Gosh.  I feel better now.  

The most common translation of the Latin phrase tabula rasa is "blank slate."  You would have known that was what I meant if you had taken a look at my avatar.

You make some good suggestions.

However, I'm unaware that Ricochet mandates that an "action plan" accompany all lamentation posts.  Indeed, my Webster's suggests that a lament is a proper form of verbal or written expression:  "a formal expression of sorrow or mourning, an elegy or dirge."  That is what I intended.

As to the historical bona fides of the formal lamentation, check out the the aptly named Lamentations in the OT.  So, should I in future post another lamentation, feel free to criticize my failure to attach the solution.  Or, better yet, if you note that a post is moving into lamentation territory, feel free to move on to the next post.  My posts are not required reading.

That's "blank slate."  

You'll note many qualifiers in my post (e.g., "[s]ome Americans care (and care a lot)"; "most Americans");  nothing I said was intended as a condemnation of everyone, nor do I believe I indicated a desire to speak for everyone.  

What am I doing about it?  Not enough.  But in terms of my own family I regularly tell them about what their grandfather was doing on specific days.  On D-Day, for example, I sent a mass email to my children and nieces and nephews reminding them of the importance of the day.  A few days ago, I sent another email telling the same group about the bocage ("hedgerow") warfare in Normandy.  On October 6 I remind them that this was the day he wounded.  See picture (he's the one with the sling):

Please explain why I hit a hot button with you.

I do tend to be too pessimistic.  I'm glad my kids got to know their grandfather.  I've made sure they know what he had to do in the war--for them.  I'm glad to say they love the stories, and have great respect for their grandfather.  

Maybe its a matter of all us who care telling the stories everywhere we go.   One of the problems is that people are interested in the stories (WWII books like Atkinson's sell tens of thousands of copies for a reason)--but the academic establishment has bought into this "peace studies" crap, so we can't upset Billy and Susie with violent facts.  Is there anything more stupid?

Tell your tailgunner friend my family loves him.

When my Dad turned seventy (almost fifty years to the day after he was wounded), he sat down at the old Smith-Corona typewriter that got me through college.  He told his war stories in detail (typing with two fingers).  He then asked me to turn his manuscript (which is a priceless possession) into readable form.  What a great experience.  I learned things he'd never talked about.  I read it every year, which--I suppose--is one reason it's all fresh to me and why it irritates me that we don't teach our kids about America's wars (can't have our kids exposed to violence).  

Doc:  Can I write your biography?  The problem will be "too much material."  I can jazz it up for you if you want.  

I've always thought that Santayana should have added this: " . . . and it gets worse each time it's repeated."

One of the great things about Ricochet is that you can say crazy things like "World War II," and people know exactly what and why your talking about.  I think we're the one's we've actually been waiting for.

Love him or hate him, Patton was a genius.  Ike, when he wasn't mad at Patton for something, summarized him well:  "He is a great fighting leader in pursuit and exploitation."  None better in the American army.

My father admired him.

Bless your father.  Hope he's still with us.  So few are.

Paules:  To your question.  Don't you think bureaucrats love complexity for two reasons?:  (1) only smart people can accomplish complicated things and they think they're smart (there's no heroism in simplicity); (2) complexity creates broad bureaucratic authority, and bureaucrats love authority.

Great analogy.  I can think of several aspects of Market Garden that are analogous to Obamacare.

There was one main road that all the ground troops had to stay on for 80-90 miles to get to the last bridge (the one at Arnhem).  Think of a one-size-fits-all plan that everyone must buy:  no low coverage option, no ability to pick and choose elements that work for you. As you can imagine, with Germans attacking on both sides it was cut off over and over and they never got even close to the airborne troops in Arnhem.  A few escaped, but most were killed, wounded, or captured.  

Or we could think of American citizens as the few British airborne troops who seized the north end of the bridge at Arnhem.  After getting hit by artillery shells, machine guns, and flame-throwers for days, many were dead, nearly all were wounded, and all were captured. Yup, I think that's about how Obamacare is going to work out for us.  

Lots of stuff happened in Market Garden--none of it actually helped win the war.   That sounds like Obamacare too.

It's pretty hard to accept the liberal view that things like Obamacare are the moral equivalent, or better, than America's role in defeating the Nazis and the communists.

I have a close friend in his late-seventies now. He grew up as a young boy in Germany.  His father was drafted in the Wehrmacht in 1940.  Hans and his family saw him about twice until he showed up in Berlin in the summer of 1945.  He served because he was forced to--and he moved his family to America as soon as he could.  Hans served in the US Army in the K0rean War.

My point:  Hitler preyed on ordinary Germans too (I'm not talking about SS thugs). Hans despised the Nazis.  He has a heavy German accent, but he's as American as apple pie--you won't find a more patriotic man.

I should add that the Audible version of Atkinson's book is superb.  L. J. Ganser is an excellent reader, and he gets the pronunciations of foreign cities and names just right.   And he doesn't try for a fake British accent when Churchill is quoted.  He just plays it straight.

A case can certainly be made for that particular analogy.  I was hoping someone could make a case for some kind of "don't worry, be happy" analogy.  

I agree with one and all.  Though it's not gone completely, so many in our culture seems to lack the ability to translate inference and subtlety into their brains.  Thus sex must be displayed in its clinical detail (yuck!!) and in action movies things don't just blow up, they BLOW UP and BLOW UP and then BLOW UP.  

This is the culture in which Dan Brown sells a gazillion of his ahistorical thrillers, and Marilynne Robinson may sell one hundred thousand.  Brown keeps you turning the pages, but it's all empty calories.