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When I see the fake refugees sit in T.H. and guzzle coffee and smirk when the other hard-working Canadians are going to work.When I see a single parent is struggling with life’s challenges, a toddler in tow was going to work in the bone-chilling minus 20, walking in the snowbank.At that time, my heart cried, when I see able-bodied bums are snorting, puffing weed, standing in line in a food bank, and tell sob stories.When I see a moocher of the welfare system looking through a window when a new immigrant is struggling to start his beat-up car to go to work sometimes even in -30.When I see people try to fool the system with fake degrees/diplomas/experience.When I see homeless people.When I see abusers of the health care system.When I see who is scamming the system with one fraud or the other.When I see child abuse, child poverty, child hunger, child pornography,When I see, rapists, serial rapists, serial killers along with being a rapist, and walk about on the street with just a slap on the wrist.When I see, human trafficking, bondage, and borderline slavery, for example, illegal immigrants.When I see this country going to the gutter from the top of the world to the drain of the world.When I see, some seniors do not have enough to buy medication not covered by health care.When I see people bringing honor killing, old scores to settle from back home, and terrorism in this once very peaceful, beautiful country.When I see alcoholics, druggies, and making this country filthy.When I see tossing garbage on the ramps.When I see some leaving dirty diapers in the parking lotsWhen I see moochers, moochers, and more moochers.When I see very high family violence in some community and misusing the social services/police services, and the list goes on.When I see countless people living in single-family homes and hogging parking on the street, partying all night and creating total filth.When I see people entering this country with fraud, some times, fake papers, even fake acceptance letter to the prestigious university. And fake job letters.When I see our leader dancing in fancy clothes and making the mockery of this country.When I see our leader making ridiculous speeches, with the intelligence of a boy.When I see a good number of people have no drive, no mission just guzzling beer and smoking pot.When I saw a person making Duby in T.H., by extracting tobacco from the cigarettes and mix it with his weed, and living the mess on the table where the next customer will put food and eat.When I see people who are making my sandwich, it is very apparent, they did not shower for a while, without a hairnet, I am sure they do not follow good manufacturing practices. He/she was not taught basic hygiene and how to present well.When I see a bank teller apparent new arrival, I cannot count the money and counts six different numbers six times.When I see new franchise owners cutting down on everything from counting fries to almost nothing in the salad.When I cannot understand a world, at the customer service on the phone.When I see hazards on the road, God knows who gave the driving license, or is it by an international driving license made in China/overseas. While back, the authorities caught a scam like this one.When I see cheap junk in the dollar store and have to buy because quality stuff is gone from the shelves.When I see distribution centers on 401 and manufacturing plants went with the wind.When I see, well-groomed Canadians suited/booted, discretely stick the chewing gum from mouth to under the table, in public places the worst is under a table in an eatery. Simply, because of they too lazy to the bin/wr/to dispose of.When I see, in public washrooms, a good percentage, of people coming out of the toilet stalls, walk straight to the eatery without washing their hands even as a ceremonial formality.When I see a kid says Fu11 you Mom and nothing you can do about it.When I see a murderer/terrorist getting nine million from our Govt.When I see politicians making false statements and telling lies.,When I see people bringing this once mighty first-rate country to a trash can of the first world. Thanks to the present immigration policy of a boy PMWhen I see frauds in the Health Care system even by the Canadian employees, by fake claims. Never mind visitors come and get dialysis or even triple bypass and disappear.When I want to have a few minutes of rest during a tiring day and sit with a cup of coffee with my friend, at the T.H. And one horny couple, want to bring each other to the climax by making every move and not even buying one cent of thing at T.H. munching on their smelly food (my opinion) without any cutlery. My friend and I had no choice but see this pornography, by two pimple-faced pus oozing, performers, there was no other seats available. And the day was very cold outside, even to imagine going outside and sit on the sidewalk just to have peace and quiet.I thought outside food was not be allowed. The public exhibition of being hot and horny in a public place was a bit out of place. There was no question these two were FOB and their idea to integrate well in Canada was PDA.BTW: This couple was from a “conservative country.”They have no idea, Canada is very conservative, in my fifty years here, I did not see even one such nuisance in the public, at work and even the public parks. Sure I attended and graduated at one of the best schools in Canada, worked in the high profile corporate culture.It would integrate them well if they get some treatment for the pus, oozing out of their pimples rather than putting full tongues in each other’s mouth. And wash hands/or use cutlery.Now the things I did not see but heard about it on a going basis.When I hear mass scale frauds in family reunion cases, where the druggy kid/s are cleaned enough to pass the test, once the druggy kids reach here, they are into their stomping ground. Now the Canadian public will pay for their crime/abuse/and paraphrenia.When I hear fraud in a marriage of convenience to get through the system.I also have heard in this Category even sisters sponsored brothers as fiances.When I read the Canadian history of discrimination, hate, treatment of Chinese pioneers, natives and internment of Japanese Canadians.When I see close to 50 percent of Canadians are only two hundred short of financial insolvency.More Dirty Picture of Canada:When I see Canada moving towards another GREECE.See it yourself and do the math, the hollowness of our society.Images of Canadian debtwww.bnnbloomberg.ca › maxed-out-48-of-canadians-within-200-of-i...'Maxed out': 48% of Canadians on brink of insolvency, survey ...Candian financial insolvency record highCandian financial insolvency record highwww.thepostmillennial.com › insolvencies-in-canada-now-as-high-as-du...Insolvencies in Canada now as high as during the financial ...According to his figures, in the first nine months of 2019, 102,023 Canadians had to file for insolvency. This number is the highest it has been in the past ten years. The Bank of Canada's standard rate went up from a percentage of 0.5 to 1.75 from July 2017 to October 2018.www.thepostmillennial.com › insolvencies-in-canada-now-as-high-as-du...Insolvencies in Canada now as high as during the financial ...Canadian households are spending more than ever on debt paymentsWhen I see, Canada/or Canadian companies do such a heinous crime.Canadian trash from Philippines set to arrive in VancouverCanadian trash from Philippines set to arrive in Vancouverwww.dw.com › canada-waste-returns-home-after-philippines-war-threatCanada waste returns home after Philippines′ war threat - DWJun 29, 2019 - Tons of garbage exported from Canada to the Philippines years ago is being sent back to its source. This comes as several Asian countries ..Political scene:When I see we all bitch bitch bitch, but do not go for voting, to change this land of once pristine conditions to become a land of lawlessness/frauds/Moochers/falling standards everywhere/When I see there are a lot of educated/qualified/smart Canadians do not opt for politics, And you see, all kinds of crap in the Parliament.You try that stunt with the newcomers who do not know jack about this country, in Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s time, you have to have at least four balls, in your undies. Now it is the wild west, thanks to modern times.See the proceedings in the house of commons, some are just hilarious, some are just to cry and some to just feel bad, then mad, when one person stands, again and again, says the same lines for every question.Healthcare coverage, Dental coverage, Prescription coverage, vision coverage and old-age pension.When I see and experience in some cases.I have worked close to fifty years and still working, as I may need my full health coverage, more and more medications are withdrawn from the plan.I go for an eye test, as I am sitting on the chair, the technician tells me this test it covered but you need the other also. And by the way that is not covered by OHIP but we recommend it.My GP/one of my very close dear and near ones just retired from Healthcare after 45 years and very highly respected specialist tell me. This system is very fragile, mismanagement, thinning of the nurses, big cats trying to save their own hide, and a tremendous amount of misuse and abuse. This system is on shaking legs and rested on the sand.Wow, let us go for it,This saga continues. And husband and wife are out of good six hundred dollars, never mind still the eyeglasses number is on the prescription. That is another saga.Annual meeting with my accountant:When I see my accountant he tells me a very sad future for Canada, he tells me we have to work much longer than the age of 65, or maybe we cannot retire.The Government pension may not last, and now the company pension plans are almost thing of the past.Either move to the cheap place or keep your work boots and gloves handly till they put you in Hearse.He believes the remaining trickling gravy trains of the past are going to stop when you will ride desperate needs.Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.Welcome to new and improved Canada.

99 Tiny Stories to Make You Think, Smile and Cry:Today, it’s been ten years since my abusive ex-fiancé sold my favorite guitar. He sold it on the day I left him. When I went to claim my belongings, he was proud that he had sold it to a pawn shop. Luckily, I managed to track down the guy who bought it from the pawn shop. He was really sweet, and gave it back to me for free, on the condition that I accompany him on his front porch for an hour to play guitar with him. He grabbed a second guitar and we ended up sitting there on his porch for the rest of the afternoon playing music, talking, and smiling. He’s been my husband for nine years now. MMTToday would have been the 127th day in a row that I visited her at the hospital as she rested in a coma. But last night I had a dream that she died, and I woke up in tears this morning and couldn’t bring myself to drive to the hospital to see her lying there like that. So I stayed in bed, staring at the ceiling, and thinking of how I was going to have to learn to live without her for the rest of my life. And then my phone rang, and it was her. MMTToday, about an hour after I lost my wallet, a man showed up at my front door with it. Everything was intact including the $200 in cash. As I expressed my gratitude, he explained to me that he hopes doing the right thing pays off for him. “Oddly enough, I lost my wallet sometime this morning too,” he said. “I had about the same amount of cash in there that you have and all my cards and IDs.” Without thinking about it, I pulled out $100 and handed it to him. “Take this, I insist,” I said. “Just in case you don’t find your wallet, we’ll split the cash.” He gratefully accepted the money and left. This evening he knocked on my door again. “Here’s your $100 back,” he said. “A woman found my wallet and returned it and all my cash about an hour ago.” MMTToday, while I was browsing in a secondhand bookshop, I found a copy of a book that had been stolen from me when I was a kid. I opened it and saw, on the first page, in familiar hand writing, my own name. It had been a gift from my (now late) grandfather. Next to my name my grandfather wrote, “I hope you rediscover this book someday when you’re older, and it makes you think about the important things in life.” MMTToday, a week after I donated three bags of clothes to a local homeless shelter, I saw a homeless woman sitting on a park bench wearing a tye-dyeshirt I made when I was a teenager. I walked by her and said, “I love your shirt!” She smiled and said, “Thank you! I really do too!” MMTToday at 7AM, I pulled over on my way to work to help a lady change a flat tire. At 4PM, she saved my life when she randomly saw me downtown and yanked me backward out of a crosswalk as a car ran the red light. MMTToday, it’s been five years since my mom was in a car accident that resulted in her losing all of her long-term memory from before the crash. When I was little, my mom and I used to quote a ‘Winnie the Pooh’ book as an inside joke. One of us would ask, “Have you ever seen a dragon fly?” And the other would reply, “I have, I have seen a dragon fly!” This evening I was sitting with her while we were watching TV and I randomly asked, “Have you ever seen a dragon fly?” And she responded with, “I have, I have seen a dragon fly!” We stared at each other for a prolonged moment, and then she jumped out of her seat and exclaimed, “Oh my god, I remember!” MMTToday, I have a disorder which frequently makes me faint for a few seconds, making it hard for me to be independent and hold down a steady job. I used to be really depressed about it, but my family and friends turned my illness into a game, seeing who could make me laugh the hardest when I returned to consciousness. They have also turned catching me into a sport. Believe it or not, I haven’t hit the floor once in the past two years. Someone has always been there to catch me. MMTToday was my first day back on the job after more than a year on disability leave due to a freak explosion in the plant that, among other injuries, left me legally deaf in both ears. When I walked into the plant this morning several of my colleagues signed me phrases like “Great to see you,” “Welcome back,” and “We missed you.” It turns out that nine of my colleagues got together and took a sign language course, just like I did, over the last several months. They did this so they could easily communicate with me when I returned. Their compassion MMT.Today, I am an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran. Upon arriving home three years ago from my final tour to Afghanistan I found out that my wife had been cheating on me and had spent/stole almost all of our money. I had nowhere to stay and no phone and was suffering from severe anxiety problems. One of my close friends from high school, Shawn, and his wife, seeing that I was in need of help, took me in and let me live with their family of five. They helped me deal with my divorce and get my life together. Since then, I’ve moved into my own place, opened a fairly successful diner, and my friend’s kids call my Uncle Jay when they see me. The way they adopted me into their family in my desperate time of need will always MMT.Today, I have been a counselor for foster care children for almost 15 years. This afternoon I ran into one of my previous foster children I hadn’t seen in over 5 years. About 10 years ago, on a day he was really upset and mad at life, I drew him a sketch of a superhero and wrote him a note on an index card about how he is a superhero and that superheroes always rise up and win in the end. I saw him today as I walked past the local fire station. He’s now a fire fighter. He recognized me as I walked by and ran up to me. We talked for about a half hour, and then before we parted ways he took his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out the superhero index card I made for him when he was a kid. MMTToday, I have diabetes. Two years ago, after my mom passed away, I inherited her cat, Kita. At 3AM this morning Kita woke me up by sitting at the foot of the bed and meowing VERY loud over and over again. I had never heard her sound that way, so I sat up in bed to see what was wrong. As soon as I did, I realized I felt extremely lightheaded and weak. I grabbed my glucose meter and tested myself. My level was down to 53. Normal, according to my doctor, is between 70 and 120. My doctor told me that had Kita not awakened me, I may have never awakened at all. MMTToday, we live in a lower-middle-class neighborhood. My wife was just diagnosed with breast cancer, so my 14-year-old son decided that he wanted to raise money to help pay for some of her miscellaneous medical expenses. His idea was to go door to door around the neighborhood with battery operated hair clippers and let people shave a part of his head for a small donation of their choosing. He asked me whether a $100 goal would be too much. I told him not to get his hopes up. He came back home ten minutes ago with a totally bald head and $1,223. Two people gave him $100 bills. MMTToday, it’s been ten years since my best friend became ill and needed a kidney transplant. As I was a fitting donor, I chose to donate one of my healthy kidneys to her even after doctors said her chance of survival was only 30%, and that there would be inherent risks to my health as well. But here I am at 10AM, getting ready to drive to her wedding venue where, in just a few short hours, I will be her maid of honor as she marries the love of her life who she happened to meet at the hospital ten years ago. MMTToday, I was buying food at the grocery store for my family, but at the checkout counter my debit card came back declined for over-withdrawal. (I’ve been laid off from work for awhile now and am barely making ends meet.) As I quickly explained myself to the cashier and started putting back some of the food I had picked out, the man in line behind me stepped forward and paid for all my groceries. I thanked him, and he said, “Someone did the same thing for me several years ago. This is my opportunity to pay it forward. I hope you can do the same someday.” MMTToday, exactly 10 months after suffering from a severe stroke that nearly killed him, my dad got up from his wheelchair without any help for the first time, and slow danced with me during the father/daughter dance at my wedding. MMTToday, a big stray dog randomly followed me from the subway on my walk home. For about six blocks he followed just a few paces behind me. And just as this began to freak me out, a guy came out of nowhere, held a knife up to my face, and yelled, “Give me your purse!” Before I had a chance to react, the stray dog lunged at the man and bit his leg. He dropped the knife and fell to the ground as I ran away. I am now at home, safely, because of that dog. MMTToday my son, who I adopted eight months ago at the age of seven, called me ‘mom’ for the very first time. MMTToday, I’m a police officer stationed at the state court house. This afternoon the judge finalized a case in which a 3-year-old boy was officially adopted by his late mom’s best friend two years after the boy’s parents and grandparents died in a car accident. The boy has been living with his mom’s best friend ever since the accident, and he treats her as if she is his real mom. Once the adoption was approved, everyone in the courtroom was smiling. But before the judge had a chance to slam the gavel and dismiss everyone, the boy ran up to the judge and asked if he could do it. The judge laughed and nodded yes. So, smiling ear to ear, the boy sat on the judge’s lap, looked up at everyone in the courtroom, slammed the gavel, and finalized his own adoption. MMTToday, my 17 year old autistic brother, Kevin, played guitar and sang every single word, flawlessly, to the Lifehouse song ‘Hanging by a Moment’ for his girlfriend (who is also autistic) on their one year anniversary. His girlfriend’s smile lit up the room. Although he struggles with a severe speech impediment, he has been practicing for this every single day since they first started dating. MMTToday, at the local convenience store where I work an elderly man with a guide dog came in, went to the aisle with the greetings cards, picked up a card, held it up extremely close to his face, and struggled to read it. Just as I was about to walk over to help him, a big truck driver asked him if he needed assistance reading, and then proceeded to read him almost every single greeting card out loud until the elderly man smiled and said, “That’s perfect! My wife will love that one!” MMTToday, when I landed at J.F.K. for a business trip, I turned on my phone and was inundated with several voicemails and text messages from family and close friends back in Seattle. “Call home. Your mom had a severe stroke and is currently in intensive care,” read the first text message to pop-up on my phone. My boss was with me, told me she’d handle things herself, and insisted that I catch the next flight back home. As I stood in line at the ticket counter, talking to my brother about my mother’s condition, crying, and explaining that I was going to try to make a flight that leaves in 30 minutes, the twelve people in line in front of me overheard my conversation and let me skip to the front. Then after the Delta rep quickly issued me a ticket, she walked around the counter, handled me a box of tissues, and before I had a chance to react, gave me a big hug. I made my flight. And my mom is now in stable condition. MMTToday, a deaf-mute child I have been caring for 5 days a week for the last 4 years looked up at me this afternoon after I fed him his favorite lunch and spoke aloud to me for the first time. He said, “Thank you, Monica. I love you.” MMTToday, the man that saved my life 28 years ago when he singlehandedly fought off three other men who were trying to rape me, walks with a cane due to the leg injury he suffered by doing so. And he looked so proud today when he put down his cane and slowly walked our daughter down the aisle. MMTToday, outside the doctor’s office, approximately 15 minutes after we received the discouraging news about my incurable cancer, she got down on one knee and asked me to marry her. MMTToday, my dad is the best dad I could ask for. He’s a loving husband to my mom (always making her laugh), he’s been to every one of my soccer games since I was 5 (I’m 17 now), and he provides for our family as a construction foreman. This morning when I was searching through my dad’s toolbox for a pliers, I found a dirty folded up paper at the bottom. It was an old journal entry in my dad’s handwriting dated exactly one month before the day I was born. It reads, “I am eighteen years old, an alcoholic who is failing out of college, a past cutter, and a child abuse victim with a criminal record of auto theft. And next month, ‘teen father’ will be added to the list. But, I swear I will make things right for my little girl. I will be the dad I never had.” And I don’t know how he did it, but he did it. MMTToday, I have an elderly patient who is suffering from a severe case of Alzheimer’s. He can rarely remember his own name, and he often forgets where he is and what he said just a few minutes beforehand. But by the stretch of some miracle (perhaps the miracle of love), he remembers who his wife is every morning when she shows up to spend a few hours with him. He usually greets her by saying, “Hello my beautiful Kate.” MMTToday, I’m a teacher in a low income neighborhood in greater Detroit. Because their parents don’t have enough money, some of my students come to school without lunch, or without money for lunch. So I lend them a few dollars here and there to buy a school lunch when they are short on cash. I’ve been doing this for several years, and other teachers think I’m crazy. But of the few hundred dollars I’ve lent students over the years, I have received every single cent back. Sometimes it takes them a few weeks, but every one of my students has paid me back without me asking. MMTToday, when my wife showed up to do a 5K walk in support of her breast cancer, over 200 of her current and past students (she’s a high school English teacher) and several of her colleagues showed up, unexpectedly, wearing pink shirts with her photo and a caption that read, “We’re going to beat this together.” I’ve never seen my wife so overwhelmed with joy before in my life. MMTToday, my cat got out of my downtown condo and got lost. I was sad because I figured I’d never see her again. About 24 hours after I posted flyers on telephone poles in the city I received a call from a man who found my cat. It turned out the man was homeless and used 50 cents to call me from a payphone. He was insanely nice and even bought a can of food for my cat. I gave the man all the cash I had on me as a reward. MMTToday, my brother spends most of his free time at school hanging out with the football team – he’s actually been working out with the team and everything. My brother has a mild case of autism. About a year ago my mom was ready to pull my brother out of school and have him home schooled due to excessive teasing from peers. One of the popular football players, who had stood up for him in the past, heard about this, explained the situation to his teammates and friends, and stood by his side until the teasing stopped. Now, a year later, he’s just ‘one of the guys.’ MMTToday, almost 5 years after I stopped volunteering at the suicide prevention hotline, the new manager gave me a call. She said this afternoon they received a $25,000 anonymous donation to help fund the support line. Along with the donation they received an email that read, “Thank you Claire. You saved my life.” Apparently, I’m the only Claire who ever volunteered there. MMTToday, a homeless man whom I recognize from around the neighborhood came into my bakery and purchased a large birthday cake (I gave him a 40% discount). I curiously watched as he walked the cake across the street to another homeless man. The other man started laughing and then the two men hugged. MMTToday, I watched a teenage boy help an elderly woman with a cane onto the city bus I was riding. He was so careful with her, assisting her every step of the way. The woman had the biggest smile on her face. They both sat directly across from me, and just as I was about to compliment her on having a wonderful grandson, the boy looked at her and said, “My name is Chris. What’s your name, ma’am?” MMTToday, I stopped on the side of the road to help an elderly man who was struggling with changing a flat tire. It turns out he was the firefighter who pulled my mom and me out of our burning apartment when I was a kid. Even though I hadn’t seen him in 30 years, it only took me a few seconds to recognize him. We chatted about it for awhile, and then as soon as I had the spare tire secured to his car, we looked at each other, shook hands and said, “Thank you,” simultaneously. MMTToday, my grandmother and grandfather, who were both in their early 90’s and married for 72 years, both died of natural causes approximately one hour apart from each other. MMTToday, my father had a serious heart attack in the waiting room at the hospital as my wife was giving birth to our first child. My father was waiting to welcome his first grandchild into the world. The doctors say he likely would have died if he wasn’t already at the hospital with medical care a few seconds away. But based on the lucky circumstances, he’s expected to make a full recovery. MMTToday, I witnessed a bad car accident at an intersection. An older drunk male with no headlights ran a light and hit a teenager’s car. The drunk driver’s car caught fire. Then the teenager, covered in blood, struggled out of his car, jogged to the burning vehicle and pulled the drunk driver to safety just before the cab of the vehicle burst into flames. MMTToday, I texted my supervisor to tell him I wouldn’t be able to come into work today due to the fact that I’m in the emergency room with my dad after he had a heart attack. I got a response saying I had the wrong number. But then a few minutes later the person called me, told me her prayers are with me and my dad, and then told me a story about how her dad made a full recovery from a heart attack last year. We spoke for a half hour and she made me feel better. People like her who convey unrelenting compassion and goodwill MMT.Today, after my daughter’s funeral I was going through my phone deleting all the condolence messages. There were so many of them that I simply selected ‘delete all,’ but one message didn’t delete. It was the last message my daughter left me before she passed and it was marked as ‘new.’ Sometimes my voicemail forces me to listen to messages before I can delete them, so played it. She said, “Hey dad, I just wanted to let you know I’m okay and I’m home now.” MMTToday, I walked up to the door of my office (I’m a florist) at 7AM to find a uniformed Army soldier standing out front waiting. He was on his way to the airport to go overseas for a year. He said, “I usually bring home a bouquet of flowers for my wife every Friday and I don’t want to let her down when I’m away.” He then placed an order for 52 Friday afternoon deliveries of flowers to his wife’s office and asked me to schedule one for each week until he returns. I gave him a 50% discount because it made my day to see something so sweet. MMTToday, my high school boyfriend, who I thought I’d never see again, showed me the pictures of the two of us he kept in his Army helmet while he was overseas for the last 8 years. MMTToday, a 9-year-old patient of mine will be undergoing her 14th surgery in the past 2 years to combat a rare form of cancer. Even after all the surgeries I’ve never seen her frown. She’s still 100% sure she’ll survive. And I’m certain her attitude is the primary reason she has survived to this point. She still laughs and plays with her friends and family. She has intelligent goals for the future. A kid like her who can go through everything she’s been through and come out smiling MMT.Today, during a fire evacuation at school, I ran outside to find one of the thugs at our school, who is notorious for being a tough guy, holding my little sister’s hand (she’s a special needs student) and telling her, “You’re okay. You’re safe,” and calming her down as she slowly stopped crying. MMTToday, in the background over the phone, I heard my 7-year-old son ask my wife, “If daddy’s job is going so well, how come he’s never home here with us?” MMTToday, when the chief ordered the firefighters to evacuate the building due to “extremely hazardous conditions,” I began to panic even more. My daughter was still trapped inside. But one fire fighter didn’t listen to the orders. Instead he ran around to another apartment unit that borders the other side of our unit, went out onto the balcony, jumped over to our balcony, smashed through the sliding glass door with an axe, and brought my daughter out alive. MMTToday, I was one of the paramedics on the scene where a professional skydiving instructor died due to a parachute failure. As we loaded the man’s body into the back of the ambulance, I noticed his t-shirt. It said, “I died doing what I love.” MMTToday, six months after his passing, I flew from Austin, Texas to Melbourne, Australia to clean out my brother’s overseas condo and finalize its sale. As you might imagine, the entire experience was a sad one. But one thing that jumped out at me was my brother’s desk planner. Two weeks before he passed he crossed out a 9-day vacation on his calendar with a note saying, “Not enough time, maybe next month.” MMTToday, as my grandpa rested in his hospital bed, desperately fighting pancreatic cancer, he squeezed my hand tight and said, “Promise me, no matter how good or bad you have it, you will wake up every morning thankful for your life. Because every morning you wake up, someone somewhere else will be desperately fighting for theirs.” MMTToday, after an 11 month tour of duty in the Army, my husband has been home from Afghanistan for 9 days. During a heavy rain storm this morning at 4AM, following a loud crack of thunder, my husband jumped out of bed, half asleep, and onto the floor and screamed, “Get down! Get down!” MMTToday, I told my 18 year old grandson that nobody asked me to prom when I was in high school, so I didn’t attend. He showed up at my house this evening dressed in a tuxedo and took me as his date to his prom. MMTToday, I watched in horror through the kitchen window as my 2-year-old slipped and fell head first into the pool. But before I could get to her, our Labrador Retriever, Rex, jumped in after her, grabbed her by her shirt collar and pulled her to the shallow steps where she could stand. MMTToday I turned 10. Yes I was born on 9-11-2001. My mom worked in the World Trade Center but wasn’t at work that day because she was giving birth to me. MMTToday, after several kids teased a less fortunate girl (who lives in a poorer neighborhood) this morning for always wearing the same clothes, seven students in my class went home at lunch time, emptied their drawers and closets and brought this girl 16 pristine and beautiful outfits to wear. I found out about this after I asked her why she changed her clothes after lunch today. MMTToday, I was sitting on the steps of a church waiting for a bus when I saw an old Catholic nun being assisted up the steps by a young man wearing a Muslim turban. Once they were at the top, the nun turned to the young man and said, “I can see both of our gods raise beautiful children. Thank you.” The young man smiled and nodded. MMTToday, our high school basketball team has a senior player who uses a wheelchair. He lost both of his legs from the knee down in a car crash when he was a sophomore. He was one of the best basketball players on the team at the time, so the coach insisted that he stay on the team to help coach the other players. He’s now the assistant coach, but he’s also the designated free throw shooter for injured players. When a player gets injured during a foul and can’t immediately shoot the foul shots, he rolls out to the foul line and takes the shots for the injured player. I’ve never missed a home game, and I’ve never seen him miss a shot. MMTToday, I paid my landlord back in full. Ten months ago I lost my job and couldn’t cover my rent for two months. Instead of putting my son and I on the streets, my landlord said, “You’ve been a good tenant for ten years and I know times are tough. Take your time, find another job, and pay me back as soon as you can.” MMTToday at 5AM, I asked an elderly man in the city where the nearest train stop was. He walked me to it and then waited next to me for 15 minutes. When the train finally arrived, he smiled and said, “Be safe out there, miss.” and then walked away without boarding the train. MMTToday, I was in a taxi on my way to work in Chicago when my blood glucose level suddenly dropped and I passed out. The taxi driver used all the tricks of his trade to get me to the hospital as quickly as possible. Apparently, he cut through a small park and drove over a median to get me there before it was too late. I know this because after I woke up, my nurse told me that my taxi driver “saved my life” and “physically carried me into the emergency room waiting area,” followed by a police officer who was after him for the said traffic violations. But then, my nurse said, “After the taxi driver explained himself, the police officer shook his hand and left.” MMTToday, two Orphan children (a boy and a girl) I used to care for years ago when they were teenagers are now married, are the owners of a successful marketing firm, own the home across the street from me, and have two beautiful children. And although I never officially adopted them, their two children call me ‘Grandma.’ MMTToday, I re-read the suicide letter I wrote on the afternoon of September 2nd 1996 about two minutes before my girlfriend showed up at my door and told me, “I’m pregnant.” She was honestly the only reason I didn’t follow through with it. Suddenly I felt I had a reason to live. Today she’s my wife. We’ve been happily married for 14 years. And my daughter, who is almost 15 now, has two younger brothers. I re-read my suicide letter from time to time as a reminder to be thankful – I am thankful I got a second chance. MMTToday, and every day for the last two months since I returned to school with burn scars on my face after being hospitalized for nearly a month for injuries I sustained in a house fire, a red rose was taped to my locker when I got to school in the morning. I have no clue who is getting to school early and leaving me these roses. I’ve even arrived early myself a few times to try to figure it out, but each time the rose was already there. MMTToday, as we were eating lunch at a diner my boyfriend leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek every few minutes when someone walked by. When I noticed what he was doing, I asked why. He said, “I want them to know you’re my girl.” We’re both in our mid-70’s and lost our spouses to cancer about 10 years ago. Second chances at love MMT.Today, my sister, who has Down Syndrome, followed through with her plan to sing at the school talent show. She’s been practicing her song diligently every afternoon for the last month, but it still worried me. I was terrified by the thought of how the students in the audience would respond to her. I just felt like there was a strong chance they would be mean. But they weren’t. In fact, she was the only act that received a standing ovation the entire night. MMTToday, two years after I was told I would never walk again, I got up out of my wheelchair and took my first few unassisted steps into my wife’s arms. MMTToday, one of my regular customers, an elderly man who has been eating in our diner every morning for the better part of 5 years, left me $500 in cash for his $7 breakfast. With the money, he left a small note that said, “Thank you, Cheryl. Your smile and hospitable service over the years gave me something to look forward to every morning after my wife passed. I’m moving to Long Island this evening to live with my son and his family. May the rest of your life be magical.” MMTToday, I unbuckled my seatbelt (I’m passionate about wearing my seatbelt) for two seconds so I could reach a printed map and directions sitting on the other side of the passenger seat. Just as I leaned over to grab it, I hit a big bump in the road and then my windshield shattered as a steel pipe that was hanging on the work truck driving in front of me shot, like a missile, through my windshield and directly into the center of the driver’s seat. I slammed on the brakes and crawled out of the passenger door. The cops that arrived at the scene couldn’t believe it either – there was an 8 foot steel pipe embedded into the driver’s seat, and it didn’t touch me. MMTToday, one of the football players at our school (who stands about 6’5) broke out in tears of joy and exclaimed, “Dad!” as he ran into his father’s arms in the middle of our Algebra II class. His father just returned home from Afghanistan early and came over to the school to surprise his son. MMTToday, I am a corporate accountant for a privately held chain of restaurants in the mid west. Our company employs several hundred people. The economic downturn has had a noticeable effect on the number of customers eating in our restaurants, but not a single employee has been laid off. But what our employees don’t know is that the owner hasn’t written himself a paycheck in six straight months. MMTToday, I was sitting on a park bench eating a sandwich I made myself for lunch when an elderly couple pulled their car up under a nearby oak tree. They rolled down the windows and turned up some jazz music on the radio. Then the man got out of the car, walked around to the passenger side, opened the door for the woman, took her hand and helped her out of her seat, guided her about ten feet away from the car, and they slow danced for the next half hour under the oak tree. MMTToday, I took a cab ride 16 blocks in Manhattan and when I got to my destination I realized I forgot my wallet at home. As I fumbled through my purse, trying to explain things to the cab driver and scrounge up enough cash, a man walked up behind me and handed me a $50 bill. “Thank you!” I said. “Let me have your address. I will pay you back.” He reached into his pocket, pulled out an old receipt and wrote down an address. “You can drop off my money here,” he said. This afternoon I went to the address he gave me and found myself standing in front of a soup kitchen that had a sign out front that said, “Accepting cash donations to feed the hungry.” I walked in and donated the $50. MMTToday, I’m a 3rd shift IT guy for a finance company in NYC. This evening I was updating our VPN server at 3AM when I noticed an employee was actively logged in. I got suspicious and I accessed their account on the backend to see what they were doing. They had just sent a suicide note in an email entitled “Thank you and goodbye.” I immediately looked up their home address in our corporate directory and called 911. This person’s son called me at 7AM, just before I got off my shift, to thank me and inform me that his mother is in stable condition in the hospital. MMTToday was the 10 year anniversary of my dad’s passing. When I was a kid he used to hum a short melody to me as I was going to sleep. When I was 18, as he rested in his hospital bed fighting cancer, the roles were reversed and I hummed the melody to him. I haven’t heard that melody since and almost completely forgot about it until last night. My fiancé and I were lying in bed. We were turned on our sides looking at each other when he started humming the melody to me. He said his mom used to hum it to him when he was a kid. MMTToday, after my dad ran out of options to come up with enough money to pay our mortgage he decided to sell his pristine 1969 Camaro that he restored and has babied for as long as I can remember. A wealthy local collector came to look at it this afternoon. When he realized how passionate my dad was about the car, he asked, “Why are you selling it?” My dad told him and then the collector handed my dad cash for the car and said, “Here’s $5k in cash. I have the rest in my trunk. I’ll be right back.” The collector walked out our front door, got in his car and drove away. MMTToday, my little brother’s internet start-up was purchased for $12,000,000. My brother is 17 years younger than me. Our parent’s passed away in a car accident while I was babysitting him 17 years ago. I was 18 at the time and he was 1. I took legal guardianship of him and worked two jobs for 16 years to make sure he had every opportunity in the world. He started his company at 18 just after he graduated high school. It took off like wildfire. This evening, he transferred $1,000,000 into my retirement savings account. MMTToday, a young teenage boy was in line in front of me at Target. He used a gift card to buy two video games. The cashier, an older woman probably in her late 60’s, rang him up and informed him that he had $12 remaining on his gift card. “Oh, wait then,” he said as he ran two isles over and grabbed a $10 bouquet of flowers. As the cashier added the flowers to his order the boy handed them to her and said, “These are for you.” The cashier could not wipe the smile off her face, even after he left. MMTToday, it’s been almost four months since my son’s seven-year-old dog, Grover, got lost at a crowded fair on the outskirts of Orlando, Florida. We were on a family vacation visiting my husband’s parents. We searched for him everywhere, put up flyers all over the city - the whole nine yards. Nothing. My son was devastated. This afternoon, Grover showed up at our front door in Austin, Texas all by himself. MMTToday, a woman in my line at McDonald’s noticed the uniformed Marine in line behind her, and when she handed me $20 to pay for her meal, she said, “Keep the extra $12 and use it to pay for the Marine’s meal.” When the Marine got up to the counter and ordered his food, I informed him that it was already paid for by another customer. He stared at me for a second, then turned his head and glanced out the front window, handed me his cash anyway and said, “Okay, make it two #4 meals then.” On the way out of the restaurant he handed the second meal to a homeless man who was resting on the sidewalk. MMTToday, losing my infant son was the worst pain I have ever felt. But the phone call I just received from the doctor telling me my baby’s organs instantly saved two other baby’s lives MMT.Today, my father found my little sister alive, chained up in a barn. She was abducted near Mexico City almost 5 months ago. Authorities stopped actively searching for her a few weeks later. My mother and I laid her soul to rest. We even had a funeral for her last month. All of our family and friends attended the ceremony except my father. He swore she was still alive. He looked for her all day, every day since she disappeared. And she’s back home now because he never gave up. MMTToday, I walked my daughter down the aisle. Ten years ago I pulled a 14 year old boy out of his mom’s fire-engulfed SUV after a serious accident. Doctors initially said he would never walk again. My daughter came with me several times to visit him at the hospital. Then she started going on her own. Today, seeing him defy the odds and smile widely, standing on his own two feet at the altar as he placed a ring on my daughter’s finger MMT.Today, due to Alzheimer’s and dementia, my grandfather usually can’t remember who my grandmother is when he wakes up in the morning. It bothered my grandmother a year ago when it first happened, but now she’s fully supportive of his condition. In fact, she plays a game every day in which she tries to get my grandfather to ask her to re-marry him before dinnertime. She hasn’t failed yet. MMTToday, at 4PM I pulled over to help a man (who turned out to be a paramedic) push his car out of the road. After looking under the hood for a few minutes we both agreed his radiator needed to be replaced. He told me he was running late to work, so I used my AAA card to get him a free tow and ride to a repair shop next to the hospital. Exactly an hour later I called 911 when my son’s best friend fainted and stopped breathing after an asthma attack. The same paramedic, Jake, showed up at my house, performed CPR on my son’s friend until he was breathing again, and took him to the hospital. MMTToday, it’s been 10 years that our office janitor/maintenance man has been working at our company. Ever since he started, even as our small company grew from 12 people (when I started) to 118, he has given a small gift and card to every single one of his coworkers on their birthday. I actually just received my 10th gift and card from him last week. Today, for his birthday, the owner and CEO gave him a $25,000 bonus and threw him an after-work party. MMT“Today is your funeral,” my mother said to me over the phone as she cried hysterically from joy. I’ve been MIA overseas for the last few months after a mission I can’t speak about backfired. I was rescued this morning – the day of my funeral. MMTToday, I came across a Facebook page with 89 fans that’s dedicated to making fun of a kid at my school. It made me sick to my stomach. So I wrote this on the page’s wall: “Read your cruel words, and then get up and look in the mirror, all of you! And say, ‘I like torturing others! I am proud of myself!’” I just checked the Facebook page again, about 7 hours later. No one responded to my post. But the page now has 26 fans. MMTToday, I was sitting on the subway, exhausted, in a horrible mood. Lately I just haven’t been happy. I’ve been struggling with my weight, my job, and life in general. About 15 minutes into the subway ride, the elderly lady across from me got up, moved next to me, and said, “You’re beautiful. I’m not joking. I was thinking it, and I wanted you to know.” I smiled, thanked her and asked, “Do you usually complement strangers?” “When I was your age, a woman my age sat next to me on a train. Her compliments saved me from doing something stupid. And today, I’m returning the favor.” MMTToday, I operated on a little girl that was in a car accident. She desperately needed O- blood, which is a bit rare. We didn’t have any available, but her twin brother was at the hospital who had O- blood. I explained to him that it was a matter of life and death – that his sister needed his blood. He sat quietly for a moment, and then said goodbye to his parents. I didn’t think anything of it until after we took the blood we needed and he asked, “So when will I die?” He thought he was giving his life for hers. Thankfully, they’ll both be fine. MMTToday at the beach, I ran into my old boyfriend from high school who I haven’t seen in 8 years. We broke up because his dad was in the military and had to move to the east coast. They moved away during our junior year in high school, and we kept in touch for awhile, but eventually lost touch. I recognized him from a distance because he was wearing a tye-dye shirt we made together for a summer beach party when we were sophomores. The kicker: I was wearing my matching tye-dye shirt, which I haven’t worn in years. We hung out the entire day and have a date this evening. MMTToday, my son turned 7 and I turned 23. Yes, I had him on the day I turned 16. The choices I made when I was a teenager were foolish, and sometimes I get worried I’m bringing my son up wrong. But today I took him to the park to celebrate our birthdays. He played for hours with a girl who has burn scars that cover most of her face. When my son took a break to eat, he pointed to her and said, “She’s so pretty and cool!” Which left me thinking, “I must be doing something right as a mom.” MMTToday at 1AM, my grandma, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, got up, got into my dad’s car and drove off. We contacted the police. But before the police could find her, two college kids pulled into our driveway with my grandma. One was driving my dad’s car and the other was following in their car. They said they overheard her crying about being lost at an empty gas station 10 miles away. My grandma couldn’t remember our address, but gave the kids her first and last name. They looked her up online, found our address, and drove her home. MMTToday, a young woman and her toddler knocked on my door. The woman stared at me in silence for a second and then smiled and said, “I was just visiting the area and I couldn’t help but look-up your address. Your son carried me out of the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001 before he went back inside to save others. I think about you and your family almost every single day.” MMTToday, I met the prettiest woman on an airplane. After some small talk, and under the assumption that I wouldn’t see her again after we made our connections in Atlanta, I told her how pretty I thought she was. She gave me the most sincere smile and said, “Nobody has said that to me in 10 years.” It turns out we’re both in our mid-30’s, never married, no kids, and we live about 5 miles away from each other in Dallas. We have a date set for next Saturday after we return home. MMTToday, the only reason I’m alive is because of my little brother. 7 years ago I swallowed a bottle of prescription pain killers. No more than 30 seconds later my brother called me from Iraq and told me how much he hates it there and that the only thing keeping him going is knowing that in a few months he’ll be back home hanging with his favorite person – me. I vomited up the pills and never told a soul. My brother and I are now roommates. MMTToday, because of my older brother, I’m a high school grad, I’m healthy and I’m alive. I’m 18 and my brother is 29. When we were 7 and 18, he got an apartment of his own on the good side of town and moved us out of the crack house our late drug addicted mother was living in. He worked 2 jobs to pay the bills and always made sure I was safe, fed and at school on time. He basically saved my life. MMTToday, as I was sleeping, I woke up to my daughter calling my name. I was sleeping in a sofa chair in her hospital room. I opened my eyes to her beautiful smile. My daughter has been in a coma for 98 days. MMTToday, through extensive charity work, we helped move a street family that has never lived in a house or slept on a clean bed into a house of their own. As he stared around his new bedroom in awe, the youngest boy in the family exclaimed, “I have a bed! My own bed! My very own bed!” MMTToday, at 8AM this morning, after four months of lifelessness in her hospital bed, we took my mom off life support. And her heart continued beating on its own. And she continued breathing on her own. Then this evening, when I squeezed her hand three times, she squeezed back three times. MMTToday, my 8-year-old son hugged me and said, “You are the best mom in the whole entire world!” I smiled and sarcastically replied, “How do you know that? You haven’t met every mom in the whole entire world.” My son squeezed me tighter and said, “Yes I have. You are my world.” MMTSource: 99 Tiny Stories to Make You Think, Smile and Cry

ATTU DIARY…“The trouble is, you think you have time.” - BuddhaNABUO “PAUL” TATSUGUCHI LOVED AMERICA; like his father before him and his younger brothers who followed. He went to school in California and became a doctor of internal medicine. He was baptized as a Seventh Day Adventist Christian there. And it was destiny that his childhood sweetheart, Taeko, came to study in California too. And they were married there in 1938, the same year he received his state medical license. California was their home. They had a safe, respectable, and comfortable life ahead of them.But the next year, as Europe exploded into war, and Japan continued to devastate China, and U.S.-Japanese tensions mounted, it became plain the newly-weds had a most gut-wrenching decision to make. Where should they pledge their loyalties? To their ancestors and their culture, their country and “God-Emperor”? Or to themselves and their future children, and America? To their Christian Values or Japanese Shintoism? Was their duty only to themselves, or did they owe themselves completely to a single country, religion, calling, some personal morality or politics? What was right?Paul had spent 13 years in America, nearly his entire adult life, and they were his happiest years. Taeko, who had grown up in Hawaii with Christian missionary parents, loved America too…But both of them were also inescapably Japanese…So, when a Tokyo Adventist sanitarium reached out to Paul offering him a job, a Tuberculosis sanitarium founded by his late father some 10 years earlier, he couldn’t refuse his calling, nor the duty to honor his ancestors. And Taeko embraced her duty to support her husband.Their return to Japan was strange and overshadowed. Paul’s last visit was in 1932 when both of his parents died unexpectedly, but now he found his country much more radicalized, more militant than he remembered. Tokyo was more patriotic, and tensions with the United States were felt much more strongly there than in the United States. Had they made a grave mistake?In better times they might have been able to turn back, but it was now 1940 and Taeko was due to give birth to their first child. She was also heavily involved with church work; Paul had fully committed himself to his patients. Both wanted to return to the United States - - someday - - but events quickly overtook them. All they could do was pray.As their fears deepened, 1940 also became the year of the Religious Bodies Law. With its enactment, the government took full control of all religions in Japan and many churches were dissolved, including the Seventh Day Adventists. The Tatsuguchi’s watched on in shock as friends were abruptly interned and later deported, along with all foreign Christian missionaries. Many Japanese Christian leaders, some they personally knew, disappeared or were imprisoned, sometimes dying in custody. But maybe they shouldn’t have been so surprised. Under the shoguns Christian congregations had suffered centuries of persecution, torture and martyrdom.Amazingly though, at the same time the Japanese government protected Jews. In fact, they welcomed tens of thousands of Jewish refugees into Japan and the Jewish ghetto of Shanghai, helped arrange visas and travel to other safe haven countries, and fought continual German insistence throughout the war for adopting anti-Semitic policies that would ‘eliminate’ or deport Jews. Japan steadfastly refused and became a refuge from the holocaust because some Japanese leaders believed controlled Jewish immigration would bring needed investment. It was also believed that Japan might be able to obtain certain favors, intelligence, or advantages through the economic and political power of influential Jewry.An impossible choice was forced upon Paul and Taeko: should they - - could they - - remain loyal to their Christian faith or surrender to Shintoism and the totalitarian Japanese military state? Leaving Japan was no longer a realistic option. The Kempetai was certainly watching.In January 1941 still more was decided for them. Paul was ordered to leave his medical practice and report to the First Imperial Guard Regiment in Tokyo for induction as a private and basic training. In September, he was ordered to attend the Imperial Japanese Army’s medical school. He graduated in October and was promoted to Sergeant Major, rejoining his Tokyo regiment in January 1942 - - just after Pearl Harbor. The spectacular newspaper photos smoldered in the back of his mind for a very long time; his wife’s home, his other country, up in black acrid smoke; all those happy years seeming more and more like a dream now, confusing and surreal; fading.The Imperial Japanese Army would never trust Sergeant Major Tatsuguchi. Suspicious of his American and Christian backgrounds, they kept eyes on him and would never award him officer status, instead designating him as a non-commissioned acting medical officer. Insidiously, the deeper Paul was drawn into military training and indoctrination, the stronger his loyalties to Japan grew. Over time, the continual distrust of his superiors only made him more eager to prove himself. He got his chance in the Dutch East Indies for several months, and then briefly in the Solomon’s.Meanwhile, Japan had taken American soil in North America, occupying the Aleutian Islands of Attu and Kiska. And although Attu was abandoned in September of 1942, mysteriously, the Japanese changed their minds and decided to reoccupy it in October. This meant they would need more doctors.So after briefly returning to Tokyo and visiting Taeko, now pregnant with his second child, Dr. “Paul” Nobuo Tatsuguchi sailed for a distant place he couldn’t disclose. Perhaps it was an exile in captured American Siberia for having lived in America for so long. Perhaps compassion or Christian tendencies gave him away in his medical work and now he was to be cannon fodder. Either way, he arrived on Attu on March 10th 1943 in the last full convoy ever to land on that fateful island, joining some 2,700 other men there.Such luck…Excerpt from an intercepted and translated Japanese message:U.S. Forces prepare to disembark fo the Invasion of ATTU…His mission was to help establish field hospitals, and to serve as a combat surgeon. Attu seemed so remote from civilization and the war that it could’ve been the moon. Other Pacific battlefields felt that way too, but Paul knew Attu was an especially dangerous combat posting. Weeks after settling in, he sent locks of his hair to Taeko. He knew it would be important to his wife if he was killed in battle and his remains couldn’t be repatriated.Because of the U.S. blockade of the island, only a few letters ever got through to Taeko. Paul wrote mostly about the extreme weather and the pristine snowy grandeur of the surrounding mountains. Attu sometimes emerged into a full and taunting glory as the oppressive fogs cleared for moments when he least expected it. He told her the island’s natural beauty spoke to him, and made him think of her, and sometimes even reassured his faith in God. What he didn’t say was that it was also a horrifyingly indifferent beauty. He also enjoyed fishing whenever he got the chance and urged his wife to play classical music to their young daughters for him. He put a brave face on in his letters home, but the truth was grim. His letters were really a lingering goodbye.Like his father, Paul was a gentle doctor who had taken an oath to heal and to help, and never do harm; he was a soft spoken Christian who knew killing was a cardinal sin and that he should love his enemies, and turn the other cheek; he had spent most of his adult life living in America, a country he loved; he was a devoted husband and loving father of two smart and beautiful daughters…But somehow his war experience and the Imperial Japanese Army had changed Paul. What follows is a portion of his translated combat diary. It begins the day after the Americans first landed…* * * * *TRANSLATED COPY OF JAPANESE DIARYFound at Attu, Alaska, May 1943Diary translation by Yasuo Sam Umetani at AttuDr. Nobuo TatsuguchiMedical OfficerNorthern 5216 DetachmentNorth Sea Defense Field HospitalMay 12 - - 0155“Day’s activities: Air raid; Naval gun firing; landing of U.S. troops.Evacuated to the summit. Carrier-based planes flew over, and our forces fired at them. There is a low fog and the summit is clear. Air raids were frequent until 1000, then the really loud noise began. Naval guns are firing on the island. Prepared class “A” battle equipment.Infantry, American transports, about 41, began landing at Hokkai Misaki. 20 boats landed at Massacre Bay. It seems that they are going to unload heavy equipment.”May 13 - - Battle…“The U.S. forces landed earlier at Shiba Dai and Massacre Bay. The enemy has advanced to the bottom of Misuna Yama from Shiba Dai. We have engaged them. On the other hand, Massacre Bay was defended by only one platoon. Upon the unexpected attack they destroyed the Anti-aircraft cannon and we withdrew.During a night attack we captured twenty enemy rifles. There has been tremendous artillery gunfire in the mountains. Approximately 15 patients were brought into the field hospital today. The field hospital is attached to Arai Engineer unit.”May 14 - - Battle…“Two of our submarines from Kiska have done great damage to 2 enemy ships. 1stLieutenant Sieyuki died today; shot from a rifle. There is now a continuous flow of wounded to the field hospital. In the evening the U.S. forces used gas, but no damage was done due to the strong winds. Came under bombardment. Enemy strength must be a full division. Our desperate defense is holding up well.”[ Notated by translator that The U.S. military flatly denies use anykind of gas at Attu; but if they had, it probably would have been common white phosphorus smoke shells. ]May 15 - - Battle…“Continuous flow of casualties to our field hospital from fierce enemy bombardment; shells coming in from both land artillery and naval forces. The enemy has a great number of Negroes and Indians. Our West Arm units have withdrawn to near Shitagata Dai. I was ordered to join a party for raiding West Arm but the action was called off. The facial expressions of the soldiers back from West Arm is tense. They will all be going back to the firing line very soon. I have just now laid down from fatigue in the barracks.”May 16 - - Battle…“If Shitagata Dai is occupied by the enemy the fate of East Arm will be decided. In that case, my orders are to burn documents and to be prepared to destroy my patients.Sector headquarters has ordered me to proceed to Chichagof Harbor by way of Umanose. At 0100 patients from IND Infirmary, who had gotten lost earlier, accompanied me. Along the way there was an air raid, so we took refuge in an abandoned field hospital cave. The guns of a Lockheed (P-38) strafed us as it flew past the cave.”May 17 - - Battle…“Tonight, at about 1800, under cover of darkness, we finally left the cave. We had the wounded with us and had to carry some of them on stretchers. The stretcher-bearers struggled over muddy roads and steep hills through “No-man’s Land”. No matter how hard we tried, no matter how much we wanted it, we could not get to the pass. I was rather irritated by the thought of getting lost in the heavy fog. We sat down after every 20 or 30 steps, and would sleep, dream, wake up again. Then we would continue on a little farther and repeat the same thing all over again. The patient on the stretcher who does not move at all, is now terribly frostbitten. Finally, after all our effort, we met Colonel Yamazaki’s second-in-command who re-directed us.The pass is a straight steep line without any width towards Chichagof Harbor. So I slid very smoothly on my butt, changing directions with my sword. Slid down in about 20 minutes. That, after all our struggle, climbing the wrong way for 9 hours. Arrived at Chichagof Harbor Ward straggling, but no patients were left behind or lost. Opened a new field hospital. Walking is now extremely difficult from left knee rheumatism which has reoccurred due to adventure over the pass.The results of our surface navy, submarines and special underwater crafts [ mini-submarines] in the vicinity of Chichagof Harbor since the 14th: 1 enemy battleship, 3 cruisers/destroyers, and 6 transports, all sunk according to airborne troops. They have also downed enemy aircraft. Since the favorable turn of the battle of the East Arm, reserves have come back. 6 destroyers are guarding one transport off the shore of Shiba Dai.”(U.S. Navy records do not show any vessels lost due to enemy actions. But the American attack had bogged down, and perhaps Japanese morale also improved due to news of a major armada assembling in Tokyo Bay for reinforcing the Japanese garrison on Attu.Still - - time was running out for both sides… )May 18 - - Battle…“The Yanagawa detachment abandoned the East and West Arms today, withdrawing to Umanose. About 60 wounded were admitted to the field hospital here. I had to care for all of them, all by my self, all through the night. Heard that the enemy carried out a landing at Chichagof Harbor. Everybody prepared for combat and waited. I had two grenades ready. 2ndLieutenant Omura left for combat line on Ha Kuchin-tama. We said farewell. Tonight a patient came in who had engaged a friendly unit by mistake. He was discovered to have a wound on the wrist. The counter-sign is Isshi-hoke.” [ ie.,it was self-inflicted;demoralization]May 19 - - Battle…“At night there was a phone call from sector unit headquarters. In some spots on the beach there are some friendly float-type planes waiting. Went into Attu village church and felt like some one was home. Some blankets were scattered around. I was told to translate a field order presumed to have been dropped by an enemy officer in Massacre Bay. I was also ordered to evaluate a detailed map sketch of Massacre Bay and Holtz Bay which had been in the possession of a Captain Robert Edwards, adjutant for Colonel H Smith. Got tired and went to sleep. First Lieutenant Ujie is also in charge of translation.”May 20 - - Battle…“The hard fighting of our 303 Battalion in Massacre Bay is fierce, and it is to our advantage. We have captured enemy weapons and have used them to fight. Mowed down 10 enemy soldiers who were closing in on our position through the fog. Five of our men and one medical NCO died in the action. Heard enemy pilots faces can now be seen around Umanose. Enemy naval gunfire has been fierce, landing shells very near our hospital ward. Shells have exploded just 20 meters away.”May 21 - - Battle…“Was strafed today, while amputating a patient’s arm. It was the first time since moving over to Chichagof Harbor that I’ve been forced into our air raid shelter. Enemy plane was a Martin. Nervousness of our commanding officer has become severe. He has said his last words to his officers and NCO’s and told us that he will die tomorrow. He has given all his articles away. Hasty chap, this fellow. The officers on the front are doing a fine job. Everyone who heard this became desperate, and things became disorderly.”May 22 - - Battle…“0600 air raid again. Strafing killed one medical man. Okayaki was wounded in the left thigh and fractured his arm. During the night a mortar shell came awfully close.”May 23 - - Battle…“17 friendly medium naval bombers destroyed a cruiser offshore. But enemy naval gunfire scored a hit on the pillar pole of one of our medical tents; 2 patients died instantly and tents were destroyed. From 0300 in the morning to 1600 stayed in a foxhole. Day’s ration is down to 1 Go, 5 Shakers (1.5 ounces); nothing else. Officers and men alike suffer from the frost. Everybody looks around for food and steals everything they can find.”May 24 - - Battle…“It sleeted today. And it was extremely cold… Stayed at Misumi Barracks alone. A great amount of shells was dropped by naval gunfire. One shell sent rocks and mud flying everywhere and the roof caved in. I was forced to take a wet foxhole. Then 5 yards away, another medical officer, Hayaska, died instantly by a penetration of shrapnel through his heart.”May 25 - - Battle…“Naval gunfire, aerial bombardment, trench warfare - - but the worst is yet to come. The enemy is building their positions. Our battalion commander is dead. At Umanose they cannot accommodate all the wounded. It’s said that the road between Massacre Bay District and Sector Unit Headquarters has been cut. We are now isolated. I’ve been suffering from diarrhea and feeling quite dizzy.”May 26 - - Battle…“Hit by naval gunfire. It felt like the Misumi Baracks had blown up. Everything was shaken tremendously; shaken to pieces. Consciousness became vague. A nearby tent burned down from an incendiary bomb hit. Then planes strafed us, hitting things in the next room. Two hits came from a 50-caliber. My room looks an awful mess; its full of sand. Some medical officers were wounded.Today there was also a ceremony of granting the Imperial Edict. The last line of Umanose has been broken through. There is no hope for reinforcements. We will all die for the cause of this Imperial Edict.”May 27 - - Battle…“Diarrhea continues. Pain is severe. I’ve taken everything for it, from opium pills to morphine, then slept pretty well. More strafing by planes. Roof broke through. There are less than 1,000 of us left from over 2,000 troops. Many wounded are coming in from the Coastal Defense Unit field hospital, headquarters, and field post office. The rest are from the front lines.”May 28“The remaining rations will last for only two days. Our artillery has been completely destroyed. There is the sound of trench mortars. There is also the sound of anti-aircraft guns. All companies at the bottom of Attu-Fuji have been completely annihilated, except for one. I wonder if Commander Yenegawa or some of the men are still alive. Other companies have been totally annihilated as well, except for one or two.303 Battalion has been defeated. Yenegawa’s battalion is still holding Umanose, but there are now continuous cases of suicide. Half of our Sector Unit Headquarters was blown away today, all either killed or wounded.Half fried thistles. It is the first time I’ve eaten anything fresh in six months. It is a delicacy. Received order from our unit commander to move the field hospital to the island [ Kiska], but then it was called off.”May 29“Today at 0200 we assembled in front of headquarters. The field hospital took part too. The last assault is to be carried out. All patients in the hospital are ordered to commit suicide.I’ve had only 33 years of living and now I am to die here too. I have no regrets. Banzai to the Emperor [ Translator note: Tatsuguchi meant Christ].I am grateful I have kept the peace in my soul which is Jesus Christ, and that it has been bestowed upon me.At 1800 I took care of all the patients with grenades…[ It must’ve echoed during those final rounds:“… First, do no harm. I swear to show the utmost respectfor human life from its beginning.… I will remember that there is art to medicine as well asscience, and that warmth, sympathy, and understandingmay outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.… I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, acancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illnessmay affect the person’s family and economic stability; myresponsibility includes these related problems.… I will remember I remain a member of society, withspecial obligations to all my fellow human beings, those ofsound mind and body as well as the infirm.… If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it mayalso be within my power to take life; this awesomeresponsibility must be faced with great humbleness andawareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play atGod.… If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art,respected while I live and remembered with affectionthereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finesttraditions of my calling and may I long experience the joyof healing.” ]Goodbye Taeki [ Taiko], my beloved wife, who loved me to the last. Until we meet again, God’s speed.I feel so very sorry for Japan, and for you Takiko [ “Laura” Mutusko], born just February of this year, and now your Christian Father has gone without ever seeing you.Misaka [ “Joy” Misako], who just turned four years old, will grow up unhindered. Well, be good.Well, goodbye Mitsue, and my brothers Kochan, Sakechan, Massachan, Mitichan - - goodbye.The number of Japanese troops participating in the attack to take enemy artillery positions is a little over 1,000. The charge will be about 2.5 miles before becoming the all-out attack. It seems the enemy is expecting an all-out attack tomorrow.”Translators Note:Tatsuguchi was stopped at Engineer Hill. Nearby the remaining troops committed suicide.Only 26 Japanese troops and 2 nurses on Attu survived.Translated at Headquarters Landing Office, ACX2, G-2,Massacre Valley, Attu Island on June 1, 1943.* * * * *Yamazaki’s Last Hope…Supplies exhausted, Colonel Yasuyo Yamazaki realized that neither reinforcements nor an evacuation would come, but he held out one last desperate hope. Of the 2,600 men under his command at the battle’s start, 800 remained fighting-fit, and 600 more were wounded though possibly able to serve some purpose. If he could capture American artillery positions at their weakest point on Engineer Hill in a surprise attack, he could turn the guns against them, as well as on their ships offshore. Perhaps then, captured supplies and a retreat back into the mountains might buy time for reinforcements to be sent. His last remaining men would either die honorable deaths or might be saved to fight another day…The weather very early on May 29th was not that bad by Aleutian standards. It didn’t seem too cold, though snow was still heavy and up in the hills and mountains, glowing under a momentarily clear, cold starry sky.At 0300 that morning, Company ‘B’ of the U.S. 32nd Infantry was ordered to march to battalion headquarters for a hot breakfast, leaving a significantly reduced force for holding Engineer Hill.Yamasaki’s force attacked American positions on the hill before dawn and took the Americans by complete surprise, successfully overrunning the 7th Medical Battalion, 7th Infantry Division, and storming through the aid station bayoneting the wounded to conserve their bullets. They swarmed on towards Engineer Hill’s prized artillery pieces.An American engineer from Company ‘A’, 13th Engineers, recalls being woken from a sound asleep, by urgent voices and shouting men outside his tent. Two nearby friends were bayoneted in their tents. The screams flushed everyone else instantly to action. Most made it to the momentary shelter of a berm they had been building, some with their M-1 rifles, others with nothing. But hand-to-hand fighting took place instantly, faster than anyone could gather wits. The weapons of dead men got picked up and used by everyone in the deadly free-for-all. Yamazaki appeared unreal, like someone from another century, skillfully cutting down men with a Samurai sword.“What a nightmare, a madness of noise and confusion and deadliness”. – Captain George S. BuehlerAmerican medics, Engineers, and service personnel fought for their lives, and then managed to throw some hand grenades. Then the 50th Engineers arrived, driving the Japanese back down the slope with bayonets and rifle butts, away from the prized artillery pieces. The battle raged throughout the day in repeated waves of Japanese counter-attacks, but the Americans stabilized their ragged line. Colonel Yamazaki was killed leading one of the last waves up the hill. Then as the afternoon’s sun waned, the remaining Japanese retreated into the surrounding hills.A tense silence ensued. No one knew what to expect next. Most of the Americans were out of ammunition or left only with knives or bayonets left behind in the fighting. Many were wounded. Then, the reports of single gunshots cracked against the slopes. Then hand grenades began sounding off; the Japanese were committing suicide, sometimes in small groups and pairs. Then at last, a final silence fell, one that was somehow heavier and more certain. The carnage was fully revealed the next morning; men who had done what was ordered, who had done their best. When American soldiers scouted through the vacated Japanese positions and hospital tents, it was plain that all the wounded had been killed by their doctors. Bulldozers had to be used to bury the thousands of Japanese dead in mass graves. Though the numbers of dead on Attu were not nearly as dramatic as later in the war in places like Saipan and Iwo Jima, the high percentages of casualties on both sides marked this battle as among the costliest of the entire war.The fight at Engineer Hill took place after the Japanese troops had already stormed and fought their way over 2 miles. Although Tatsuguchi suggests about 1,000 troops took part in that last assault, it may have been more, including the walking wounded.“It maybe wasn’t such a big battle as battles go nowadays, but, brother, everything about it was done in a big way, including the way them Japs knocked themselves off. Believe me, that was the biggest, awfullest damned mess I ever saw in my life, so help me.”– Anonymous Soldier who fought at Attu.* * * * *PERSONAL HISTORY:Nobuo “Paul” Tatsuguchi, born August 31st, 1911.Subject graduated from Kerye Middle School, Prefecture of Hiroshima, on March 16, 1919.Graduated from Travier English Academy, March 1923.Attended Pacific Union College, Medical Department, Agwin, California, from September 1926 to May 22, 1932.Attended College of Medical Evangelists, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California, September 15, 1933 to January 1937. Internship, White Memorial Hospital, Los Angeles, California.Doctor of Medicine graduate; California medical license, September 8, 1938.Inducted into 1stReplacement Unit, Imperial Guard Infantry Regiment, January 10, 1941.Transferred to 1stImperial Guard Infantry Regiment, January 13, 1941.Ordered as Officer-guard and promoted to Private First Class, Medical Department, May 1, 1941.Promoted to Superior Private, Medical Department, July, 1941.Promoted to Corporal, Medical Department, August 1941.Entered Medical School in September 1941, graduated October 22nd.Promoted to Sgt. Major, Probationary Officer, October 31st 1941.Promoted to Non-commissioned, Acting Officer, December, 1941.Rejoins 1stImperial Guard Regiment in January 1942.Served in Dutch East Indies and Rabaul, New Britain, before returning to Tokyo in early 1943, then deploying to the Aleutian Islands.Arrived Attu, March 10, 1943.* * * * *Nobody ever returns from war - - at least not as the same person.Dr. “Paul” Nobuo Tatsuguchi certainly didn’t. The army changed him.One day he was a family man pining for California, and somehow the next he found himself joining Colonel Yamazaki in one last suicidal banzai charge; the last Japanese assault on Attu. He was subsequently shot and killed on Engineer hill charging through the fog by an American soldier named Charles Laird. His bible, address book, and diary were recovered from his body and then turned in to Divisional Intelligence.Tatsuguchi’s life and death emerged as contradictory and tragic. His translated combat diary struck nerves, and it inspired unauthorized copying. It became a curiosity; a personal war souvenir for reflections to some, and a prized war trophy to others. Soon the diary was making the rounds all across Attu. It took on a life of its own.Medical officers on Attu with the U.S. 7th Division, Dr. J. Mudry and Dr. J. L. Whitaker, eventually stumbled upon a copy for themselves and they were stunned. They knew this man. Not so long ago, Tatsuguchi had been their shy friend from medical school in California. Indeed, they had even thought of him as American. How could he have been killed so close at hand, in the very last hours of Attu’s last desperate battle? How could fate have brought them together like that, as enemies, in the Aleutians, quite literally at the ends of the earth? How could the world be so small? Whitaker had actually been caught up in the path of Yamazaki’s final banzai charge, not far from where Paul had fallen. He and Tatsuguchi may have just missed each other in the rear area fighting, like ships passing in the night.The truth was that Dr. “Paul” Nobuo Tatsuguchi deeply loved two countries. His father too, had been baptized as a Christian and had studied medicine in the United States. His brothers studied in the Unites States as well, and together they grew up within a very privately Christian family entirely fluent in English.But it is the inevitable tragedy of war that decent men of all sides must make terrible, inescapable choices and suffer so deeply, even absurdly. It’s no wonder Tatsuguchi’s translated diary somehow found its way to the press and became widely sensationalized. It took on a life of its own; a force from beyond the grave and battlefield…The Chicago Tribune published a story headlined “Japs Slew Own Patients on Attu, Diary Discloses”, while the Loma Linda School of Medicine Alumni Journal defended Tatsuguchi as a gentle and caring doctor trapped in a situation beyond his control.Of particular discord was Tatsuguchi’s entry about Americans using gas against the Japanese, which the public assumed to be poison (though it was actually just ordinary covering smoke). This was an extremely dangerous security breach because accusations of gas weapons invited atrocious retributions in kind. The appearance of condoning unauthorized war trophies was dangerous too; in fact, it was a court martial offense. Soon it seemed like everyone was packing Japanese 25-caliber guns, bayonets and helmets into their kit; no one was stopping them. Although enemy corpses needed to be routinely searched for anything of intelligence value, souvenir hunting often segued men towards barbarity. It also unnecessarily endangered lives, as soldiers carelessly exposed themselves to booby-traps and ambushes. Tatsugushi’s controversial diary came to symbolize the issue.Lt. General Simon B. Buckner, commander of the Alaska Defense Command reacted sharply. He ordered that all copies were to be burned, reiterating that the diary was classified material. Inspections would be held and offenders would face court martial, per existing codes. The order was interpreted so broadly that the original diary itself disappeared as well.But the diary simply wouldn’t die. Instead it’s hard truths and humanity lived on, spreading to newspaper stories back in Japan. Patriotic publishers there translated the American translations back into Japanese. Tatsuguchi was celebrated as a hero back home, just as he was sensationally vilified but also sometimes excused in the U.S., his other home. Strangely, it proved to be a propaganda windfall for both countries.And never doubt that some people and things in this world are truly cursed; General Buckner - - the man who rightly tried to suppress the spirited diary, and to restore military discipline - - became the highest-ranking American officer killed in combat during World War II, lost in the last days of the battle for Okinawa.Then shortly afterward, Tatsuguchi’s hometown of Hiroshima became the world’s first casualty of atomic warfare.As a further irony, after the war, Tatsuguchi’s wife, Taeko, would go to work for the American occupation forces as a secretary and teacher. And in 1954, she and their two daughters, Joy and Laura, would join Taeko’s parents to live in Hawaii, where America’s war with Japan had begun, and where all three would become naturalized U.S. citizens. Both of the Tatsuguchi daughters would attend Pacific Union College, their father’s and grandfather’s alma mater, and graduate to become nurses. But Laura would marry an American and move to Los Angeles where her mother would later join her, while Joy would marry a Japanese man and move to Japan.Speaking at a 50th anniversary commemorative event held on distant Attu itself, Laura Tatsuguchi’s voice carried on the wind, and over the world’s most well-preserved World War II battlefield, saying:“How ironic that my father was killed in combat here against his beloved America while in loyal service to his Japanese homeland… Like my father, I too have a great love for Japan and America”.Two countries; one great, everlasting and inter-generational love. Why was that so impossible?Today, both Attu and Kiska remain frozen in time, much as the Japanese hastily left them, though U.S. forces would use Kiska until after the war ended. The island’s grassy slopes and lower plains are still radiantly green in summer under the roiling mists and occasionally breaking sun; thousands of unexploded artillery shells remain scattered across the landscape; countless fuel tanks and leaky drums rust on; sunken ships loom as graves in underwater darkness; curiously midget submarines remain beached; the husks of shot-up and crumpled planes lay unmoved; tunnels and bunkers scattered with supplies and personal effects, coke bottles, will always be haunted. The only tree found on Attu - - a fake one, built by an army engineers camouflage division for humor - - still refuses to grow up.All is as it ever was, abandoned to nature.* * * * *“We are all going to die.All of us. What a circus!That alone should make us love each other,but it doesn’t.We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities.We are eaten up by nothing.”- - Charles Bukowski