The Fog of War

Will they dare a third attack?
Is a question seen in every eye; Old Put across the neck and back,
Rides slowly, their vengeance to defy—
Wildy, in that deadly hour,
The Ramparts shove their bolted shower,
While mid the waving fog of war,
Thunders the Yankee’s loud hurrah

McDonald Clarke from his poem “The Battle of Bunker Hill”

Did you watch the vice-presidential debate last night? We watched for a while, but I find in my old age that I just get uncomfortable with so much antagonism. I congratulate both of the debaters last night for not duplicating the spectacle of rudeness, misinformation and lack of respect of the first Trump-Harris debate.  But whose fault was that? Whose fault is that? There is so much misinformation being thrown about that as people who don’t devote our entire lives to this stuff, it becomes so muddled. We don’t know what to believe.  There is this term called “the fog of war.” It was first used in a poem from 1775 describing an assault on the American positions at Bunker Hill in the very beginnings of the Revolutionary War. The first known attempt to explicitly define the “fog of war” in a military text was made in 1896 in a book titled The Fog of War by Sir Lonsdale Augustus Hale, where it is described as “the state of ignorance in which commanders frequently find themselves as regards the real strength and position, not only of their foes, but also of their friends.” Wow, that is kind of how I feel during election season – it’s a foggy war. We don’t know what our political opponents might do or think and we’re not even POSITIVE about what the candidates that we do support might do or think!!

I shouldn’t be coy. Given what I have personally seen him do since 2016, I can NOT vote for a ticket with the name of Donald J. Trump on it. But I haven’t REALLY seen Kamala Harris in action. Yes, she was our vice president and has served as a US Senator from California and as attorney general for that state. I like much of what she says. I am fiscally and socially more conservative than she is. Of course, her running mate, Governor Tim Walz is from our state, and I feel like I know a lot more about what kind of a person he is. I don’t like everything he has done in our state. I am much more fiscally conservative than he is too, and more socially conservative too. But having said that I will tell you that I voted for him, twice. Are we friends? Hardly. Do I really know him? Well maybe in just a small way, I can personally blow away some of the fog of war about the character of Tim Walz. This I witnessed:

Several years ago, at the end of the month of May there was a tragedy in our family. Kris, the husband of our niece, aged 37, and father of three was stricken by a heart attack while on his morning run. He perished a very short time later. I can also personally tell you that he was a great kid with a great future. He was a great athlete playing football in high school and college. How could someone so fit and so full of life be taken? As you can imagine the shock and grief were overwhelming for his family and friends. The funeral was held at a large church in the southern suburbs and as you would expect there was a throng of people there to pay their respects and to comfort the grieving family.

We were trying to help with some of the details of the arrangements and were at the back of the church as the pre-funeral greeting time was drawing to a close. The immediate family was preparing to enter the church. Very quietly, with absolutely no fanfare, a man accompanied by another, approached our niece, embraced her, and did the same as all of the rest of us were trying to do – gave comfort and paid respect. It turns out that the guy was Kris’ history teacher and his football coach. Apparently in his line of work late May is a difficult time because the legislature had adjourned without finishing its business and heavy negotiations were underway regarding the budget and other issues. But he found time to come to the funeral of one of his former students. After the family went in for the service, Governor Walz went in and sat near the back of the church for the service and after the service quietly left. He had no entourage, no photographer. There was no press conference, no attempt to convince anybody that he was just this average, caring kind of guy who was grieving for his former student. But he convinced me.

So, amid the fog of this war that we call our national election. I can clear a little bit of that for you regarding the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate. This action taken when really nobody but a few even noticed, told me more about him than a thousand political ads. Just saying………………