Back in the "Hood"

Baltimore, September 1, 1918,  2:30PM

I'm back home in my neighborhood for a 10-day visit to catch up with local events here.

Unexpectedly several larger national and international events have also occurred.   One of which was Senator John McCain's memorial service which I watched this morning.  More about that in a bit.

Yesterday I went to Baltimore's Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and watched an exclusive BBC broadcast on the big screen of our great symphony orchestra's performance at the "BBC Proms" in London. Their main performance was Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony.

Shostakovich feared for his life being out of favor with Stalin for a previous creation.  Fortunately, this one was OK with the authorities even though it honestly rendered life in those perilous times. It got me thinking about how we have it so good in the West and how we take it so for granted.

Today after watching McCain's Memorial Service I headed downtown for lunch and found out why they were putting up the tents yesterday at our Symphony Hall.   I asked a participant what the occasion was for.  He told me it was the 10th anniversary of a local Indian (as in India) group.

I wished him and his family a good time and thought how nice it is we have such friendly and interesting and colorfully dressed different cultures in our city.

Fortunately, others feel the same way as reflected in this sign someone planted by a tree next to my house.    Except I can't show you the sign as just now I went out to take a picture of it and it is gone.  And I did not find it elsewhere in the neighborhood.

Why does this matter?  The U.S. is important to the world.  Our values matter.  We have the power to positively influence what happens elsewhere in the world.  We should care about others.  Not just ourselves.

We have had good leaders who stand up for our values and today that was on exhibit at McCain's Memorial Service.

With all (but one) of the Washington power elite in attendance, I would like to think that being so movingly reminded of what McCain and this country at its best has stood for, some of those who could make a difference will find the courage to do so.   As I headed out my door to go to lunch I ran into my neighbor and expressed this very thought.

To which he said "Good Luck". 

If you didn't see the memorial service you can watch it here.  Just click on the arrow on the video below.   If you don't have time for the full video look at the directions I've written below the video to see what IMHO are the most important parts to watch and how to access them.

I hope as you watch this service you may share my hope that we will experience "Good Luck" in the days ahead and get back to those values that as I've traveled in other countries have made me feel so lucky and proud to be able to say,   "I am an American".


To see just the most important parts IMHO click on the arrow (lower left-hand corner) to start the video then slide your cursor above the red timeline and click at the following times:
1:07 McCain's daughter Meghan
1:30 Former Senator Joe Lieberman
1:53 Former Secretary of StateHenry Kissinger
2:11 Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama