It's Memorial Day today and I'd rather be at work. If this doesn't sound like me, I can assure you it is, and this normally doesn't happen when I'm off the job. I like my days off and vacations as much as the next guy. But today is different and it began with the message from the captain.
Normally I hear the greetings from a captain while sitting in the right seat of my airplane. They talk about the weather, the arrival time, all the usual stuff you hear sitting on an airplane. But today I'm on a 964 foot boat in the Pacific Ocean. And today that message from the captain is heard through the vessel's public address system.
I'm writing this from an internet cafe on the fifth deck of this beautiful cruise ship. It's a 5 day voyage up the coast of California that began in San Diego, yesterday. Beautiful weather, a fine crew, and excellent service. We are having a great time.
At precisely 10 AM this morning, Captain Zisis Tarames provided us with greetings and excellent information regarding our voyage. He updated us on the exact latitude and longitude, outside air and sea temperature, and weather forecast for our first port of call tomorrow. Everything you would expect from the captain's daily informational address, and I was very impressed with his precise tone and tenor transmitted through the ship's speakers. I feel good knowing that my family and this ship are in very capable hands.
One thing I missed though: no mention at all of Memorial Day.
I know this is a foreign registered vessel. The captain and many of the crew and passengers are not American citizens and there is certainly no obvious reason to expect mention of a US Holiday. But this morning at breakfast I spoke to a passenger with a World War II Veteran cap. He was in a wheelchair, and as we talked, I did the math. Every vet from that conflict is over the age of 80 and we are quickly reaching a time when the living reminders of that important point in our history will be nearly gone.
After speaking to the man, I wanted nothing more than the ability to hack into that ship's public address system, and say thank you to every veteran on board. Doesn't matter their nationality, because there are still many out there from other countries who have also sacrificed.
So today I will enjoy myself aboard a beautiful cruise ship. I will stand outside on a bright blue day, a steady strong breeze from the southwest across the deck, and I'll look above for the flags. Flags that distinguish this cruise ship as a peaceful vessel of commerce, transporting free citizens to wonderful destinations across the sea.
But I can also picture flags that are not there: rising suns and swastikas that once filled our national nightmares and fluttered above steel and barbaric ideas. Flags that could be there on this morning, but are not because of men and women who demonstrated courage and sacrifice in a manner that the average citizen can today hardly imagine.
That's why I wouldn't mind being in an airplane right now, nearly ready to pushback, microphone in hand addressing my customers. I'm very proud knowing that on over three thousand flights today that my airline will operate, the crew will begin each journey with a thank you to some very very special people on board.
Monday, May 28, 2012
Saturday, May 19, 2012
Cherokee People
There's an interesting race for a US Senate seat going on in Massachusetts.
Incumbent Scott Brown is in a close race against Elizabeth Warren and by most
accounts the campaign has been fairly civil. At least by today's standards. It's
taken an interesting twist, though.
A couple of weeks ago it was revealed that Ms. Warren has reported on some job applications that her race is American Indian, specifically Cherokee. Not every application she has ever filled out or even the ones after she found out that she has distant Indian relatives. Just some. Which means that on certain days, she considered herself American Indian, and on other days she did not.
This "minority status" apparently got her get hired onto the faculty of Harvard as a law professor. Years later, she seemed to have abandoned that claim to being a minority because there are records where she lists herself as Caucasian after being hired for this position. The University itself seems to have played along with this game, because for a while it pointed to Warren as an example of its "diverse" teaching staff.
I have more than a little interest to this side story in an important election. Let me say first, I am not an American Indian. I am not what anyone would consider a minority. I am, however a member of the Cherokee Nation, and I have been for many years. I've voted in every Oklahoma tribal election since 1994, but since I'm not a resident on a reservation in that state, I've never received any benefits to this membership. Whenever I fill out paperwork asking my race, it is and always has been: White or Caucasian.
When I was a teenager, I found out that my own grandmother was part Cherokee. She possessed a card issued by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma that certified her to be 1/8 American Indian. This is an official and sanctioned tribal government document and it is referred to as a CDIB card: Certified Degree of Indian Blood.
As I learned about about my grandmother's heritage at a fairly young age, I thought it was kind of cool. Having always considered myself an average white kid, and born into an era when being caucasian was going out of out of style, the idea of Native American heritage was instantly appealing. Sure the white folks could be made fun of on 70's TV shows like "Good Times" and "Sanford & Son." But I didn't feel so white any more, and I was able to gin up a respectable amount of indignancy toward the oppressors of American Indians, past and present.
The famous commercial of the 1970's where Iron Eyes Cody sheds a tear over an American landscape riddled with garbage seemed a little more personal to me. Paul Revere and the Raiders song "Cherokee People" spun endlessly on my turntable. I revealed this trivia about my bloodline to a few friends and being smart friends, they were not very impressed. Typical back and forths between us eighth graders would go like this: You don't look Indian. Well it doesn't matter, because I am, sort of. Is this why you have no facial hair? Are you going to end up dead drunk on the reservation?
Undeterred, I acquired the same CDIB card as my grandmother. It was a simple matter of paperwork with the Cherokee Nation. Factoring in two generations, and with no other part Indian relatives to add to the soup, my Cherokee purity ended up 1/32 on the card. Really - right around 3 percent which coincidentally is what Elizabeth Warren claims to be, also. A fraction like this should be plenty reason to laugh at anyone who claims minority status or significant Indian "heritage." But there is more. One big difference between myself and Ms. Warren is that she apparently is an undocumented Indian. That is, she does not have a CDIB card. She says she found out about all this through relatives. If you really want a chuckle, search for her comments about having "high cheek bones" as further proof of being Cherokee.
Another major difference exists between myself and US Senate Candidate Elizabeth Warren. I never once, claimed to be an American Indian on any official application. Not for college, the military, employment, anything, ever. Can't say why, and it's not because I'm not that cynical - because I certainly can be. I just never did the same thing as Elizabeth Warren, and I feel pretty comfortable knowing that the job I have now came about simply through good qualifications and a good interview.
Ms. Warren almost became head of the new agency designed to protect all US consumers. She wants to be a US Senator. I wonder how comfortable she is with the choice she made to treat heritage and the label of "minority" like a garment. To be worn like an attractive interview suit as part of the process of advancing a career. Then closeted away until next time.
Finally, I wonder if she thinks of the other applicants who did not claim to be a minority, but maybe were just as or even more qualified. The ones who thought they were playing fair. The ones who didn't con anybody. You know, the ones who got rejection letters.
A couple of weeks ago it was revealed that Ms. Warren has reported on some job applications that her race is American Indian, specifically Cherokee. Not every application she has ever filled out or even the ones after she found out that she has distant Indian relatives. Just some. Which means that on certain days, she considered herself American Indian, and on other days she did not.
This "minority status" apparently got her get hired onto the faculty of Harvard as a law professor. Years later, she seemed to have abandoned that claim to being a minority because there are records where she lists herself as Caucasian after being hired for this position. The University itself seems to have played along with this game, because for a while it pointed to Warren as an example of its "diverse" teaching staff.
I have more than a little interest to this side story in an important election. Let me say first, I am not an American Indian. I am not what anyone would consider a minority. I am, however a member of the Cherokee Nation, and I have been for many years. I've voted in every Oklahoma tribal election since 1994, but since I'm not a resident on a reservation in that state, I've never received any benefits to this membership. Whenever I fill out paperwork asking my race, it is and always has been: White or Caucasian.
When I was a teenager, I found out that my own grandmother was part Cherokee. She possessed a card issued by the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma that certified her to be 1/8 American Indian. This is an official and sanctioned tribal government document and it is referred to as a CDIB card: Certified Degree of Indian Blood.
As I learned about about my grandmother's heritage at a fairly young age, I thought it was kind of cool. Having always considered myself an average white kid, and born into an era when being caucasian was going out of out of style, the idea of Native American heritage was instantly appealing. Sure the white folks could be made fun of on 70's TV shows like "Good Times" and "Sanford & Son." But I didn't feel so white any more, and I was able to gin up a respectable amount of indignancy toward the oppressors of American Indians, past and present.
The famous commercial of the 1970's where Iron Eyes Cody sheds a tear over an American landscape riddled with garbage seemed a little more personal to me. Paul Revere and the Raiders song "Cherokee People" spun endlessly on my turntable. I revealed this trivia about my bloodline to a few friends and being smart friends, they were not very impressed. Typical back and forths between us eighth graders would go like this: You don't look Indian. Well it doesn't matter, because I am, sort of. Is this why you have no facial hair? Are you going to end up dead drunk on the reservation?
Undeterred, I acquired the same CDIB card as my grandmother. It was a simple matter of paperwork with the Cherokee Nation. Factoring in two generations, and with no other part Indian relatives to add to the soup, my Cherokee purity ended up 1/32 on the card. Really - right around 3 percent which coincidentally is what Elizabeth Warren claims to be, also. A fraction like this should be plenty reason to laugh at anyone who claims minority status or significant Indian "heritage." But there is more. One big difference between myself and Ms. Warren is that she apparently is an undocumented Indian. That is, she does not have a CDIB card. She says she found out about all this through relatives. If you really want a chuckle, search for her comments about having "high cheek bones" as further proof of being Cherokee.
Another major difference exists between myself and US Senate Candidate Elizabeth Warren. I never once, claimed to be an American Indian on any official application. Not for college, the military, employment, anything, ever. Can't say why, and it's not because I'm not that cynical - because I certainly can be. I just never did the same thing as Elizabeth Warren, and I feel pretty comfortable knowing that the job I have now came about simply through good qualifications and a good interview.
Ms. Warren almost became head of the new agency designed to protect all US consumers. She wants to be a US Senator. I wonder how comfortable she is with the choice she made to treat heritage and the label of "minority" like a garment. To be worn like an attractive interview suit as part of the process of advancing a career. Then closeted away until next time.
Finally, I wonder if she thinks of the other applicants who did not claim to be a minority, but maybe were just as or even more qualified. The ones who thought they were playing fair. The ones who didn't con anybody. You know, the ones who got rejection letters.
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