VIEWPOINTS
Saturday, July 22, 2017
East Oregonian
Page 5A
Parenting with your whole heart
I stood as quietly on the other side of
the stock trailer door as I could. It seemed
ridiculous because I’m certain the cows and
calves could see my tennis shoes sticking out
underneath, but nonetheless
I was quiet. The flies were
swarming almost as bad as
bees — biting at my ankles
that already ached from the
scrapes with alfalfa earlier
in the week. I couldn’t see a
thing and had to let my ears
guide me as to what was
happening on the other side
of the aluminum door.
The boys pushed the
four pairs into the pen
we had made with a few
trusty panels without much
trouble, and things were
moving along fairly quickly.
The cows got sorted back
out, and then it only took
two tries to load the calves.
I breathed a sigh of relief to myself,
thinking that this was going better than
expected ... when suddenly things didn’t go
so well. Aren’t most things like that though?
Smooth sailing and then chaos — which
then seems to lead to tears, hurt feelings and
someone getting covered in crap.
Seconds. That’s all it took to go from
good to bad. Just a few stupid seconds. I
stared at the ground, not exactly sure what
had happened for one boy to be closing the
trailer door and the other to be lying in the
greasy, stinky crap. But somehow in those
messy moments, everything went wrong.
As it turned out, one boy wasn’t doing
something the other thought he should be
doing, and instead of using kind words,
frustration won. Shoving and kicking won.
Piles of crap won.
I grabbed my younger son up off the
ground, quickly said
goodbye to our friend who
had witnessed the entire
scene, and put a blanket
down on the pickup seat for
him to sit on. (If only I had
a shower on the side of the
pickup.) My older son pulled
the pickup back around to
the road and then got into
the back seat. I latched the
gate, and then drove the 30
miles home in silence.
As I drove, I
contemplated what I could
have done differently,
what I could have modeled
perhaps, what I could
have said, and I came up
with nothing. And then I thought about the
last chapter of “Daring Greatly” by Brene
Brown. It’s a chapter that I need to reread
at least once a month as a simple reminder
of the importance of self respect, practicing
courage by showing up and letting myself be
seen, as well as honoring vulnerability.
I questioned my wholeheartedness and
the shaming I’ve caught myself in with my
boys, and even with myself, about perfection
and never messing up, about being right,
and about not clearly asking for what I want
and/or talking about how I really feel when
caught in hard, quick moments like the
one that had just occurred. It was a long 30
minutes.
It was during the last few miles before
Letting my boys
struggle and
experience
adversity was
exactly what
they needed,
even if it as
mortifying to
watch.
home that I realized that the pile of crap was
exactly what needed to happen. The turning
of my head was a gift, along with the deep
sigh, and the bits of embarrassment scooped
up and put into the pickup.
I didn’t fix the problem for the boys or
take away the pain, but I did remind them
that no matter what choices they make,
together we will learn from them so they
don’t become a habit. When reality looks
you in the face during those seconds that
go all wrong, it’s then you are challenged
to wholeheartedness — moments where
you can be brave, hopeful and risk being
vulnerable in the best sort of ways.
Letting my boys struggle and experience
adversity was exactly what they needed,
even if it was mortifying to watch. My
discomfort of the situations they seem to
be in hourly with each other, and even with
themselves, can’t dictate my behavior — or
more importantly, my reactions to the
things they’re doing. It cannot make or
break the love I have for them or the great
responsibility I have as their parent. I have
to let them fall and fail, all the while praying
they know that getting back up and trying
again are two of the most hopeful things they
can do.
We got home, I made them lunch, and
then I took an hour-long nap. I let them
figure out how to get along without me, and
wouldn’t you know — they did.
Parenting wholeheartedly is hard. It is
uncomfortable. It strays away from normal
and suggests to throw perfection and
prerequisites out the window. It’s teaching
my boys that pleasing others is important,
but not when it risks you losing your soul.
It is showing them how to live a life where
L indsay M urdock
FROM SUN UP TO SUN DOWN
losing isn’t always bad, and having the
ability to fail with grace and get back up with
humbleness is essential.
It’s letting my boys see me for who I
really am and in turn allowing them to see
themselves. I’d say I’ve got my work cut out
for me at the Umatilla County Fair in just
three short weeks. I’d say we all do.
■
Lindsay Murdock lives in Echo and
teaches in the Hermiston School District.
Look at what just
happened in Antarctica SeaBees celebrate
F
75 years of service
orget for a minute that President
shallow ocean floor, once a glacier
Trump recently pulled us out of
loses its grip, it can quickly break
the Paris Climate Accord. Or
apart, redefining the notion of “glacial
that a burgeoning list of corporations
speed.”
and communities are proceeding
In Alaska, we’ve watched this
with the agreement’s goals anyway.
for years. Warming likely nudged
Instead, look at what just happened in
the Columbia Glacier in Prince
Antarctica.
William Sound, the South Sawyer
On July 12, after months of
Glacier south of Juneau, and others
Tim
anticipation, one of the largest
from previously stable positions,
Lydon
icebergs ever observed sheered away
prompting retreats so rapid that local
Comment
from the Larsen C Ice Shelf on the
maps quickly became obsolete. The
West Antarctica Peninsula. The
ongoing melting adds to rising seas.
thing is over 2,000 square miles in size and
A long-simmering concern is that the
nearly a quarter-mile deep in places. It’s the
same will begin happening in Antarctica,
size of Glacier National Park, or the state of
unraveling its massive store of ice and
Delaware.
tipping projections of global sea-level rise
The first thing to acknowledge is scientists toward worst-case scenarios. So in the
do not agree whether climate change
wake of the giant Larsen C berg, it’s worth
prompted the iceberg’s release. The discharge noting two nearby ice shelves disappeared
of sometimes massive bergs naturally occurs
in the last two decades, and a third is now
on Antarctica ice shelves, and signs of the
in potential jeopardy. The progression has
eventually 120-mile fissure that produced the been southward, toward the continent’s main
berg were observed as early as the 1960s.
body of ice. Even as climate is not clearly
Nevertheless, the event puts on display the implicated, it presents a warning.
type of process climate change can trigger.
Already, people are squeezed by sea-level
And it foreshadows what scientists ominously rise. It contributes to the destruction of
warn will occur in Antarctica if humanity
homes, roads and infrastructure in several
does not quickly curb fossil fuel emissions.
Alaska villages, where U.S. citizens are
It all has to do with the way Larsen C
losing livelihoods and cultural traditions
broke off, more than its impressive size.
and imminently approaching climate
Peeling away from two bedrock anchor
refugee status. Meanwhile, the West’s
points over 100 miles apart, scientists say it
low-lying coastal cities are taking stock
may have destabilized the entire Larsen C
of damage in Alaska. From San Diego to
Ice Shelf, fourth-largest in Antarctica. Two
Seattle, municipalities map where seas are
neighboring ice shelves to the north, Larsen A projected to inundate streets, wetlands and
and Larsen B, suffered the same fate in 1995
neighborhoods in the years ahead.
and 2002, respectively.
But in the West, it’s not just coastal cities
No one knows how long the ice shelf
that should be concerned. At our border
would take to break up, and it could take
with Mexico, long a place of violence and
many years. On the other hand, Larsen B
injustice, climate change already fuels illegal
shattered like a giant glass plate in just one
immigration. Floods, fires, drought and
month, startling Antarctica observers because conflict in Central America increasingly push
it had been stable for millennia.
people northward. In the years ahead, rising
Importantly, disintegration of the Larsen
seas are expected to prompt further migration
C would add virtually nothing to global sea
globally, potentially compounding concerns
level rise, as its entire mass is already afloat
in the West. And Republicans think they need
on the ocean. But ice shelves act like dams,
a border wall now?
holding back sometimes enormous land-
Which brings us back to Trump’s
based glaciers. If Larsen C goes, currently
Republican-backed Paris pullout. Science
stable glaciers will begin pouring into the
shows we are already locked in to some
ocean. That new freshet would increase
degree of climate warming and rising seas in
sea-level rise, which European researchers
the years ahead. The accelerative effect from
recently showed tripled since 1990.
Antarctica is yet uncertain. Nevertheless,
A related process already happens
science shows global cooperation toward
across Alaska and Greenland. It’s easy to
swift cuts to coal and oil can reduce surface
think of glaciers as simply melting because
melting of ice across the planet, easing us
temperatures are rising. And that’s certainly
back from worst-case scenarios. That must
happening. But glaciers terminating in oceans be why hundreds of U.S. corporations and
have an added vulnerability of catastrophic
communities are scrambling to support the
collapse, which occurs when they become
Paris Agreement.
unhinged from their anchors. Whether it’s a
■
pinch-point between mountains or a bit of
Tim Lydon writes for High Country News.
By JACK REMILLARD
B
eing somewhat disappointed in
not seeing anything in the media
regarding the 75th anniversary of the
U.S. Navy SeaBees, I felt it my obligation
to write a short history of this often
overlooked branch of the U.S. Navy.
During the early part of World War
II, Admiral Ben Moreell recommended
establishing Navy
construction battalions
(CBs) to carry out the
construction of airstrips
on forward bases, mostly
located in the Pacific.
On January 5, 1942, he
was given the go-ahead,
and the SeaBees were
launched.
More than 300,000 men
enlisted, with the average
age being 37, the youngest
being 18 and the oldest
50. Men were accepted
due to skill and knowledge
in the trades rather than
physical ability. They were
trained in combat by U. S.
Marines in Illinois, New Jersey, New York
and Virginia.
SeaBees played an unprecedented role
in establishing a foothold on the islands in
the Pacific during World War II, as they
constructed or improved 111 major airstrips,
441 piers, bridges, roads and tanks for
storage of over 100,000,000 gallons of fuel.
In addition, hospitals for more than 700,000
patients and housing for 1.5 million men
were built.
My uncle, Ion Follett, was stationed
on “Island X” from 1943-1945, as a
construction mechanic. I believe “Island
X” was in the Fiji Islands as I have a
yearbook, if you will, of the time spent on
these islands with names and photos of the
islands and the men of CBMU 503.
There are seven SeaBee rates, or
occupational ratings: equipment operator,
utilitiesman, steel worker, engineering
aid, construction mechanic, builder and
construction electrician. The rates classify
the type of work each man will perform.
SeaBees have been assigned worldwide
on all seven continents, from the conflicts of
WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan,
and others too numerous to count.
Women joined the ranks of the SeaBees
in 1972, the first being constructionman
Camella Jones, who trained as an
equipment operator.
Most SeaBees serve in a construction
battalion; others are assigned to a public
works division of a naval base, such as
Naval Communication Station Adak
Alaska, where I served for more than three
years, from July 1971 to November 1975.
I have very fond memories of that time, as
anyone who really knows
me will tell you.
One thing I would
like to mention, that even
though the SeaBee motto
is “We build, we fight!,”
SeaBees are not usually
near combat. This is not to
say SeaBees have not seen
combat action or fought
the enemy. Third class
construction mechanic
Marvin Glenn Shields was
posthumously awarded
the Congressional Medal
of Honor for actions at
the battle of Dong Xoai,
Vietnam, on June 10,
1965. He was 25 years
old. The destroyer USS Marvin Shields was
named in his honor. To date, Shields is the
only SeaBee to receive this honor.
Most SeaBees I know would identify
with the two other mottoes: “Can do!” and
“The difficult we do now, the impossible
takes a little longer.”
When I joined the Navy in December of
’71, I wanted to be a Navy SEAL like my
brother Pierre, who had served two tours in
Vietnam. Once I learned of the SeaBees, my
sights were set on becoming a construction
mechanic and getting stationed in Alaska. I
sometimes wish I would have gone to other
stations around the world, instead of staying
on the island of Adak, but I really enjoyed
my time there and don’t regret a thing. And
of course I am full of stories about Adak, if
only someone would listen!
I would like to thank and congratulate all
of you SeaBees on 75 years of service and
history. You have made the world a safer
place.
If any SeaBees out there would like to
contact me, please do at 541-310-0583.
■
Jack Remillard is a Pendleton resident,
and retired assistant fire chief and fire
marshal for the city of Pendleton.
SeaBees
played an
unprecedented
role in
establishing a
foothold on the
islands in the
Pacific during
World War II.