Charlie Rose

motamanx  08/05/2012 06:23 PM Report

The comments I've read so far in this blog are from people who have not served in the Peace Corps. Those who have served in, and those who have been served by, the Peace Corps have a completely different story. If Peace on Earth is a concept to be desired, and worked for, then the Peace Corps has come closer to achieving that than all the statecraft and conflict and war has ever done. I was in the Peace Corps from its earliest inception. When we travelled about, no matter where we were--the people of that country would call out to us and proclaim their love of America. If only that pro-America fervor could have been maintained. Shriver was, if not the actual architect, the driving force that made it as successful as it was. It has just passed its fiftieth anniversary.

SharkswithfrikingLazers  06/13/2012 03:06 PM Report

I applied to the Peace Corps. Got a call from Washington but then nothing ever happened.

After learning the history of the Peace Corps the door that never opened may have been a great blessing:

"In 2009, Casey Frazee, who was sexually assaulted while serving in South Africa, created First Response Action, an advocacy group for a stronger Peace Corps response for volunteers who are survivors or victims of physical and sexual violence.[30][31]

In 2010, concerns about the safety of volunteers were illustrated by a report, compiled from official public documents, listing hundreds of violent crimes against volunteers since 1989.[32]

In 2011, a 20/20 investigation found that "more than 1,000 young American women have been raped or sexually assaulted in the last decade while serving as Peace Corps volunteers in foreign countries."[33]"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_Corps

I saw the 20/20 investigation and someone at the Peace Corps needs to be taken to task.

SharkswithfrikingLazers  06/13/2012 03:00 PM Report

He had Alzheimer's for around eight years. His daughter Maria covered that:

In 2004 his daughter, Maria, published a children's book, What's Happening to Grandpa?, to help explain Alzheimer's to children. The book gives suggestions on how to help and to show love to an elderly person with the disease.[20]

Maria Shriver discusses her father's worsening condition in a segment for the four-part 2009 HBO documentary series The Alzheimer's Project called Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am?, including describing a moment when she decided to stop trying to correct his various delusions.[22]

SharkswithfrikingLazers  06/13/2012 02:55 PM Report

"He was a good man." He was joyful.

Although I detect a bit of hyperbole in the overall story, I am happy to hear a son describe his father in such respectful terms a few days before Father's Day.

REMant  06/13/2012 11:41 AM Report

Yes, I remember Shriver, wandering around the Omaha Beach graveyard in 1969 offering benediction to the tombstones. Of German extraction, and visiting Germany in 1934, he had, nevertheless, been an America Firster at Yale, and later served in the Pacific. But it is faith, hope and love....of God. That is, not God's love, but acceptance of the world God has created. (You needn't take my word for it, either. Consult any good Catholic concordance.) The idea underscores the difference between real and bogus piety, and real and bogus politics. I can't help thinking that there'd been some miscommunication between father and son. Yet, I can't think of any undertaking more utterly USELESS than the Peace Corps, unless, of course, it was "The War on Poverty." I'm quite happy to see them all buried. I hope he isn't planning to run for office.