The citizens of the US are in the midst of great confusion over the shooting down of balloons/objects in the last ten days or so. It is a potentially very scary/serious situation that has been fumbled into chaos by leaders who miss a passing grade on simple transparency. It is a fiasco that gives Papa regret that I wasted a post on the “Keystone Kops”. To save myself I remembered another movie/term that seems to fit “Balloon Gate.”
My mind went to the memory of a silly Don Knotts westen movie. Jets criss crossing in the air and firing $400,000 missles at stuff that is floating around North America (one miss) led me to think we might be better off with high flying Sopwith Camels pilots who are armed with bows/arrows or shotguns to deflate blimps. The function could best be outsourced to hunters. My silly thoughts reminded me of the old movie cited above. However, my brilliance vanished when the reality of end of life reared its inevitable head. Is Papa lossing it?
“The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight” movie not only didn’t feature Don Knotts; it wasn’t even a western. It was a gangster movie. There is a lesson here. There will be times that you are absolutely positive that certain things happened becasue you remember them happening. Memories can be tricky. I’ve talked to people about events witnessed by both parties and it turns out that our recall is not quite the same. Some parts might be remembered the same but other details differ. Once a pal and I talked about a classmate falling out of a tree. One version ended with a broken arm and the other resulted in a fractured leg. Old memories fade and I suspect get wrapped into similar events/people/circumstances. Portions of events from a long time ago may also have been more important to one person while another was struck by a different portion. If you ever in the situation where your memory/testimony will be needed I suggest writing the facts down close to the time of the event. Short term memory is usually better but it can fade or be blended with time.
Balloongate’s trigger for Papa ended up wide of the mark. But, my memory bank still retained a small dposit. There was a silly western movie with Don Knotts. (“Shakiest Gun In The West”) And, there was a western movie called “Over The Hill Gang.” There’s a ton of blending going on in Papa’s brain.