Inspection

If you were born today, you share a birthday with Shoeless Joe Jackson, Barbara Stanwyck, Orville Redenbacher, and Ginger Rogers. If you don't know who any of those people are, pay a visit to Mr. Google.

Harry Chapin passed away on this day in 1981. He played two concerts at my college - I ran a carbon-arc spotlight for one of them - and I have always been fond of his "story songs." Harry worked tirelessly for an organization he co-founded, called World Hunger Year, and they have named a Humanitarian Award after him.

He wrote the stage musical, "Cotton Patch Gospel," and in 1986 he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award a U.S. citizen can receive.

If you're interested, a complete list of Gold Medal recipients is here.

+++

When I was a Marine Captain stationed in Okinawa I had to accompany the Assistant Commandant on his inspection of the troops.

To break the silence, the General would periodically ask the Marine he was standing in front of which outfit he was serving with. Ramrod straight at attention, each serviceman would crisply respond, "Marine Air Group 36, sir!" or "Second Marine Division, General."

At the start of the line and the inspection one day, however, the General stopped in front of a young soldier who had recently arrived on the base. "Which outfit are you in?" he queried.

Not familiar with the General's habits, the Marine's eyes reflected a moment's confusion but he recovered quickly and loudly replied, "Dress blues, sir! With medals!"

[Joe's Clean Laffs]

+++

WISDOM for YOUR WEEK: "Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing." (2 Timothy 4:8)

+++

Mark's Musings salutes an RSS Feed and can also be inspected by your Inbox each weekday via e-mail. Award yourself with your very own subscription here! Facebook users can find my full blog here.