Operation Yellow Ribbon: Remembering Poetry Monday

 

Poetry Monday's once a week.

I bet you know which day.

I don't participate every time,

But today I've come out to play.

My friends assign each week a theme,

Remembering is what they chose.

Now it's up to all of us,

to put our thoughts into prose.

 

 

Operation Yellow Ribbon

Twenty-two years ago, our country, 

suffered a devastating loss.

Hate was on our doorstep,

bigotry showing us who was boss.

Almost 3000 friends and family,

died the day of that attack.

Although we'll always remember them, 

nothing can bring them back.

Seven from a company,

doing a job I used to do,

flying out on a business trip,

as I'd done when I worked there too.

Our airspace was shut down that day, 

diverted to Canada and ensconced.

People shocked, scared, and uncertain, 

Operation Yellow Ribbon, the response.

For days our neighbors to the north,

their humanity publicly viewed,

cared for our stranded citizens,

providing shelter and food.

 

Sauteed Ranch Spinach

 

The threat to our democracy,

right now, comes from within.

To honor those who died that day,

democracy must resoundingly win. 

 

 

 

Wait!

Read more poetry, 

you're not through.

Some talented writers

are in this crew:

 

On the Border

Messymimi's Meanderings 

 

Sauteed Ranch Spinach        
                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 TBSP butter

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 onion, sliced

1/4 cup ranch dressing

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

dash of dried red pepper flakes 

10 oz spinach, cleaned

1 TBSP grated parmesan

6 grape tomatoes, halved

Directions:

*In a large sautee pan, over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the garlic and onion, and cook, stirring, until the onion softens.

*Mix in the ranch dressing, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, for one minute.

*Add the spinach to the pan and cook, stirring so all of the spinach is coated with the sauce, until the spinach has wilted.

*Add the tomatoes to the pan, stir, and sprinkle with the parmesan to serve. 

Working and Class

And just like that, it's Labor Day. For us, most of us anyway, it's a celebration of the unofficial end to the summer, the beginning of a new school year, and a nod to the coming cooler weather.

But, of course, Labor Day was not created for any of those reasons. It's not just about acknowledging societal achievements brought about by our work force, but more than that, it was created to address a serious issue, their rights in the workplace.

I'm not going to debate the issue of unions. There are pros and cons, but I'll leave that issue alone.

Mostly.

I do want to tell you a story, though.

My grandfather and some of his brothers owned a company. They started a factory and made a product. They were hands on bosses. My grandfather could and did do many of the tasks, work the machines, from the ground up. He was well liked, and I know this not only because of stories passed down in our family, but from, many years after his retirement, when he died at the age of 99 years and 9 months, how many people who knew him through that company crowded his funeral.

Grandpa was a little naive at the start. Remind me some time, to tell you the story about him building credit. But that's a story for another day. Today's story is about character, it doesn't take much more than character to make a man do the right thing. Not the least of which is appreciation of the worker who keep their company running.

Some of the specifics of what happened are either not retained in my memory, or maybe I never knew them to begin with. Some of what I do remember may be a little fuzzy as well. I'm not sure whether the entire work force: front office, sales, manufacturing, shipping . . . but I do know that union representatives began approaching at least some level of the workers.

I believe that initially Grandpa was unhappy, maybe a little insulted by the union interference, didn't want outsiders dictating the personnel policies of their heart and soul, this company they built. 

Whether you like unions or you don't, they are designed to function as protection of the rights of workers. And in the end, the union did, of course, address the employees. They promised a minimum number of sick days, vacation days, holidays, breaks during the work day, pay levels.  

Unionization was voted down, all they offered was resoundingly declined.

Why?

Because the benefits Grandpa's company provided their employees exceeded what was promised by the union.

The man had class.

Whether it comes from the intrinsic benevolence of management, is mandated by law, or acquired via the strength of unity, this is what I know: safety matters, health matters, the ability to afford shelter, nourishment, it all matters.

No one should worry about their safety, a place to sleep, where their next meal will come from.

Quick Ramen Chicken

 

So, what you do, how and where you do it, unions, labor laws, workplace rules and regulations, all of that aside, it is humanity that should be guiding us.

Humanity dictates that every worker earn, at the very least, a living wage.

Quick Ramen Chicken         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 packages Ramen Soup, soy or chicken flavor

1 tsp dried ginger

1/8 tsp dried chili flakes

2 tsp cooking sherry

2 green onions, sliced, divided

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, shredded, room temperature

1/2 cup snap peas

1/2 cup broccoli florets

1 carrot, shaved

2 radishes, sliced thin

Directions:
*Break up the noodles from both soup packages in a large bowl with 3 cups of water. Microwave 5 minutes, until the noodles are soft.

*Mix the flavor packets, ginger, chili flakes, sherry, and one of the sliced green onions into the bowl with the noodles.

*Once incorporated, add the chicken, snap peas, and broccoli florets.

*Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit for 5 minutes, until most of the broth is absorbed.

*Serve topped with the remaining sliced green onion, the shaved carrot, and the sliced radish.

Screen for Humanity

 

It started with a distraction. 

Yes, something just that simple. It could have ended right there, faded away without more than a passing thought, but it didn't. Because, as I said, this was just the start.

In the morning, I happened to look up while in PurDude's bedroom.

But then that afternoon brought a text from College Boy that took my breath away. And had me looking at the morning's distraction with new eyes.

And the evening? In the evening it was the national news.

So, the beginning:

That morning, I'd brought towels and toiletries into PurDude's room. I was leaving them on his bed as he'd be coming home soon. Why I didn't just leave it all there and walk out, I don't know. But I sat down on his bed and looked up at the bulletin board that had been on his wall for years. At the very top was a commendation from his job. He'd been a lifeguard in high school, and had continued in the summers when he was home from college.

He had saved a life. 

I hate hearing that fact diminished by those who say that first responders specifically (but lifeguards and many others too) are just doing their jobs when they save a life. They may just be doing their jobs, but these are jobs that they chose, study for, train for, and practice. They know that an integral part of what they will do is to take action when someone's life is at risk. It is an awesome responsibility.

Truth is, someone is still walking and living and doing all things large and small in their life because at their moment of need, someone came to their aid. There is enormity in the miracle of that, brought about by people who value humanity enough to take on protecting it.

In a strange coincidence, that afternoon brought me the exact opposite story. One of someone no longer walking and living and doing all things large and small in their life. It wasn't because first responders hadn't come to his aid, they did. It just wasn't enough.

College Boy sent me a picture that he took outside his work at lunchtime. "Awful car crash right by my work," he texted, "see the helicopter, someone is getting airlifted. I think someone died." We texted back and forth a bit, both of us deeply affected, expressing how heartbreaking it is to see that kind of response, understanding the seriousness of the situation, and hoping everyone would be OK.

They weren't. A motorcyclist was airlifted to the hospital but didn't make it.

Neither of us knew the people involved in the crash, but that didn't matter. When you are witness to a moment like this, even if it's just through viewing the scope of the aftermath, how do you not take a moment to acknowledge the frailty of life? The reality of the abrupt ending of a human life on an anonymous Friday at lunchtime? How do you not empathize, right down to your bones, with the family and friends about to get that phone call? Our humanity demands it.

Juxtaposed with that evening's proof of the pervasive rise of the opposite, man's inhumanity to man.

We were out on the deck having a drink and some appetizers. It was supposed to be a relaxing end to the day. 

Sweet Hot Mango Dip

 

But I had just shut off the national news. In the past month, we've been aware of not just the growing number of mass shooting, but additionally, the shocking rash of executions of kids guilty of just one thing, making a mistake. As with mass shootings, each one is an assault not just on our way of life but, more personally on our sense of safety and our emotional health.

People, everyday citizens, are shooting children for ringing their doorbell, turning around in their driveway, mistaking a like car for their own, or allowing a basketball to roll onto a neighbor's lawn. 

I'm a gun control advocate. No, we don't want to take away all guns, but we do want, we demand, responsible gun ownership. Actually, I take that back, I DO want to take all assault weapons from citizens. For all other gun sales (including shows and private sales) there must be laws, national standards, including screening, mandatory safety, instruction, and regular reviews.

The first step is screening. We need to screen for criminal records, and specific (but not all) mental health conditions. As much we, as a society, like to blame the mentally ill, truth is that not all shooters are mentally ill, and very few people with mental health diagnoses (about 25% of our adult population) are violent. 

But what the morning, afternoon, and evening of just one day brought me to is a question.

If a fundamental respect for human life, all human life, is not an involuntary function in someone, like breathing and blinking, then I need to know.

Basic humanity. How do you screen for that?

Sweet Hot Mango Dip         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup onion and chive cream cheese, softened

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup pepper jelly

1 ripe mango

chips or crackers for serving

Directions:
*Whisk together the cream cheese, sour cream, and pepper jelly.

*Peel the mango and remove the pit. Slice a few pieces and refrigerate for garnish.

*Chop the remaining mango (small pieces) and fold into the dip, cover, and refrigerate for an hour.

*Top with the reserved mango slices and serve with chips or crackers of your choice.

We Are All Cake

 

 Cake.

Close your eyes, think of that word, and what do you see?

One word can evoke a myriad of images. 

What some of us picture may be similar to what others of us picture. Most often though, similar in some ways, but also different in others. Why?

Depending on our experiences, our memories, our culture, many of us, for instance in the same family, could actually picture pretty much the same thing.

But, even using just one word as a reference point, it is actually probable that what pops into our minds will be much more dissimilar to the majority of the population, at least in some aspects, than the same. Because even within our own subculture, where we share perspective and experiences, we still have our own taste.

Candy Cane Cake ~ Caramel Apple Bundt Cake ~ Orange Pineapple Cake ~ Triple Chocolate Dome Cake

Blackberry Pie Cake ~ Independence Cake

Chocolate Peanut Butter Poke Cake ~ Summer Citrus Cake ~ Limoncello Sheet Cake ~ Strawberry Cookies and Cream Cake

It's the same as if we were to use the word "person." Based on our reference points, we may picture someone short or tall, white, brown, black or mulatto, heavy or thin, someone we know, someone generic . . . the possibilities are endless.

As they should be.

Blueberry Maple Glazed Strawberry Cake

Because we are all different, unique, and interesting people. 

But we're the same too.

A healthy life balance is achieved when we celebrate our individuality while acknowledging our core similarities.

Sheet, layer, bundt, poke or dome.

Fruit, nuts, mint, caramel, spiced or chocolate.

Unembellished, glazed, dusted, drizzled, or frosted.

We, in this country, on this planet, may not all be the same flavor or texture or size or color. 

But, to continue the analogy, we are all cake.

Blueberry Maple Glazed Strawberry Cake         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of my Blueberry Maple Syrup, recipe HERE

1 box (15.25 oz) strawberry cake mix

1 tsp strawberry extract

4 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1 cup milk

1 can (16 oz) cream cheese frosting

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 X 13 baking pan. 

*Beat the cake mix, extract, eggs, oil, and milk for 2 minutes. Pour evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes, until the center springs back to the touch.

*Cool on the counter for 1/2 hour, then refrigerate to cool completely.

*Once the cake is cool, poke all over with a fork, going just about 1/4 of the way down the cake. Drizzle with 1/4 cup of the syrup (try to use mostly just the liquid, leaving the solid blueberries for use in the frosting), carefully spread over the cake.

*Whisk 1/4 cup of the remaining syrup with the canned frosting and frost the cake. 

*Slice the cake and serve with the remaining Blueberry Maple Syrup drizzled over the top. Refrigerate leftovers.