Tipping Point

[The following is my comment on a recent article in the online Syracuse Post-Standard titled, "Fort Drum Soldier, Captured in Photo with Baby in March, Killed in Afghanistan." The photo was of Lt. Timothy Steele kissing his infant daughter goodbye shortly before his deployment with the Army's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division.]

During the '60s and '70s we marched on Washington and campaigned door to door to get our politicians to end a wasteful and pointless war in Southeast Asia. The cynics said that the tipping point would come when enough children of the white middle class were brought home in body bags and maybe, at that time in our history, there was some truth in that.

But the years have passed, we've been through 9/11, and we seem to have accepted the notion that we can support our brave young soldiers--like Lt. Steele, like Skealoha's son, like my nephew Erik--even if we disagree with the mission. And like so many others I thought it would be enough, that our voices would be heard, if we voted for change in our most recent national election.

Mr. President, members of Congress, fellow citizens, sending Predator drones into Pakistan and cruise missles into Lybia, while maintaining what is seen by others as an army of occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, is NOT the change we voted for.

Many of us have complained about the widespread corruption which our tax dollars seem to be funding in such places as Iraq and Afghanistan. But the worst betrayal by far is right here at home where politicians argue endlessly about our ruined economy while doing nothing to end the daily loss of our families' and our nation's most precious and irreplaceable treasure.

Mr. President and members of Congress, we have empowered you to end this. Another day of honor guards and folded flags and medals, given in recognition of duties faithfully performed, is another day in which you have not done yours. The tipping point is here and now.

LPK
LiveJournal
8.25.2011 (a)

Kid Golf

Two summers ago, I bought a USKids hybrid golf club at Walmart for my grandson Jason. He was six years old then, and needed something to do between the end of spring soccer and Little League and the beginning of school in the fall. I also bought him a bag of wooden tees and a pack of foam-core practice balls. Unlike the whiffle-style practice balls I remember seeing when I was a kid, you can actually drive the foam-core ones reasonably straight and far and they're still not dense enough to damage anything they hit.

At first, we tried teeing-up behind the house, but the yard is small and fenced in on all sides and we kept losing the balls. So then we moved out front. The front lawn is a postage stamp-sized mound of grass between the sidewalk and front porch but there's enough room to swing a golf club if there's no one on the sidewalk. And the neighbors' front lawns offer a half-block fairway in either direction, so that was where we ended up playing.

From day one, the little kid had a vicious swing, probably due to the hours of batting practice we'd done with him for baseball. Only problem with that is that in baseball you step into the pitch and drive off the back leg for power. In golf, you keep both feet in place and develop power through the length of your swing. But he caught on quickly and, every so often, between outright misses and the ones that dribbled a few feet down the sidewalk, he'd smack one three or four houses down the street.

Until last winter, that was about the extent of our golf activities. Occasionally, we'd go over to Sunnycrest Park, where there's a city-owned nine-hole course, not to actually play the course but just to practice drives off the hill nearest our house. And he'd play an occasional round of Putt-Putt with his dad or Aunt Sarah.

But during the Christmas break we stayed overnight at the Turning Stone Casino Resort and decided to take a walk over to the Sports Dome where there are tennis courts, a handball court, and a two-tiered driving range and practice green for golf. And we decided that on our next visit we'd bring the hybrid and try the driving range.

I can't tell you how funny it is to see this skinny little fifty-pound kid driving balls eighty and ninety yards off a tee when the adults around him are struggling just to make contact with the ball. Of course, it's taken us a while to get to that point and consistency is something that all golfers must continuously work for but, since we've been going every week, that's come along too.

On one of our first trips to the range, Marty the club pro stopped by and, after chatting for a few minutes, took us down to the instructional area where he did a computer analysis of Jason's swing, gave him a Ping 9-iron that had been cut down to kid-size and fitted with a new grip, and told us about a fun-with-math website to help with the academic side of things. (Marty has an eight or nine year old of his own.)

Since then, we've added a USKids putter and, most recently, a USKids Ultra-Lite driver. The advantage of a pure driver is that it has the longest shaft length combined with lightest mass and is specifically designed for distance off the tee. And even though Jason's hybrid is a cross between the driver and an iron, some feel that the driver itself can be a bit tricky for beginners to master. (For one thing, the loft or angle of the striking face is a lot shallower than that of the hybrid or an iron.)

With that in mind, I warned Jason that his new driver might take some getting used to. I was still fumbling around in one of the bags of loaner clubs, stationed along the railing behind the driving range, when I happened to glance over at Jason. He had teed up his first ball, set his feet, and with no hesitation blasted it into the dome wall beyond the ninety-yard marker and about 10-15 feet off the floor.

All I could say was, "Gee, that must be a good sign."

LPK
LiveJournal
8.25.2011 (b)