Peter Fountain

Month: May 2012

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Memorial Day Weekend

May 25, 2012 by Pete

Memorial Day 2012 is almost upon us and with it comes the 3 day start of summer (or at least that’s how I think of it). I started planting my garden last weekend, I’ll march in a parade on Monday morning and hopefully I’ll catch the start of the Indy 500, the Coke 600, and if I’m lucky, the end of the Coke 600.  Not much different than many Memorial Day weekend’s.

Tonight I caught a program on PBS about Pearl Harbor, specifically the hunt for 5 mysterious Japanese subs the may or may not have infiltrated the harbor and fired on our ships. There were lots of photos and some interviews with survivors and I found it all very captivating. 

My generation is used to strategic drone strikes and laser guided bombs. The brutality  and chaos of Pearl Harbor is almost unimaginable, much like WWII as a whole. It’s crazy listening to stories of young teenage boys lying about their ages so they could join the military and fight for their country. 

It’s seems so cliche to talk about the debt we owe to veterans, living or dead and yet it’s so terribly true. Our victory in WWII was anything but certain, how different would life be for my generation if we had lost?

I’ve said thank you to veterans, I’ve donated money to veterans organizations and I’ve tried to say a prayer when they pray for our military, but it never seems enough compared to the extreme sacrifice made willingly by so many. 

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Mother’s Day

May 14, 2012 by Pete

Today is Mother’s Day, 2012 and it’s been a very nice day. We had beautiful weather and a great brunch with our family and everyone had a great time. 

To be honest, I hate Mother’s Day, Father’s day, Valentines day, Memorial Day, etc. While that statement certainly makes me sound like a jerk, my reasoning is very simple: we should celebrate and care about the people who mean something to us every day, not just one day per year and we should do more than buy flowers, cards or other gifts. 

Last night in the grocery store I witnessed a couple arguing about Mother’s day. The argument ended when the wife said “do you realize how much your mother does for us all year”.  I didn’t know the couple but I found myself wondering if I do enough to appreciate the important people in my life. I know I say thank you a lot and I know I’m grateful when someone helps me or my family in some way, but I’m not so sure I do enough to express those thoughts to the people who need to hear them. 

I’m also pondering the ‘random acts of kindness’ cliche that we always hear. Maybe I could send someone a note or take them out to lunch or do something else to express my appreciation. I always feel that the once a year celebration is so inadequate and “too little, too late”. Was it enough to send my mom a card and gift card and to call and say “I love you”?  I’m sure she’d say it was too much (like mom’s always do).

My thinking isn’t just limited to moms as I could broaden it out to almost anyone with whom I have a relationship from my kids to my coworkers. Maybe this Mother’s Day will be the kick in the pants I need to better appreciate the people I value in my life.