Westside Messenger - May 15th, 2022

PAGE 4 - WESTSIDE MESSENGER - May 15, 2022
Opinion Page
www.columbusmessenger.com
Ukraine needs people willing to stand up to a bully
Most of our childhood memories vanish over time like
rain droplets hitting the hot pavement and evaporating
into the air following a passing summer shower. Only a
few make lasting impressions. The tragedy in Ukraine
opened one of those files from the 1960 drawer for me. I
was in sixth grade. My dad took me to see a new movie,
“The Alamo.”
Being such a young lad, I didn’t question any of the
inaccuracies in the movie. For all I knew, John Wayne was
the real Davy Crockett and Richard Widmark was Jim
Bowie. I sat glued and mesmerized to the screen for the
entire movie. I’ve recalled one particular scene in that
movie many times in my lifetime. The sad Ukraine situation
has once again resurfaced it.
The men inside the Alamo Mission had repelled two
advances by the brutal army of Mexico’s General Santa
Anna. The siege was on the eve of going onto its 13th day.
The small Alamo force, under command of William Travis,
was grossly undermanned and poorly equipped. He was
begging for outside support from the government. But the
United States had a treaty with Mexico and feared supplying
men and weapons would have been an overt act of war.
Sam Houston was training reinforcements who were sympathetic
for establishment of the Republic of Texas cause,
but they weren’t ready for combat. The small Alamo contingent
was thus on their own and their probable demise
on the upcoming day all but certain.
It’s the dark night before the final attack on the Alamo.
The movie cameras take us inside. Such a moving scene
that made this little boy feel like he was there with them.
It’s eerily quiet as the men contemplate their lives, families
and final thoughts of their certain demise. In the background
the movie’s theme song starts, “The Green Leaves
of Summer,” a beautiful harmonizing ballad about life’s
beginning and ending journey, sung by folk music group
The Brothers Four. There’s a conversation between characters
Smitty (Frankie Avalon, hit song “Venus” in 1959)
and Parson:
Smitty: So many times every day you stop and give
thanks, but mostly I don’t catch on what you’re thanking
the Lord for. I mean, there’s nothing special.
Going shopping
R
R
E
P
D
Y
J
G
A
Z
E
H
R
C
P
W
E
X
C
H
A
N
G
E
Z
I
S
A
Z
V
U
C
T
O
I
D
B
C
R
E
D
I
T
S
A
F
I
Z
U
Z
G
A
P
U
R
C
H
A
S
E
H
R
R
N
R
R
R
I
U
A
N
M
T
N
J
K
P
E
T
T
N
G
R
S
J
P
N
G
I
T
E
R
C
E
G
N
A
H
C
L
U
R
D
K
D
Q
O
E
R
B
D
I
D
E
O
E
O
C
I
K
L
M
I
U
U
E
N
C
C
G
U
A
S
N
I
X
O
P
R
R
A
E
S
G
K
R
P
T
A
G
Z
T
T
X
R
L
I
A
C
F
L
S
O
M
B
I
I
L
B
Q
D
B
L
F
A
P
Q
W
N
K
P
O
S
Q
P
N
Y
E
Y
R
L
J
K
T
J
K
N
O
I
T
C
E
L
E
S
L
J
Z
I
G
Parson: I give thanks for the time and for the place.
Smitty: The time and the place, Parson?
Parson: The time to live and the place to die. That’s all
any man gets. No more, no less.
Shortly after the sun rose the next morning Santa
Anna’s overwhelming forces attacked again. Before long it
was over, the entire Alamo garrison cruelly massacred. I
remember how shaken and upset I was as I quietly walked
out to the car, wondering why no one had come to their rescue,
how they could have just sat by and let it happen. The
old, “it’s just a movie” line from dad didn’t help. It happened
in history and it’s now happening again in Ukraine,
this time at the hands of a different man, a bully who can’t
put together a complete sentence that’s not full of major
lies, an uncivilized barbarian who has no place being on
Planet Earth.
One of my all-time favorite shows from way back when
was Jackie Gleason (Ralph Kramden) in “The
Honeymooners.” The sad Ukraine situation surfaced my
memories of a specific episode. Ralph had witnessed a
hold-up by two thugs. Realizing he could identify them, the
crooks followed him home. They tied Alice, Ralph’s wife, up
in a chair and one of them took Ralph into the other room
to be worked over. Alice is crying and distraught as the
banging and booming is heard in the other room. She fears
the worst. Then, the door opens and rolly polly Ralph
proudly struts out and exclaims, “he obviously never faced
a New York City bus driver before. I deal with punks like
him every day.” The other thug takes off. Ralph stood up to
the bullies and won.
As my mind pondered the Ukraine tragedy, I also found
myself recalling an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show.”
It’s the one where Opie gets picked on by the school bully
and must fork over his daily lunch money to him or get
beat up. His dad, Andy, finds out and has a long talk with
Opie, basically saying sometimes you’ve got to stand up for
something. Opie returns from school the next day with a
black eye and a big smile and regained self-respect. He’d
stood up to the bully and was now being left alone.
In another episode Barney is intimidated by two bully
men illegally selling farm produce along the road after he
W
Q
J
V
J
N
M
E
H
L
H
X
I
N
K
Messenger Word Search
AISLE
BAGGER
BARGAIN
BRAND
CART
CASHIER
CHANGE
COUNTER
COUPON
CREDIT
DEAL
DISCOUNT
DISPLAY
EXCHANGE
FREEBEE
MANIKIN
PRICE
PROMOTION
PURCHASE
RACK
RECEIPT
RETURN
SALE
SAMPLE
SELECTION
SIZE
SPREE
TAG
Guest Column
Dave Burton
asked to move along. The implication was they’ll beat him
up when they see him out of uniform. He starts wearing
his uniform all the time, even off-duty. Andy lectures him
to stand up to them and he finally does. “You’re both a lot
bigger than I am, but this badge represents a lot of people.
They’re a lot bigger than either one of you. Now, are you
gonna get movin?” They do and Barney regains his selfrespect.
The civilized world is now being held captive by an
assortment of always changing threats from a brutal and
sadistic bully. Every day for weeks now we flip on our TVs,
sit back, watch and listen to the play-by-play commentary
of the newest gut-wrenching overnight humanitarian
atrocities. We listen to what’s unfolding with non-stop
recaps, analysis, predictions and graphic film coverage as
though it was the Super Bowl.
The only Ralph Kramden, Barney Fife and Opie Taylors
we see are inside the Ukraine Alamo. History is seemingly
about to repeat itself with no bona fide outside help on the
way for a grossly outmanned and under-equipped country.
Many efforts to send the simple sustaining needs of survival
have been thrown their way, sometimes succeeding.
Maybe enough has reached some areas of desperate need
for them to survive another Santa Anna charge or two. But
the realistic fear is it’s just a matter of time before The
Green Leaves of Summer will be calling them home.
Nobody wants to risk upsetting the playground bully.
Rather than stand up to this evil and inhumane bully,
we’ve decided to not rock the boat. Every new threat he
barks out sends shudders and cowering across the civilized
world. Nobody wants to risk escalating the conflict, we
don’t want to get too involved. So, it’s easier to just stand
back and let it play out and hope it ends soon. After all,
there are polls and an upcoming election to worry about.
Meanwhile, the bully is dictating every step of the annihilation
horror script right before our eyes as we look on and
question how this can be happening.
I’m not going to predict the outcome of what’s still
unfolding in Ukraine. One scenario wouldn’t surprise me.
We continue to look on in shock and cry outrage but maintain
our standoffish approach so as not to rile the bully.
The horrific events continue until the demise and takeover
of Ukraine culminates. Media coverage fades and moves on
to new stories as our leaders hope our thoughts do the
same. Before long, we enter into new agreements with
Russia that include demands for ending their economic
sanctions. They agree to no more aggression. We sign and
they break their promises within days and start a fresh
takeover of some other country. History says not too farfetched.
It’s already been allowed to become a tragedy in too
many ways. I too don’t want to risk an escalation, but I
also don’t want to embolden the bully to continue the script
anywhere else. At what point do you stand up to the bully
and tell him enough, no more? We need Ralph, Opie and
Barney. We could also use Fonzie.
Dave Burton is a guest columnist for the Columbus
Messenger Newspapers. He lives in Grove City.
See Puzzle Solution page 16