In a recent column about sports and the military’s relatively meritocratic hierarchy, as compared to our society in general, I was reminded of a story my Dad told me about how, at a port of call on the Eastern seaboard of the United States, nearing the completion of an around-the-world cruise with a naval carrier group, (perhaps not coincidentally occurring with the cessation of hostilities between North and South Korea), he witnessed the destruction of a “Whites Only” drinking fountain. In a rage, the young man destroyed the fountain, and my father, who was watching him from the deck of the destroyer as he waited for the men under his command to return from shore leave, hustled him on board. The young man was not disciplined.

Thank God for my father, and that there was no duel! Righteous anger is understandable, but we gotta think peace before violence, if at all possible.

Mike Joyce

Wendell

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