Having taken lessons from his own days as a manual laborer, he built a magnificent factory that featured the latest and safest machinery, streamlined processes, and hired engineers to design more efficient shoemaking equipment, better lighting, and air quality. But Thomas Plant’s most notable vision was the novel concept of  “welfare capitalism.”

Soon the wind picks up, screaming like a pack of howler monkeys. I wriggle deeper under the stairs. When the rain begins, I’m glad I have cover for the oncoming night.

As fickle as a summer day, life can turn from sunshine to thunderstorms in an instant. Always keep your umbrella handy and your eye on the sky. Not all is what it seems…

Embrace one another and everyone who truly loves you. Find those puddles, stomp in them, and dance on….

For one short day we pause to honor the sacrifices made by thousands and thousands of combatants who served under conditions no civilian has to endure. For many, their courage to face battle for our protection was rewarded with death––sometimes immediate and gruesome, sometimes over many years, from metal or physical wounds sustained.