by John harrison
On November 10, 1958,[19] New York diamond merchant Harry Winston, sent the Hope Diamond through U.S. Mail to the Smithsonian, in a small box, wrapped in plain brown paper, as simple registered mail[,16] He insured it for $1 million at a cost of $145.29, of which $2.44 was for postage and the balance insurance.[16][54] Upon its arrival it became Smithsonian Institution Specimen #217868.[55] Smithsonian Institution mineralogist George Switzer is credited with persuading Harry Winston to donate the Hope Diamond for a proposed national gem collection to be housed at the National Museum of Natural History.[53 Wikipedia
On July 18, 2023, yesterday, we received a card from a former next door neighbor thanking my lawyer wife for her considerable help while they were selling their home recently. Enclosed within a nice card in the envelope when it was mailed was a short note wrapped around a $250 gift card. However, neither the note, nor the gift card was in the torn envelope when we received it.
There have been many memes and postings describing how the world has changed on Facebook, i.e., rabbit ears on TV, paper maps and phone directories, corded telephones, and so forth. The day before we received the letter we had received a notice in our mailbox from the Postal Service essentially saying “do not send checks through the mail” because they are being stolen. While I have seen lots of comparisons about society’s changes over time, I have not seen this one.
Today we have become tolerant of lawlessness on an incredible scale. It is killing great cities, San Francisco, Chicago, Baltimore; It is destroying jobs and opportunities as business after business departs leaving grocery, and pharmacy deserts in their wake. The US mail once was sacrosanct. If you dropped it in one of those green boxes neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor the occasional thief would slow it, much less stop it on its way to you. Harry Winston was not being irresponsible when he dropped a million dollar diamond in the U. S. Mail, he was doing what millions did every day, trust the mail to get it there.
Long ago, when I was going to the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, my Mother would regularly send me the $15 a week I needed for food and incidental expenses, in cash, in a regular envelope, in the mail. I always got it. It cost 5 cents, first class, postage. Processing a check on the other hand cost my Mother a dime each time a check cleared her bank. True, it was long ago. But, if I did not receive that money, I literally did not eat. It always came. I always ate. Later when my brother was in law school in Texas and I was working, from time to time, I sent him money, cash, the same way. However, when my children went to college I never sent cash to them. It was always a check, or money order. Now, even those are at risk and the postal service knows it, even admits it in warnings to its customers. To give you an idea of the power of a dime back then, you could buy two standard Coca Colas with a dime and get 4 cents back if you saved the little green bottles and turned them back in to the store. Cigarettes were only 18 cents a pack at the grocery store and you also got a free pack of matches.
Nostalgia is supposed to be fun for old people, but I wish we were leaving a better world to our children. When you can’t trust the United States Post Office, when you routinely avoid going downtown because of personal safety concerns, when you favorite stores close because of rampant theft, it is much more than an inconvenience, a basic civic right has been destroyed. Who’s minding the store? Is anybody? It does not seem so.
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My book, Steel Rain, the Tet Offensive is available on Amazon both as a paperback and on Kindle. It is a Five Star book with lots of reviews, many by others that were there in Vietnam with me at the time. Please give it a look. See; Steel Rain, the Tet Offensive 1968
Recent Reviews of Steel Rain, the Tet Offensive:
“John Harrison does an eloquent job writing what it was like being in the infantry during the Vietnam war. I know, I was in the infantry in Vietnam. There is a statistic which states that only 1 out of 10 who served in Vietnam were in the infantry. All of us have been asked what that was like at one point since our return. It is an impossible question for most of us to answer in part much less in full. John Harrison manages to do this in his book, Steel Rain, the Tet Offensive. So, if you are inclined and wonder what it was like, or you want to tell someone else what you went through, buy this book. Show it to your friend, show it to your family. It tells your story. To, “LT” John Harrison- thank you Sir.Salute.”
“John Harrison’s book, Steel Rain, the Tet Offensive, is a series of short stories, told mostly in the first person, that weaves together the humor and violence that only a talented writer can accomplish. The result is a compelling book that is hard to put down. John’s words flow easily on the pages, making an easy read. I highly recommend this book to anyone that has been there and did that, or anyone wanting to know a personal record of one lucky Lieutenant in Vietnam and the people that made it possible for him to return home.
Dan Hertlein, helicopter mechanic with the 192nd AHC at LZ Betty 1968″
“John is the soldier speaking the truest story of Vietnam. I will confirm his action as I was in a different company same battalion, fighting the same battles.”
JohnEHarrison 