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Showing posts with label military. Show all posts
Showing posts with label military. Show all posts

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Florence, Colorado: Armed Forces Art Exhibit

Mays is a wonderful month, and even more wonderful because Memorial Day and Armed Forces Day are celebrated. In Florence--the antiques capital of Colorado--celebrating the accomplishments of our active and retired military is a year-round source of pride. But this year, the Florence Merchants Association is putting the spotlight on the artist talents of our veterans by hosting an art exhibit.


The Florence Merchants association is calling all active duty veterans and retired military personnel to exhibit their artwork, in an media form with most any subject matter, for inclusion in a show that will start with a reception on May 13 and run through Memorial Day, May 29. The artwork will be displayed in the storefronts of participating Florence businesses.

The show is non-juried, but the committee will insure the artwork is suitable viewing for all age groups. Artwork does not have to be for sale, but artwork for sale is also welcomed.

Artwork will be received on Saturday May 6 and Sunday, the 7th, from 10 to 4 both days at A Florence Gallery at 108 E. Main St. The art committee requests that all interested artists call either 719-372-1016 or 3030717-1977 to register for the show or to get more information.

What a nice idea to honor our military personnel and enrich the community with the talents of our veterans on display for all to see!

Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Everything I Learned, I Learned In An Antiques Store

Everything I learned, I learned in an antiques store. Not totally. I learned plenty of other things in other places I worked. But I’ve learned much working in an antiques store. Not only do the browsers and customers teach and share volumes—the actual antiques in the store tell their own stories too.

One story the antiques tell and teach is that the more time goes by—things stay pretty much the same. There is truly nothing much new under the sun.

We know that the generation that fought in WW II is considered the greatest generation—and what we are going through today in can’t compare totally to what that generation went through. But today I stumbled across an ad in a 1943 magazine that spoke to me, and taught me, that wars, battles, 
conflicts and politics change—but  basic human nature and deep feelings of most Americans, change only minimally.

The ad sponsored by Nash-Kelvinator—yes, the folks that made cars and refrigerators—might be a bit sentimental for today’s tastes. A bit dramatic. But I read between the lines and found the emotions in this ad to be timely.

The ad shows a gaunt American soldier, a prisoner of war in Japan. He is behind barbed wire and is clutching a letter from home as an armed guard looks on.

The American’s response to his letter from home is: “Reading behind the lines of your blessed letter, I feel again the warmth of your love, and your unshaken belief in our future together. Just to know there is still in the world such faith as yours is enough to keep me sane…”

The American soldier writes of his hopes that, as he and his other fellow captives look to the sky, that the Americans will deliver them from evil and bring them home again.



He goes on to write, “Home—where I want unchanged, just as I remember them now, all the things that I hold dear. The right of a man to think and speak his thoughts, the right of a man to live and worship as he wants, the right of a man to work and earn a just reward! Don’t ever let these be lost. Keep everything just as it is until I come back...back to American where no armed guard bars the door to liberty…where there will never be a barbed wire fence between a man and his opportunity to work and build and grow and make his life worth living—this war worth winning!”

Yes, going back over 70 years, or 300 years ago—even though our conflicts and wars have changed—the reasons why we fight (even on the home front) and in our hearts and minds, does not change. And what America was hundreds of years ago—and even decades ago, should not change because other outside forces want us to change.


And that’s what I learned in the antiques store today.