Shark fin / abalone / recipes

[JR8]

Yeah... understand that,

Hope it helped you along on the road back.

[ozchick]

Jolly good then. No shark's fin and no abalone. It does make me wonder though about the tastes of the local population...
But there ya go THEN.... we're all different. And sms, i'm only comin' to visit your farm if we don't go via those other unpleasant digs you've been referring to here. What a sheltered life I've lived.

[JR8]

For me it was twofold. A penance for my 18 months in the NAM...

I don't mean to pry SMS, but I am curious (please forgive me, hey just ignore me if this isn't cool). Why do you talk in terms of doing 'penance', for what others made you do as a boy?

That said, yeah there's some heavy stuff I've done and I still feel complicit in it... despite it being my damned job.

When you are older and wiser, do you think as you gain enlightenment, you should accept a burden for what you might have done unthinkingly as a child, just because it was what you were ordered to do? .... hmmm....

[sundaymorningstaple]

For me it was twofold. A penance for my 18 months in the NAM...

I don't mean to pry SMS, but I am curious (please forgive me, hey just ignore me if this isn't cool). Why do you talk in terms of doing 'penance', for what others made you do as a boy?

That said, yeah there's some heavy stuff I've done and I still feel complicit in it... despite it being my damned job.

When you are older and wiser, do you think as you gain enlightenment, you should accept a burden for what you might have done unthinkingly as a child, just because it was what you were ordered to do? .... hmmm....

Figure of speech primarily, but with an element of truth to it. I'm not a university grad so my English leaves a lot to be desired. But a lot of it stems on how I was brought up I guess. I am a Yank. I'm proud of that fact. She's my country, warts and all! I was brought up to respect her. That was rather rough to do when I graduated from high school in '65 (same year Singers got her independence). While I was not a believer in what we were doing there, the only options I had were to do my duty to my country (because they ask/demanded it) or to run away and hide like a coward in Canada like so many did. So for me, like a lot of others like me, it was a matter of choices (5 choices really). Run; get drafted and be an infantry grunt; try to pull the conscious objector stunt; play gay; or enlist and get the best you could, training wise, while you were in. I chose the last. I wanted to fly and the only way I could do that without a degree was in the Army. So, I became a chopper pilot flying forward observer and directing artillery fire. As an officer, I did my "duty" without question.

In hindsight, would I do it again you ask? Yes. The difference between me and a lot of other people is I still love my country, albeit I don't particularly love what she does on the world stage. But, while I did not like JFK I did agree with his presidential speech and if my country asked me to do it again, I would do it. Let's just say I owe her. And yes, I would have to live with internal turmoil as well I suppose.

Penance? More like a way of repayment of some of the damage I enabled others to inflict on the population there. I've only once fired a weapon with the intention of harming another individual. And that person is not here today to talk about it. (that happened stateside, 5 months after my discharge from active duty - I was a civilian then)

I doubt that there is a man or woman alive who doesn't carry around something inside that they wish they had never done but they all manage to some extent or another. Most of us compartmentalize it and build a wall around it and go on. Others let it drag them down. They are the ones you read about (small minority). It's ancient history to me today so to me it's a study of history (even if I am a remote part of it).

Unlike the kids of today, at 17, when I enlisted, I wasn't a boy. You don't grow up on a farm and remain a boy for long. You grow up fast.

[raden888]

He He He..Talk about diverging. From a post about abalone and shark's fin recipe, we ended up in the Bay of Tonkin

[sundaymorningstaple]

Yeah, but it's got some relevance. I ate dog & monkey there.

But I didn't know it until after the fact!

[JR8]

Thanks SMS, I wrote a reply from the Tioman dive shop I was at this week... but it got lost in the ether/on the PC.

Thought provoking reply, a most interesting journey you have had...

[raden888]

Thanks SMS, I wrote a reply from the Tioman dive shop I was at this week... but it got lost in the ether/on the PC.

Thought provoking reply, a most interesting journey you have had...

Its good being a male traveling spouse eh? Tioman beats staring at office walls.

[JR8]

Hmmm, no it is not as simple as that.

As attractive as it might sound, when you work from home (or don't work, but sit at home), you realise that perhaps 90% of your social life and friends derive from having a job in an office, and a network.

Sad but true...

[sundaymorningstaple]

Unless you play golf that is.......

[raden888]

Hmmm, no it is not as simple as that.

As attractive as it might sound, when you work from home (or don't work, but sit at home), you realise that perhaps 90% of your social life and friends derive from having a job in an office, and a network.

Sad but true...

I know how you feel, I am in the same boat. I used to dream about working from home and having not to go to the office and deal with office politics but now that I am 'living' the dream so to speak as 70% of my work is done from home...I sometimes find myself missing the face to face connections I made at the office but lucky I love what I do so its all good. I hardly wear suits these days

[JR8]

Yeah, I hear yer. I'm rarely out of pajama shorts these days

Luckily the wife nags me remorselessly (against my natural guilt), to go off on dive trips, as she knows I love it, and she sees that 'getting out' is more important to me...

Glad it has worked for you tho Raden... nice one.

[ozchick]

Well I should admonish you all for hijacking my thread but I've enjoyed the read. You guys are good value reading. Beats yesterday's Local Birdcage Liner that's half-read on the coffee table! Have a good week whatever you're eating, wearing or looking at!

[JR8]

You guys are good value reading. Beats yesterday's Local Birdcage Liner that's half-read on the coffee table!

Thanks Ozchick, (and Moderators kindly note )

[poodlek]

I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir here, but having been to a wedding last week where I was served shark fin soup (AND sea cucumber-barf!) I feel like posting on facebook about it wasn't quite enough. Another friend of mine shared this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r65FgUYdBOc
which pretty graphically shows what exactly happens to get all those fins into bowls in Asia. Disgusting. I can't even get my head around people who know this is what is happening and are still ok with it. Would these same people be happy with eating an endangered rhino steak too, if the prestige were high enough? C'mon.

(URL CENSORED DUE TO COPYRIGHTS ISSUE)