Ezra's Essays

Category: War

A WORD OR TWO ABOUT MATE, JOE AND YANK – AND STAYING STRONG | Meditations Chapter 18: First and Third Verses

Earlier this month, the news from Australia was profoundly disturbing. An element of the government there suggested that the Aussie population would be asked to avoid the use of “Mate” in addressing other people, Aussie or foreign. When John Howard the Prime Minister heard of this proposed edict, he denounced it – which is as…

March 8, 2017
ATTENTION: FALL OUT | Meditations Chapter 15: Verses Clayton, Mo. Through Crawdaddy, Texas

In Chapter 13 of these sacred Meditations, there was a reference to one of the basic principles of the American Army. If the Army possessed a stone tablet reflecting the Ten Army Commandment, high on that list would be the injunction about not thinking. Simply put, soldiers would be warned that they don’t get paid…

March 5, 2017
SATURDAY AFTERNOON THOUGHTS DURING AUGUST HEAT | Meditations Chapter 14: Verses Amos to Andy

It may be that the string of temperatures of over 90 degrees has gotten to the old essayist. For an old geezer from St. Louis where the summer temperatures are reminiscent of the home that Satan enjoys, it must be said that the heat is more than impressive. All of this leads to a series…

March 5, 2017
BLOODY CODGERS | Meditations: Chapter XII, Verses Leviticus – Levi’s Jeans

BLOODY CODGERS ARE ALMOST ALWAYS ORNERY OR CODGERS ARE OFTEN BLOODY ORNERY OR ORNERY CODGERS ARE USUALLY BLOODY MEAN Meditations: Chapter XII, Verses Leviticus – Levi’s Jeans Verse 1: Good Old Words Don’t pay too much attention to the titles for this part of the current Meditations series. Nostalgia has overtaken me as there is…

March 1, 2017
A POTPOURRI OF THOUGHTS | Meditations: Chapter 11, Verses Genesis to Exodus

Verse 1. THE AUSTRALIAN CONNECTION My final job at AT&T was in the Overseas Department where it was necessary to deal with all the other telecommunications organizations in the world on mutual problems. In many cases, it was a matter of maintaining harmonious relations with people who were very different from ourselves as well as…

February 28, 2017
BEING BUFFALOED AND OTHER RESPONSES | Meditations Chapter Ten: Verses Ezra to Micah

On Tuesday evening, June 28th, the peerless President took over the broadcasting networks to ask for patience and understanding as the ill-gotten Iraqi war proceeds well into its third year. The theme was the well worn phrase, “As the newly trained Iraqis stand up, we Americans can stand down.” Emperor Rumsfeld said a week before…

February 28, 2017
FURTHER PROFOUND MEDITATIONS | Chapter Nine: Verses Leviticus to Haggai

The last Meditation seemed to exhaust the ready reserve supply. So it was my thought to put the Meditation series aside and go on to other projects unless there was a celestial sign that further work on this series would be met with ecclesiastical acclaim. In the middle of the seventh inning at Yankee Stadium,…

February 27, 2017
SECOND CHANCES | Meditations – Chapter Three

For nearly 63 years, this old broken-down soldier has thought that he and five other GI’s, could have acted more graciously in not accepting an offer by a gentleman to pay for a breakfast we ate in a civilian restaurant. Once the offer was either not accepted or if you will, rejected, there were no…

February 14, 2017
SADDAM’S UNDERWEAR | Meditations – Chapter Two

Readers are warned that this essay is concerned about men’s under shorts and briefs. It would be a great disappointment to this old essay writer to have my readers expecting a display rivaling a Victoria’s Secret catalogue. This is a work of utmost modesty. It could be delivered profitably by some Protestant preachers who appear…

February 14, 2017
IT’S NO BIG DEAL

For better or worse, it is my belief, or conviction, that in times past, folk singers were the essayists of the day. There was a time when universal literacy was only a dream among educators. For example, when my ancestors left Ireland during the Famine which started in 1845, they were farmers who did not…

February 13, 2017