Cupid

It's Valentine's Day. It's also the anniversary of the fire bombing of Dresden, the largest massacre in European history. How's that for mixing in a little historical  misery on an otherwise fun holiday? Thank the British/American Bomber Command for igniting and incinerating 25,000 Hansels and Gretels. The word “firestorm” comes from that bombing as we accidentally discovered what happens when you drop 300,000 napalm bombs across a city at once. Everything that can burn, does. The turbulence at 15,000 feet for the bombers was so bad it knocked the big, fat Lancaster and B24 bombers from their course. All the residential and commercial fires converged into a single column of fire that was a few miles in diameter and shot skyward.

According to Kurt Vonnegut, who survived the bombing as an American POW in Dresden, there was only one person to have benefited. He did. He said he got about $12 per casualty when he wrote the book Slaughter-House Five, which shot to the top of the charts when it was published. Other than he he says, no one else benefited as Dresden was not a military hub nor armaments city. That action didn't shorten the war by one day. You have your history lesson for the day.

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For us guys, we tend to see Valentine's Day as a chore. Some of us may be happily married or in a fun relationship, but most of the guys I've known regarded it as an obligation. It was one not to be shirked as the repercussions are dire. Single guys such as myself could not give a damn about it. Single women I've seen go out in groups and have anti-Valentine's Day parties.

Years ago, I was at my pub and noticed a few girls approaching. They were done up red and white clothing and one was carrying a baby doll made up to look like Cupid. Except this Cupid had a steak knife shoved in it and it's plastic neck was cut halfway through. Red paint was splattered on it which make it look like a botched abortion (sorry for that image, but I'm feeling snarky now).

We found out that these girls were using the day as an excuse to have a party and why not?

Past Valentine's Days for me, let's think...

I had my lower lip smacked by a TV remote when I refused to purchase a car for someone for that day. Ouch.

The most thoughtful gift was a story I wrote about why I was glad this particular person was on the Earth.

I got many kudos for another when I bought little gifts that detailed the tiny, little things I learned about her over the year.

The most expensive...that would be an entire perfume setup thingy, Guerlain Shalimar, that included mists, oils and the such. To me it smelled like ozone. To her it was something else.

The cheapest. A bag of Snickers and Doritos. She was sort of pissed but she had always loved them.

The worst. Standing outside in the parking lot of the Capital Grill having a screamfest argument over God Knows What with her. That provided great entertainment for anyone passing by.

Most profitable. Getting a ton of sour apple candies from the others in Mrs Keough's third grade class. We all made little construction paper pouches where we all dropped candy into.  

High altitude pic of Dresden before it went up in one single flame. The lights in upper left are marking flares being dropped