Apparently, my memory is very selective.

I dressed in jeans and a turtleneck sweater this morning. (I'm retired and every day is casual dress day.) As I met my wife in the dining room where she was already having breakfast I announced, “I can remember the first time I ever saw a turtleneck sweater.”

“That's nice, dear.”

Well, it may be nice to her, but it certainly is curious to me why I would remember such a thing.

I lay awake last night wrestling with regrets. Yesterday, February 23, 2015, I met at a luncheon with a small band of octogenarians, at the Marriott Hotel in Newport Beach, California, to share their memories of Iwo Jima and the battle they fought there seventy years ago. Surrounded by their family and friends and Marines of every generation and every war including Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, as well as the Cold War, they shared their stories. The event was hosted by Operation Home of the Brave and Iwo Jima Monument West which, led by Ms Laura Dietz, is raising funds to bring a monument memorializing their victory on that distant Pacific isle to Camp Pendleton where these brave men learned the art of war. Sadly, as the event ended, my courage failed me and I wondered all night if I could have waded ashore with them and earned a place on their memorial.

The monument was cast in stone by sculptor Felix de Weldon who was serving in the Navy at the time the Marines raised their beloved flag above Mount Suribachi on the Island of Iwo Jima. He was inspired by the iconic photo snapped by Associated Press photographer Joseph Rosenthal. While this photo, reproduced in every newspaper and on countless posters inspired Americans to rally to buy bonds in record numbers, Weldon was inspired to fashion ten statues commemorating the event. A 10,000 pound version of it which had stood for years at Arlington National Cemetery, has become available.

Are married men afraid of being caught? Maybe some are, some aren't. Are they afraid of failing their responsibilities? Again, some are, some aren't. No, the answer I'm looking for is something primal, something that every married man can relate to. Maybe, just maybe it's the fear that their wives possess some secret power. That's the subject of my latest short story: The Secret.

Politicians of every stripe are so focused on becoming and remaining incumbents, that they have little time to worry over the consequences of their actions and decisions. It's easy to see that the economic abyss into which we are descending is the unintended consequence of allowing them to extend their sphere of influence into every aspect of our lives.

It can be argued that the ten plagues visited upon the Egyptians were the unintended consequences of Pharaoh's refusal to let Moses' people go. Even so, unintended consequences didn't receive serious study until Adam Smith introduced consequentialism during the Scottish Enlightenment, then languished in obscurity. The study of unintended consequences returned to public attention in the 20th Century with the publication of “The Unanticipated Consequences of Purposive Social Action”, a paper written by sociologist Robert Merton in 1936. Even so, awareness has brought scant relief.

Everyone lies, don't they? For some, it's expected. Salesmen. Politicians. How could they survive without lying.

Then there's the rest of us. Lovers. Spouses. Parents. Children. The human race seems united in one cause, weaving tangled webs.

Some get away with it. Some don't.

The results can be tragic as in this story of deceit.

The political compass of most Jews seems drawn to the Left as if it was the North Pole of ideology. Repeated failures of socialism throughout history does not seem to deter the children of Abraham in their rush to try it once more. We see it in America as Jews vote en mass for the party that supports socialist programs. As a Jew who votes the other way, I am a pariah in my own family.

Why are Jews drawn to socialism?

National socialism, known as Nazism, murdered Jews by the millions.

International socialism, known as Communism, murdered even more.

The combined death toll of those murdered by socialists may well exceed the total of all victims of all wars throughout all of history.

Still, the Jews are drawn to socialism.

It is a question that has perplexed me for many years.

In all other respects, I am proud of my community.

I may have found a clue that will guide me to the answer. I found it in a recent issue of Hadassah Magazine. This periodical has been finding its way to our mailbox for many years now regardless of the fact that we have never subscribed. Indeed, it follows us without fail whenever we move. The people I long suspected of having it sent to us have all died. Regardless, I have read each issue from cover-to-cover, always finding enough morsels of knowledge to keep me opening it each month. The December 2014/January 2015 issue contains a commentary by Mich Odenheimer that suggests an answer to my question. Please indulge me as I quote:

If you think that being a writer, living in your head, romancing the most beautiful women you can imagine, daring to do any task and vie with any foe, is interesting, you should have lived my life before I retired to write stories. I was a consultant.

I pursued five careers in my lifetime: bureaucrat, soldier, marketing guru, and computer technology. I survived the last three as an entrepreneur. Over the course of fifty years working years I participated in projects with every type of organization from one-man operations to multinational corporations, for profit and nonprofit, every level of government, local, state, and national, and a variety of military units.

Frequently, I have been asked, “Which is the best managed?”

I've never hesitated, not even a heartbeat, to answer.

The United States Army.

Yes, you're laughing.

So have all my audiences.

But, it's true.

The laughter dies when they realize I'm not joking and there's a pause as they wait expectantly for me to explain.

I do, simply.

My reaction to this question on my favorite discussion website, RallyPoint, took me by surprise. “Have you ever made a snap decision? How did it turn out?” I reacted much like the cynical food critic in the Disney animated film Ratatouille when he ate the dish prepared by a rat and flashed back to his childhood.

This question elicited a similar response from me...

I flashed back to the moment when I came to a fork in the road just outside Denver. I was driving across the country without a plan looking for a new beginning. I had been dismissed unexpectedly from the Army and needed to find my place in the civilian world.

Muslims obviously don't like anyone else poking fun at them and their beliefs. We don't need to see any more blood spilled to understand that. However, I am wondering if they ever poke fun at themselves.

Self deprecating humor is a trait of those who are secure in themselves, and I've enjoyed laughing along with them. Lawyers in particular seem most comfortable with it. I've never met a lawyer who objected to lawyer jokes. Indeed, several I've known collect them and always welcomed any additions I could offer.

Everyone is a hero to someone.

No one is a hero to everyone.

How many in this gallery of heroes are yours?

Yes, Fidel Castro is there. He was a hero in my first novel, however, I couldn't write “The End” until another hero returned in the last chapter to see what he had become. The man who launched the revolution in Cuba bears little resemblance to the one who governed it as a communist dictator. He wasn't even a communist until the revolution ended.

Castro isn't alone. All heroes fail eventually, even my favorites. How about yours?