Home » Writer's Blogs » Sandra-E-Graham

My Articles and Books

Sandra E. Graham ^(7,796) Silver Level Author

Sandra E. Graham

My Books and Articles

So, Why Did the Elephant Cross the Road?

Posted Saturday, November 07, 2009 (59 minutes ago.) Viewed 3 times.

Here in Arkansas we have our ‘Deer Crossings', ‘Turkey Crossings', and ‘Cattle Crossings'; Enid, Oklahoma seems to need an ‘Elephant Crossing'!

The 911 call came in to the dispatcher in Enid late Thursday evening, causing the dispatcher to tap his mike a few times to check that it was working properly and ask again---"You hit a what!????"

Yes, the couple returning home from church confirmed that the dispatcher had heard right the first time. They had hit an Elephant! Now, hitting a cow with a vehicle can do major damage; hitting a horse with a vehicle can do major damage; but can you imagine hitting a several ton pachyderm? At first the driver of the SUV wondered what was really in the wine they had just consumed in rememberance of the Lord's Supper during church that evening.

"The elephant had escaped from the Family Fun Circus at the Garfield County Fairgrounds earlier Wednesday after something spooked it while it was being loaded into a truck with another elephant." Stated Olson, the local veterinarian who treated the Elephant for a broken tusk and a leg injury. "I don't believe there is a broken bone, but then I don't have an exray room big enough to examine it," Olson added.

Dr. Olson found the elephant hiding in bushes beside the road when he arrived on the scene. The elephant handlers from the Fun Circus were soon able to calm the elephant down so that the doctor could treat her leg wounds and give her some pain killers.

(AP Photo/Enid News & Eagle, Billy Hefton)

Luckily, the 68-year-old driver of the SUV saw the Elephant in time to swerve and avoid a head on collision with the huge animal. The elephant's tusk tore through the vehicle's side, shredding the sheet metal, but the occupants didn't receive any injuries. Perhap's the Lord was watching over them that evening.

At any rate, I suggest that if you're just out joy riding or returning from a calming evening of church fellowship; be prepared to expect the unexpected. You never know what may decide to cross the road at any given moment. Keep your high beams on high whenever possible and watch the sides of the road for glowing eyes. You never know when those amber globes will belong to something larger than a cat.

Permalink Comments (0)

The Restoration of The Berlin Wall---Art and Commemoration Combined

Posted Friday, November 06, 2009 (23 hours 47 minutes ago.) Viewed 19 times.

Actually, it isn't the entire Wall that is being restored, but a three-quarter mile section that has remained (more or less) standing since the wall's historic opening in the late 80's. The section of wall will become a symbol for future generations, a symbol of freedom' in a manner of speaking---as East met West for the first time since the Wall's construction in 1961.

Crumbling and disintegrating, whether from age, souvenir hunters, and weather rot, the last remaining section of the Wall had become an eye-sore to the area until a group of artists began a project to re-paint murals that they themselves had originally painted on the wall decades before. The Wall has been turned into a memorial of sorts; remembering a time of ending the division and dissatisfaction of a country that had survived and put behind them the horrors of Nazism.

The painted wall "is a document that allows future generations to picture for themselves what the wall meant," Mayor Klaus Wowereit said at an inauguration ceremony for the restoration.

Kani Alavi, head of the East Side Gallery Artists' Association was the driving force behind the restoration project and said that the Wall as an East Side Gallery would, " stand for democracy and human rights."

The Berlin Wall was originally constructed to keep East Germans basically captive in their own country. According to statistics, 3.5 million East Germans left for the West before the construction of the Wall in 1961, totaling 20% of the entire East German population. And most of these emigrants were young and well educated-leading to what officials of East Germany dubbed "The Brain Drain".

The creation of the Wall had important implications for both German states. By stopping the exodus of people from East Germany, the East German government was able to reassert its control over the country: in spite of discontent with the wall, economic problems caused by dual currency and the black market were basicly eliminated, and the economy in the German Democratic Republic began to grow. On the other hand though, the Wall proved a public relations disaster for the communist sector as a whole. Western powers used it in propaganda as a symbol of communist tyranny, particularly after the shootings of attempting defectors (which were later treated as acts of murder by the reunified Germany).

It is planned that on November 9, 2009, Berlin will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with a "Festival of Freedom", during which over 1,000 foam domino tiles over 8 feet tall will be stacked along the former route of the wall in the city center and toppled.

In the United States, the German Embassy is coordinating a public diplomacy campaign with the motto "Freedom Without Walls" to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. And that, I think, says it all---" Freedom without walls!"

Permalink Comments (2)

Shooting at Fort Hood----Is Killing Becoming Second Nature?

Posted Thursday, November 05, 2009 (2 days 2 hours ago.) Viewed 402 times.

A soldier, a Major, a Psychiatrist, a person sworn to help soldiers cope with numerous tours of duty and the combat stress that haunts so many of our soldiers, has done the unthinkable---lost his own grip on sanity and methodically killed and wounded over forty of his own countrymen. Fort Hood , Texas has become our latest killing ground.

Thousands upon thousands of soldiers pass through Fort Hood at any given time. My son spent his time there during his first years of service. And we don't think we have to worry about our service boys and girls while they're on American soil---at least, we didn't until today. I have to ask, "What is becoming of our country? Is killing becoming second nature to us? Are we becoming no better than the terrorists that we have vowed to eradicate?

Or, are we still turning a blind eye to the terrorists who are working their way into our confidences? Are we too trusting, just to show how open-minded and receptive we are to other beliefs and policies? For as with Major Hasan, who is believed to have been a convert to Islam, were the killings supposed to be his way of striking out at the American government? The United States is very tolerant of any religious life. Our constitution, and particularly the First Amendment, guarantees all citizens the right to have and express their faith.

I'm sure Major Malik Nidal Hasan did not consider our soldiers, who like himself, were being deployed to Iraq or Afganistan, to be innocent victims of his misplaced faith (or just plain unjustified rage). The average American soldier is there to do a job---the job to help relieve the oppression of people anywhere in the world. Their primary issue isn't to kill indiscriminately or because of a person's political or religious beliefs.

How many more lives must be sacrificed before our leaders open their eyes to what has been right in front of their noses since pre-9/11? Have we learned nothing? I'm sure not all Muslims hate Americans or the American government, but there have to be some sort of warning signs that are a prelude to the massacres that stain our homeland. How much longer before our own country is torn by civil strife that keeps third-world countries third-world'?

The radical Muslim must realize that their project has brought more disadvantage than benefit to the Muslim world. And if they truly want to fight for the Muslim world, they need to recalculate what the Muslims have experienced after 9/11. And on the same hand, the United States government needs to understand that their interventionist policies have just triggered more hatred of our government and its people. But there again, we are not a country to stand by while innocent people are killed and maimed by radicals and terriorists.

We have our problems---killing won't solve any of them.

Permalink Comments (33)

Archives:

November 2009
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13	14
15	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30
« Oct

All Posts by Sandra E. Graham

My Articles and Books

So, Why Did the Elephant Cross the Road?

The Restoration of The Berlin Wall---Art and Commemoration Combined

Shooting at Fort Hood----Is Killing Becoming Second Nature?

Archives:

Previous Posts:

Related Posts:

Blogroll