Our rights...when can they be usurped?

Monday, December 7, 2015

Pearl Harbor Day…and I must admit that not once during the day did it occur to me that it was the day, 74 years earlier, that FDR claimed would ‘live in infamy’ as it surely has.  I had spent the evening at the movie ‘Trumbo’, which was based on the life of Dalton Trumbo and his battle to overcome a ‘contempt of Congress’ charge and prison time to be able to practice his constitutional right to be a member of the Communist Party and still live and work in America.  His story, and the story of many other Hollywood Americans, were forever altered when their Constitutional rights were violated in the interest of national security and the effort of select members of our Congress to protect the American people from the ‘red menace’ from the Soviet Union, which was, we believed at that time, hoping for world domination and possibly the nuclear annihilation of the United States.  It was a real fear and a very possible threat and to not have been living during that time and experiencing the level of fear and tension in the population makes it difficult to judge the actions of those who did.  Still, just as during WWII following the Pearl Harbor attack and the following internment of American citizens of Japanese descent, Constitutional rights were being violated and in hindsight, which is often 20/20, quite needlessly. 

The movie was well written and acted and taught me a great deal about the era, Trumbo and the nine other screen writers jailed at the time on the same charge, black listing, and American icons who stood on opposite sides of the fence.  ‘The Duke’ came down heavily against ‘the commies’ whereas Lucy Ball and Kirk Douglas, who would pull Trumbo out from under the black-list rock by having him write the screenplay for ‘Spartacus’, supported the rights of these people.  However you feel, it is a movie to see and one that should always have us asking the question ‘should the Bill of Rights ever be held in hostage?’

I went with Kathy, which always means a hike first.  We did 90 minutes, mostly in the dark, in the Rocky River Reservation after eating some of her vegetarian chili.  The famous 132 steps leading from the Interpretive Center to the cliffs high above the river have been taken down for safety reasons.  Kathy, like so many regulars to that park, are sorely disappointed as they used those steps regularly for their workouts and to enjoy spectacular views and sunrises and sunsets from the top.  The park is raising the money to bring them back, but must deal with shifting shale cliff rock to make them safe.  Whatever the cost, Kathy is willing to donate and feels many others will, as well.

Hike duration: 90 minutes.
Training Heart Rate: 75 bpm.
Calories Burned: 525.