THOSE 'BLANKETY-BLANK' RIBBONS

Do you know the ones I mean?

If you held an end of your towel in each hand and then flipped the towel over your head onto the back of your neck and then crossed the ends in front of you over your chest, you would have created the shape with your towel. (Kinda like what a yuppie does with a sweater only different).

When were we first 'blessed' with such refinements in haberdashery? Our cause displayed on our bosom. Bosom? Buxom?

That makes me think of pink ones (Ribbons, that is). They represent the cause of Breast Cancer.

(Sorry, I can't let this opportunity to tell a joke get away: Little Joey goes next door to get his playmate, Billy, and accidentally surprises Billy's mother about to step into the shower. She quickly covers her breasts with her hands and arms, but Joey's curiosity makes him ask, "What are those?" Billy's mother responds, "They are just my puppies." "Oh," Joey says. After a moment of deep thought, he asks, "If you ever decide to give them away, can I have the one with the pink nose")?

At least pink isn't for homosexuals - - - yet. I wonder what color they do have? Maybe they don't even have a color, unless we consider the 'Aids' one as theirs. I don't even know what color that is. Nor do I care.

I have seen pink ones, yellow ones, and black ones. I think I have seen green ones and perhaps even white. The whole phenomena didn't make much of an impression on me. A grunt and a shrug. Just another outward sign of the Pathos that we seem so willing to shoulder (and foist onto others) these days. Whatever happened to the idea of bearing your cross in silence and in private?

Then, as frequently happens these days, something happened to ignite my passion. (Ooh, I love it when I talk like this).

No, it wasn't Viagra! It was a huge billboard sign as I approach my beloved adopted town from the east. Just a plain old billboard with a simple sign and a slogan that stated, "United We Stand!" An attempt to foster patriotism and 'oneness' in our campaign against terrorism. Ok, no problem with that, right?

Wrong, wrong, wrong! Very, very, very wrong. I got very upset and was not immediately sure why. It took several times of going by the billboard before I could form my objection and even longer before the final piece that explained my reaction became known.

I have left something out that you need. The words were on the right half of the sign. On the left half was a representation of one of those twisted ribbons.

What color was it, you may be asking? Maybe you are not. Maybe you have even seen a sign like it. The ribbon is red, white, and blue like our flag, complete with stripes and stars.

Do you find this offensive? I did. Why not a representation of the flag instead? What is wrong with a picture of our flag? Why a blankety-blank twisted ribbon symbol, the very embodiment, through usage, of Pathos (yes, pathos with a capital 'P'). Do you expect to see such ribbons replace flag pins on the chests of liberals?

I don't. They wouldn't wear a flag pin, so there would be nothing to replace. However, they just might wear one of the twisted ribbons in red, white, and blue. It would be like them to mix Pathos and Our Colors. I can even see it as becoming 'politically correct,' implying that patriotism is the disease 'de jure.'

Finally, I had one of those 'epiphanies' in the form of a Vietnam 'flashback' while watching "Bright Shining Lie" on my VCR. I am a 'Vietnam Era' but not a 'Vietnam' veteran. Only recently have I tried to dip into the history of that mess. One of the things I have been hoping to learn is the fate of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade which received advanced training at the same installation that I did. Rumor had it that they encountered a very bad time upon reaching Vietnam. I would like to know what happened.

It was in recalling their shoulder patch, their unit insignia, that finally opened my eyes. It was the missing piece, the key.

You see, if you turn those symbols of Pathos upside down, you will have the shape that the 196th wore proudly. It is not supposed to be a twisted ribbon.

No, it represents the fuse used to fire the old matchlock guns used in the very old days of our country's history. The fuse was made in this shape so that there would be two ends to light, thus, doubling the chances one side would actually ignite the powder. I am guessing that the fuse was crossed so that one side could re-start the other in case one went out before reaching the intersection.

Can you surmise, having this additional information, why I would be even more angry? Well, I am going to tell you, but you already knew that!

Someone (it looks very much like us) has done a "one-eighty" with or in this country. Too many things (perhaps all the important things) have been turned on their head. Good is bad. Bad is good. Liberals even try to tell us that up is down and vice-versa. The fuse/ribbon embodies, for me, this ongoing crime.

There is a certain etiquette, I believe, concerning the hanging of a horseshoe over a doorway. (Don't smirk, this is important)! The horseshoe should be nailed up so it looks like the letter 'U.' If it is displayed with the open end down there will be bad luck. All the good things will fall out.

I don't like to see the open end down with those ribbons. Will all the good stuff fall out? It seems to be true to me.

Ribbons and bows. More of the feminization of our society? I dunno. I just know that I don't feel their pain. Nor do I want to. I piss on their Pathos. I piss on their ribbons. And, piss on them!

There are real ribbons for men (and women too), but the shape is different, and so are the reasons for them.

Asides:

Coors Brewing was the sponsor of that sign. Whatsa matter with them? Makes me think some regulatory agency made them do it as a public service to atone for a past beerspill

Check to see if you visualized the fuse correctly:

196th Patch

Interested in the story of the 196th? In the limited time I have searched so far, the following seem to be the best:

Operation Attleboro by Marion L. Ellard

Operation Attleboro; the 196th Light Infantry Brigade's Baptism of Fire by Col. Charles K. Nulsen, Jr., USA(Ret)

Copyright © 2002, Donald L. Beeman. All rights reserved.

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