Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Confucian Lines In Honor of My Most Excellent Father



In a world full of pitfalls,

Time lays traps for the unwise.

All are whittled away by slow decay,

Only the very wise attain great age.

Always honorable,

He now becomes venerable.


My father, Ken Clark, was recently honored in his church on Father's Day as the oldest father in a rather sizable congregation. Hearing the news, I was moved to write the lines above. The top photo shows him as a young man in the Navy and was taken in Japan at the end of "The War". Dad was in the very first American landing party in Japan and had a ringside seat for the historic closing events of the Pacific War. The other was taken late last year at dinner in California.