) to visit the battlefields and memorials of where my uncle fought with the American Expeditionary Forces in WWI, 2.) connect with my ancestors on my mother’s side of the family in a small village in Luxembourg, and 3.) have JoAnne, an experienced art and European history expert, guide this ignorant engineer through the treasures of northern France, Belgium and Luxembourg. All three objectives were accomplished and I now have “boots on the ground” confirmation for completing my second novel of my uncle’s military experience, have e-mail and personal contact with my Luxembourg relatives and have grown in appreciation of European history and art.

I appreciated your insights and reflection of “growing up” in America as a new immigrant. What you have conveyed is very well stated and incisively accurate. One of the more humorous memories of being on a survey crew with Harry Harper, USFS, was lunch time entertainment of busting up old, decayed stumps with an axe to see what creatures would emerge, only to have two or three field mice claw/crawl up my leg towards the nut sack! After dropping trousers and jumping around like a crazy man to the enjoyment of fellow surveyors, did the excitement end.

With respect to discrimination and bullying–I believe they are the same. I am not making any defense of this deplorable human behavior, but here is different trenchant perspective, disregarding political correctness. Human kind, ever since we were all “knuckle draggers” have been wary of any others outside of our tribe–going to the extreme of killing them. This barbaric trait is well documented throughout pre-historic and historic time. How does one go about changing a “genetic” trait that is as fundamental as our ability to speak, think, and relate to “strangers”? Legislation cannot solve this corundum, but Jesus did 2,000 plus years ago. Follow what Jesus said and taught and discrimination and hatred will die.

I enjoyed seeing you again at the reunion and meeting your wife. I think your observations are fair. Sports were then, and are now, a way to recognition. The sports heroes received more recognition than those who excelled in academics. But I don’t think we were ever looked down on. I remember you as being respected and popular. And, ultimately, our abilities opened many doors that those less academically oriented had available. Would I trade being a high school sports hero for all of the opportunities we’ve had? No.

Thanks for your thoughtful piece.

Curt