OUR MIRACLE BOY

- In memory of Tomo II (2007.1 ~ 2014.12.7)

Tomo’s nickname was “wee-wee boy” when he was still a baby.  During his housebreaking training period, he had peed on us, both Daddy and Mommy on two separate occasions when we were holding him and trying to get him outside quickly for relief.  Anyone who has two eyes, no strike that, one eye will be enough to see how sorry Tomo was for the accident.  He looked up at us with his big trusting brown eyes and blinked quickly as if saying, Oops! 

Tomo was a mix breed of Border collie (no doubt the cleverest kind) and black Labrador, but the emphasis was on the Labrador part for Tomo.  Indeed, Tomo Jr. was not as smart or as handsome as his predecessor Tomo Sr., but he certainly made up with the sweetness in his temperament.  He wagged his tail to the vet who was giving him vaccination or drawing blood; he wagged his tail to the vet who was poking him with lots of acupuncture needles; one time because of necessity, Daddy and Mommy had to hold him down when the vet sew him up with only local anesthesia, and yes, the tail was thumping on the surgery table loud and clear when he was in distress. That’s our boy Tomo, someone who was made of honey.

Tomo means “a friend” in Japanese and he has certainly lived up to his name.  While Nico III, our 10-year-old Golden Retriever can be rather grumpy when meeting a new addition to our household, Tomo always acted like a caring big brother when we brought back new puppies to the gang.  With an uncanny six sense, Tomo had also acted gently with other injured or sick dog with special tender care.  He would even yield his toys to them during a tug-of-war.  He just knew.

Tomo got sick in mid-October with Lyme disease complicated by kidney failure.  He was too weak to climb stairs for two weeks so we all camped downstairs with him sleeping on the floor.  Even with intensive care and treatment both at the hospital and at home, we all thought that we might have to face the inevitable soon.  However, Tomo decided that he wasn’t going to give up yet.  Miraculously, he regained appetite and wanted to go for walk, rode in the car, and stuck his little black nose out from the car window alongside with his two brothers, Nico III and Inu III.  No wonder, when Mommy walked Tomo into the hospital for another bloodwork checkup in mid-November, the veterinarian doctor said that she really did not expect to see Tomo again and in such high spirit.  The doc called Tomo “The Miracle Dog”!

Several friends and the vets had commented that Tomo was lucky to have us to care for him during his illness, but in reality it was the reverse.  Indeed, the fact that we have the good luck of becoming Tomo’s Daddy and Mommy for 8 years is a miracle of life.  Truthfully, why can’t we all be more like our dogs?  Giving unconditional love to others and live each moment to its fullest.  Unlike us, doggies are not angry or deceitful creatures.  They may growl and show disagreement to make a point from time to time, but they do not live in hatred.  No matter what the activities are, eating, playing, going out for walk and so on, they enjoy everything they do, and their joy just spill over for us to share.  More importantly, their seeking of happiness is not at the expense of others.

Saying goodbye to Tomo Jr. was such a tough decision, but it would be so wrong to prolong his suffering for our own sake.  While out driving with Nico and Inu earlier, as soon as a fire engine was in the vicinity, we started to wind up the window but stopped half way and burst into tears because it reminded us of Tomo, who “discriminated” against fire engine, not siren from police car or ambulance, and would howled along with their blasting horn.  But Daddy said that we should not shed too much tears because if we could not let go, then Tomo wouldn’t be able to go to heaven to visit Grandma, Inu I, Inu II, and Tottoro I, before he turns around and come back to us again soon.  Yes, ALL dogs go to heaven.  Where else can they go for such loving and selfless creatures?!

To Tomo II with Love, wet kisses, and bear hugs from the gang,

Daddy (Hiro), Mommy (Li-Lin), Stormy, Nico III, Tottoro III, & Inu III   

Tomo II (Day One with Daddy, April 2007)

  

WHY DICTATORSHIP DOESN’T WORK

– If only Hilter woke up earlier on June 6, 1944.

This year is the 70^th anniversary of Normandy Landings, the beginning of the ending of World War II.  It was also the largest seaborne invasion in history, an operation that eventually led to the liberation of the French Republic from Hitler.

Seventy years ago, General Eisenhower alerted the Allied armies with the green light to go for war. Members of the French resistance received coded messages through BBC broadcast to cut railway lines throughout the country and they were successful in nearly all the targets.  The troops of American, British, and Canadian all took their assignments in going after different sectors along the shore of Normandy.

The target 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast was divided into five sectors: Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno, and Sword Beach.  The attack started with extensive aerial and naval bombardment and an airborne assault.  The infantry and armored divisions began landing on the coast of France starting at 06:30.

Strong winds blew the landing craft east of their intended positions, particularly where American troop was heading at Omaha.  The landing craft had dropped them off too far from the shore, the men landed under heavy fire from gun emplacements on the cliffs overlooking the waterfront, and the shore was mined and covered with obstacles such as wooden stakes, metal tripods, and barbed wire, making the work of the beach clearing teams difficult and dangerous.  Furthermore, the air and naval bombardment did not soften up the defensive line at Omaha, an elite German infantry division, was far stronger and better trained than Allies had expected.

Almost nothing went according to plan on June 6th for the Allies; in fact, they failed to achieve all of their goals on the first day.

German casualties on D-Day were around 1,000 men; Allied casualties were at least 10,000.

Anyone who had seen the opening scene in “Saving Private Ryan” (1998), a movie directed by Steven Spielberg, could definitely understand how horrible and devastating the D-Day was.  Still, Normandy Landings was indeed the beginning of the ending of World War II.

Similar to the Allies, the Germans had also made numerous fatal miscalculations. The most important was their conviction that the invasion would be elsewhere, so they were caught by surprise at Normandy.  Nevertheless, the deepest trouble lied in Hitler’s distrust of his generals and their fear of acting without his approval. 

In fact, when Commander Gerd von Rundstedt ordered two panzer divisions to Normandy on D-Day, he first requested General Alfred Jodl’s approval.  However, Jodl told Rundstedt that Hitler was sleeping.  No one had the nerve to wake Hitler for approval and since he was a night owl mostly slept until noon, so the tanks were not moved into position.

There were numerous other examples how Hitler had denied the consultation from his high commanders.  Here is another example of why dictatorship doesn’t work.

Intelligence wise, Germans are indeed a clever bunch.  The German Air Force had many innovative designs over the Allies if not for Hitler’s interference.  One week before the beginning of WWII, in Aug, 1939, a German aircraft made the first jet-powered flight in history.  This was two years before the British or American flights, but Hitler stalled production and ordered only a few initial prototypes. 

Germans also had the world’s first operational fighter with turbojets, ME-262 (Messerschmitt Me 262 Swallow). It had a speed of 540 MPH and faster than any allied aircraft by 200 MPH.  However, it had a slow start due to the fact that Hitler insisted on a bomber, not a fighter. Because of his objections, they hung two 500 pound bombs under it and of course slowed the fighter jet down from “Swallow” to “Sparrow”.  When using as fighters as originally intended, here is a statistic to show off the superiority of ME-262, in March 1945 the German jet fighter wing shot down six American bombers and two fighters, and lost only one 262.

Here is another tale. Early in WWII, German scientists tried to get Hitler's permission to work on the development of radar but Hitler refused. Why not?  Because the research might take several years, and Hitler required any scientific research produce usable applications for the military within a year's time.

Indeed, the world should probably all be thankful for Hitler’s stubbornness and monumental stupidity.  And lucky for us (or unlucky?), almost all dictators are egotistic and lacks logics and common sense , even those who have risen to power through democratic legitimate means like Hitler.

*** As a footnote, below is an old article written in April 2013.

Operation  Horseley （馬桶作戰計劃）

Winston Churchill was famous for plotting spy and secret operations in his days.  In fact, he clearly enjoyed it.

As the World War II approaching its final years, in the summer of 1944, Churchill was losing his patience in bringing Germany down.

During the closing months of World War II UK secret agents hatched a plan to kill Adolf Hitler.

According to top secret British government papers revealed in 1998, the assassination plans were approved by the then prime minister, Winston Churchill.

This was called Operation Foxley.

So, what to do?  Explosives, bullets or poison?

However, there was substantial opposition within the Special Operations Executive, the agency responsible for operations behind the enemy lines, and they felt that Hitler was more valuable left in placer.

Even though the plan was approved by Churchill already, at the end, his was advised against the operation: "Killing Hitler would be a bad idea. We could make him a martyr and force Nazi to fight back harder.  Besides, He was such a poor strategist and making numerous mistakes, so why should we take out the person who was already ruining Germany for us?"

Indeed, learning from history, we should all fully support Mr. Ma Ying-Jeou （馬英九）to run again for party chairman of KMT (Kuomintang), the Chinese Nationalist Party.

Ma would do Taiwan a great favor for staying in KMT. 

As Hsu Sin-Lein（許信良）, an ex-chairman of DPP once said "Let KMT disappear from the planet of earth", Ma had been very diligent in making this happen in the past 5 years or so.

It will be recorded in the history as the "Operation Horseley".