joeccombs2nd

Today we go back to one of your favorite articles USS Macon ZRS-5.

Last week I asked what do you believe in, what do you have faith in. What I did not realize at the time is just how fitting that post was for me. My faith helped me when I lost my oldest daughter. I got through that because of my faith. This last week though I feel like I have been in a fog I cannot escape. On Monday I lost a man who was a friend and a brother to me, just as much as if we had the same parents. He was not a mentor, we were on the same level like brothers, we were equals.

He took care of himself. He stayed in good shape, he ate right, and kept himself fit mentally, physically, and spiritually.  He was struck down by the big “C.” I spent my most of last summer and fall either with my daughter or with Graeme and his wife. I am glad I did, at the time we did not know how our world would be turned on end just 6 months later. I do not have many photos to show you we did not have time for that, we were busy grabbing life.

I do not regret that. I have already had a moment with my daughter that I chose to keep only as a memory. I grew up with Kodak telling us to pressure our memories in photographs. We always want to make sure we have photographs of those special moments. But, I have come to a point where sometimes, just sometimes, a moment is so special a photograph would take something away from it. Anyone can view your photographs, but something preserved only in your memory is private and personal. You can tell people about it, but they will never see the image you have in your mind.

The first time this happened for me was earlier in the summer last year. One of the things my daughter told me as we started our summer vacation was the one thing she really wanted to do. She wanted to go to Valley Forge and walk were her great-great-great-great-grandfather (George Gutekunst) walked. Elizabeth, my youngest daughter, has always wanted siblings she could play with. She reaches out for a wider family that she lacks and enjoys hearing family stories over, and over, and over again. I parked across from the field where the Pennsylvania companies camped at Valley Forge. We walked across the street together and then I watched her walk into the field, then she paused and turned back to look at me. I could see in her smile that she felt a special connection to George. This was a very special moment for her and because of that it was a very special moment for me too. I raised my camera to catch that smile. Then I paused and lowered my camera. No I would not take a photograph. This moment belonged to just Elizabeth and me, and that is the way it would stay.

I had never done that before, but it felt so right I never doubted it. On Monday as I sat trying to come to grips with this void that just opened in my life I thought about the time I spent with Graeme and his wife. I am content with my last goodbye, that was not bothering me – I said what I needed to without knowing this was the last time I would see him. But what I missed most were those moments the three of us spent in the front room looking out onto the world through large windows on three sides of the front room. We would start our morning with breakfast there. We would talk about our plans for the day and follow out conversation wherever chance took it. Then sometimes in the evening, just before sunset the three of us would close the day having coffee and enjoying each other’s company in the same front room – our window on the world.

As I thought about that Monday evening while trying to come to grips with my “new normal” I felt, at first, I wish I had a photograph of the three of us together in that front room. As my thoughts flowed to my daughter I realized something. Everything is as it should be, there should be no photograph. Those moments, the time we gathered around the small table to view the world and enjoy each other, those were special moments. Those moments were not just special they were personal and now they always will be. I do not have to worry about the image fading on paper or damage happening to the paper. I do not have to worry about losing the images on my USB. Any time I want to return to those moments I have the images where they are safe from damage – in my mind.

I miss my brother. My faith was shaken, but it is still intact just as he would want it to be. I will find a new normal, and I will continue forward, just as he would want. And when I need them I will always have those “Kodak moments” right where they belong – in my mind where they are always available and always fresh.

Historians, researchers, genealogists, and forensic investigators we are on a hunt for what is true. We have a hierarchy of evidence, a priority. No two pieces of evidence are equal. If two pieces of evidence contradict one another, one always takes precedence over the other based on that hierarchy and not what we want to be true. That is how historians, researchers, genealogists, and forensic investigators work. It should be how all writers work as well, but unfortunately there are writers who will print anything as long as they can make a buck.

Most people do not need that level of accuracy, that level of truth. The Titanic sank, it did not have enough lifeboats for everyone, and that is why 1500 people drown. To the historian or researcher searching for the truth (what really happened) that is not good enough. The Titanic did sink and there were not enough lifeboats for everyone. It sank but the people did not drown; they froze to death held above the water by their lifejackets in 31 degree water. The last two lifeboats were not launched from the davits the ship was almost under water there was no time. So the last two lifeboats were cut free and allowed to float off the ship. If there had been more lifeboats (enough lifeboats for everyone) they would be at the bottom of the ocean with the Titanic. And the 1500 people? That is only an approximation, we will never know the exact number.

There are also things we may never be able to prove. Micro evolution is a truth. Darwin found a cold blooded reptile that adapted to its environment and learned how to swim to catch fish to eat. Iguanas do not swim, but they do on the Galapagos Islands, Darwin saw them and you can too. Macro evolution is a theory – one species can evolve into another species. People are descendent from apes. Nice theory, and it is based on micro evolution, but no proof. Scientist have looked for more than 100 years for the “missing link” but no one has found it. There have been times in the past when it was thought that a missing link was found. However, in each case the new discovery eventually proved to be a forgery.

Another example is the Shroud of Turin. This simple piece of textile has been scrutinized for centuries and never as thoroughly as it was during the 20th century. Unfortunately most of the people who are researching the shroud are not researching it to find out what is the truth. They already had a theory they wanted to be true before they started their research, and their results are tainted.

If you have a theory before you start your research you are not looking for all the evidence you can find so that you may formulate a theory. You already have your theory; you are just looking for evidence that backs your theory. This approach will cause a researcher to ignore accurate evidence because it contradicts the already established theory they have. Basically the researcher who starts with a theory instead of a search for evidence has already decided what the truth is. They are just looking for something to use against the people who disagree with them.

Most of the people researching the Shroud of Turin are in one of two camps. Those who believe in God and feel that if they can prove the shroud is the burial cloth of Jesus then no one can deny that God exists. This group is looking for proof the shroud is genuine. The second group is people who believe that a belief in God is just as ridiculous as a belief in the tooth fairy or boogey man. They are looking for proof the shroud is a fraud. Both groups are friendly to evidence that supports their theory and hostile to anything that refutes their theory. The quality of evidence is only important to these two groups when it is evidence which supports their theory or refutes the opposing theory.

There is a much smaller group of researchers. These are the researchers who are attempting to collect the most accurate evidence on the shroud that is possible so they will eventually know what the shroud is.

While those two primary groups are in their fight over the existence of God (and trying to use the shroud to further their own theory) I came to another conclusion. One day we may actually be able to say beyond doubt that the shroud dates to the first century AD. But we will never be able to say that it is the burial cloth of Jesus. They did blood test and were able to prove the blood is human and discovered the blood type of the blood. They were hoping for DNA, but the samples were too degraded. But what if they did get DNA? What do we have to compare it too? Nothing. So even if the cloth is 2000 years old whose cloth it is will always be a matter of faith.

Which brings me to my next part and two writers whose work I admire, the first is Tim McCanlies.

“Damn if you want to believe in something then believe in it. Just because something isn’t true that’s no reason you can’t believe in it.”

“Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most:

That people are basically good

That honor, courage, and virtue mean everything

That power and money, money and power mean nothing

That good always triumphs over evil

That love, true love, never dies …

No matter if they are true or not, a man should believe in those things because those are the things worth believing in.”

(Tim McCanlies – Secondhand Lions)

The next is from Robert Fulghum

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge

That myth is more potent than history

That dreams are more powerful than facts

That hope triumphs over experience

That laughter is the cure for grief

And

I believe that love is stronger than death.”

(Robert Fulghum – Everything I Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten)

Those two writers have written more eloquently that I exactly what I believe. Am I going to start believing the sun rises in the west and sets in the east? Of course not. Where the sun rises and sets can be proven scientifically (and with you own eyes). But there are many things that science, legal document, or any other “primary source evidence” cannot prove or disprove.

If you ask me as a writer, researcher, or genealogist if I believe in the Shroud of Turin I will tell you the final evidence is not in.

If you ask me as a dad and a man do I believe the words of Fulghum and McCanlies I will say yes definitely yes!

I believe That people are basically good

That honor, courage, and virtue mean everything

That power and money, money and power mean nothing

That good always triumphs over evil

That love, true love, never dies

I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge

That myth is more potent than history

That dreams are more powerful than facts

That hope triumphs over experience

That laughter is the cure for grief

I believe that love is stronger than death.

And – as a man and as a dad

I believe the Shroud of Turin and those other relics are real. Will we ever prove it? The Shroud of Turin, who knows, maybe. Those other relics? Most of them probably not.

But every once in awhile you need to stand up and say “This is what I believe.”

That is part of being a man or a woman it’s what defines us as who we are – those things that we are willing to believe on faith and faith alone.

Like you there are things about my life I do not like. But I believe that my life will work out, that what is best for me will come to pass. And I believe that because I have faith.

With summer almost on us in the northern hemisphere, how would you like to go on a vacation – have fun and get rich?

Today’s WayBack Wednesday takes you to a treasure that has still not been found. So, get your suitcase packed, grab a thermos, pick, and a shovel and let’s go look for The Lost Ark of the Covenant (Lost Treasures Part 6).

Just find a few hundred million dollars in gold and silver or maybe gem stones not enough for you? Do you want something with a little “kick?”

How about the Rolls Royce of treasure –

Religious Relics.

Yup, that’s right, religious relics. And though these short video clips I am sharing with you are Judeo-Christian artifacts all religions have religious holy artifacts – some of which are lost.

Before you get too excited there are a few problems not shared by lost treasure ships, lost mines, or lost cities.

The first problem is that during the middle ages religion was an undisputed authority and in many places in the world exercised great political power. So great was religions political power that it crossed national boundaries. If a church, synagogue , or mosque claimed a certain grave was the grave of a great religious figure – no one disputed it. If that same organization had a relic it claimed was tied directly to a saint or religious figure people would make pilgrimages to see these relics and no one doubted the claim. Relics became big businesses and brought lots of money into churches. Where there is great opportunity for money there is also great opportunity for forgeries. There are many relics around the world today that are believed to be genuine but can only be traced back to the middle ages.

A case in point is the holy grail. The cup that Jesus used at the last supper. There are a couple in Italy, France, England, and a few others around the world as well – including one in the United States. Obviously there is only one, but which one if any of the ones claimed to be THE Holy Grail.

Then there is another problem that is most obvious with the Shroud of Turin, but also exists with many supposed relics. If you find a treasure ship and you find an item you can identify as being on a particular lost ship and you find that item on a discovered shipwreck people accept that you have found that particular ship. Not so with religious relics.

Which brings us back to the Shroud of Turin. You do not just have people who wish to know if the relic is authentic. You have those. But you also have people with a hidden and sometimes not so hidden agenda. Some people want to believe because it will validate their belief in  their religion in their mind. Others believe that at best religions are based on fairy tales. They do not want to believe and they believe that if they can show a relic is a forgery then they have debunked that particular religion.

This second agenda means that some of these people will try to hide evidence that places their opinion in doubt. Like the radio-carbon dating of the shroud. This method dates the shroud to the middle ages. But the area where the threads were taken for dating were from a corner where cloth was added to repair the shroud after it was damaged in a fire during the middle ages. The skeptics say that the particular threads tested were original threads and the date is accurate. The supporters say that the newer cloth contaminated the sample and the date is wrong.

Every argument for or against the shroud has an equal and opposite argument. And as if that was not enough, even if by some miracle all the experts finally agreed the shroud dates to 33AD, you still cannot prove who is the image of.

This is an interesting field, but I think I will stick with treasure that does not have a religious tie-in.

Have a great week.