Our Honolulu
Children, whimsy lend solace
By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist
It looks like we're responding to our war with terrorism about the way we responded to Desert Storm: very sober, a little nervous, trying to carry on as usual. Expressions of comfort, humor and reason are welcome at this time.
Jeff Link arrived back in Honolulu from the Mainland after an epic flight that sounds like a transcontinental trek by covered wagon by the time he got through security.
What he remembers about the flight is a mother and her little girl on a commuter flight from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, en route to Columbus, Ohio, via Minneapolis.
"The flight attendant was being very protective of the little girl to allay her fears," said Link. "But it didn't seem necessary. The mom, on the other hand, was a real white-knuckle traveler, made worse by current events.
"It was easy to see that she was terrified of flying now and was projecting some of it into her daughter with comments like, 'Are you scared?'
"After about a half an hour of that, the little girl said, 'Mommy, if you're scared, why don't we sing?' She started singing a cheerful little song which I didn't recognize. I thought that to be fascinating and realized it was also calming me as well as others who heard it.
"That little soul gave genuine and unselfish comfort to a lot of other souls on a very stressful travel day."
There's no predicting how people will respond to tragedy. Arkie Koel of Our Honolulu said he called his ex-wife in midtown Manhattan to make sure she was OK.
"Her response was typical of the born-and-bred New York City denizen in the face of adversity," he said. She told him, "I thought something like this would happen someday, but I always figured they'd hit Bloomingdale's first."
Then there's a sample of humor from the dark days of the Cold War, contributed by Marguerite Peach. It's a clipping dated Aug. 23, 1957:
"The German influence in building rockets and missiles has inspired a special language for personnel of the Air Force's air research and development command here. Some terms from an unofficial English-German glossary are being circulated for use with technical literature." To wit:
Guided missile — Das sientifiker geschtenwerkes firenkrakker.
Rocket engine — Firesphitter mit smoken und schnorten.
Liquid rocket — Das jucenkind firesphitter.
Control system — Das pullen und schoven werke.
Wind tunnel — Das huffen-puffen grupe.
Security — Das schnoopen bunche.
Nuclear warhead — Das eargeschplitten laudenboomer.
Hydrogen device — Das eargeschplitten laudenboomer mit ein grosse holenground und alles kaput.
Here's our lesson for today from a psychiatrist on Bill Moyers' PBS show: The rage we feel at terrorists must be transformed into sound policy and wisdom. Rage can lead to the opposite of wisdom.
