China town/ iwo jima

after my security appointment I had most of the day left, so I decided to explore around the area I work.  China town is awesome.  There are about a hundred asian restaurants, and I found five or six that I am really excited about.  One is a dim sum place, which I love.  One is a place with a $3.50 lunch special.  it might be gross and it might make me sick, but i have to try! And I found a place that looks like it has really good sushi.  So I am excited about that.  And it has happy hour every weeknight with dollar sushi, so we will need to do that sometime.  Delicious restaurants are crucial to the enjoyment of my work experience. just kidding. kind of. There is also an urbs right there.  


Tonight after institute (which was great) we decided to go to Iwo Jima.  One of my favorite places in the entire world.  I remember going there when I was little and then again when I was in eighth grade.  The monument itself is amazing and inspiring, and such a great symbol of patriotism.  I was reminded of the movie "flags of our fathers" which wasn't my favorite, but the story behind the monument and the picture that inspired it is pretty amazing.  In short, the picture taken of the men raising the flag at Iwo Jima inspired huge bond influx that helped America win in World War 2.  There is a lot of backstory about who really raised the flag and who got credit and stuff, but I don't want to dwell on that.  ALSO everyone should consider seeing Letters from Iwo Jima.  It is much better, and tells the story from the Japanese perspective, so it is actually in Japanese.  


"uncommon valor was a common virtue."  I will probably never have to raise a flag in a warzone, or even see a warzone.  I will probably never have to carry bodies of friends out of the fire and hell of a battlefield. Whenever I think i might have troubles or hard times, I should just remember that.  We often think about that in regards to Pioneers that struggled and lost everyone and everything.  Our lives, in comparison, really aren't that hard.  I guess we do have our own challenges, but it just makes me respect those soldiers in the statue even more.  This brings me back to my original question from my first blog post.  When I was thinking about the Rally that brought in half a million people from all around the country. WHAT MOVES PEOPLE? what drives them?  A simple image of soldiers raising a flag inspired Americans to give hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of dollars to the war effort.  An idea, "restore honor" brought Americans from all over the country to a four hour rally in 90+ degree heat and humidity. What moves people?  Honor. Values. Patriotism. Just to name a few.