*-First, TAKE A BRIEF SERIES OF SIDESTEPS HERE--but then come right back here.
Previous to giving me the copy of "Day One" one Christmas, my friend in Ottawa, whom i met in our 1965 Grade 9 homeroom class, gave me a copy of Robert Scheer's book, "With Enough Shovels: Reagan, Bush & Nuclear War".
I'm amazed how often i find myself thinking (and often saying) when i talk with people younger than me, that "knowing this (already) would be generational, but...." And then i have to decide whether to stay mum or reiterate a point of fact or anecdote that at a previous time was as widely known and subject to discussion at a kitchen table or an office water cooler as, say, are today's discussions of exactly what it is that can be a "physical relationship--but not a sexual one."
Ah, but such is life, eh?
And such is the story behind the "With Enough Shovels" title.
For the record here Marc Ian Barasch's book, "The Little Black Book Of Atomic War" (copyright 1983 by Marc Ian Barasch), records the source anecdote behind Mr. Scheer's book title thusly:

"Everybody's going to make it if there are enough shovels to go around. Dig a hole, cover it with a couple of doors, and then throw three feet of dirt on top. It's the dirt that does it."
(Thomas K. Jones, deputy undersecretary of defense for strategic and nuclear forces, 1982)

I remember having coffee at the University Of British Columbia (site of the first Yeltsin-Clinton summit) once during the mid-1980's with the then-vice president of Vancouver's peace group, "End The Arms Race". I arranged to meet with him because i wanted to ask him how they came up with that particular name for their organization. I explained to him that in 1978 i sent then-Prime Minister of Canada Pierre E. Trudeau a preliminary statement about the "International Diplomatic Work...on a direct basis" for the world's children:, saying in so many words it was commonly understood between then-United Nations Secretary-General Dr. Kurt Waldheim and i that we would phrase one of the goals as being to "end the arms race." So i asked Gary from where they got their name. He told me there was no linkage to that, or anything more specific in mind than it just coming out of a group discussion.
I gave them this quote at one point because he told me he hadn't heard it. And later, when he had read it, i remember saying that i didn't understand what Jones was thinking when he said this. It brought to my mind the "designated driver" procedure when a group plans a social outing that would include consumption of alcohol and one person agrees not to drink so he can drive the others home safely: How does the person throwing the "three feet of dirt" on the doors get under the doors himself/herself to survive also?
...I trust you took that first sidestep at the beginning of this page that i recommended so you understand that, er, someone with thinking like this may be sticking up for the rights of plants at least.
When i did that preparatory "International Diplomatic Work...on a direct basis" in 1978, we set it up to be a coalition of common values between baby boomers and our parents--the generation which had fought and died to defeat the Nazi/Japanese imperialist menace in World War II--for the world's children.
So, frankly, i never mind that i have to repeat things when that is the purpose behind it. I think children are a sacred trust, and those of us older than them have the responsibility to take care of them and nurture their development and understanding of personal and collective value systems to enable them to make competent decisions on their own when they reach maturity.
If there's any "Circle Game" worth perpetuating--and i tend to believe my fellow Canadian Joni Mitchell would agree (and i'll ask her as much in future when i have the opportunity)--it would be this one.
The first "significant" thing in 1978 i did as SENIOR ADVISER TO THE YEAR OF THE CHILD (beyond the aforementioned advisement to Trudeau asking him for his help) was write to the former members of the Beatles to ask them if they'd consider doing a special reunion concert for the following year's United Nations International Year of The Child.
John wanted more time then with his wife Yoko to raise their son, Sean, so he was unprepared to undertake it at that time. This was explained in the statement i prepared at that time on their behalf for disclosure to the United Nations, Vatican, etc.
It also stated that perhaps in future the four of them would consider undertaking something together. But it would most likely be something composed of individual contributions to something they'd do together. And i promised to get back in touch with John and Yoko in future about this.
Nothing was definitely promised beyond that. And i vividly recall to this very day explaining in the documentation on their behalf that we had a common understanding that i would know when to get in touch with them.
I believe i pointed out then that, if judged upon positive contributions to world progress and human development in the twentieth century (as opposed to negative--and the obvious cases of Hitler, Stalin, and the like)--i would think the four of them and what they did will be near the top of the very short list of people and things people care about and always will.
Or, in other words, because i guess it can now be effectively argued the point was lost on some who tried to avoid application of the Thomas Jefferson "principle" cited on the cover page of this website in what they did after that 1978 multipartisan "International Diplomatic Work...on a direct basis" for the world's children:
we thought it would be unreasonable and impossible to do this without including the broadest possible public awareness because it involved possibly the four most famous people of the twentieth century on the basis explicated here.
And we agreed then it would be easy to see/read when conditions would be better in future to ask them to consider such an undertaking.
Bearing in mind that i started this preparatory "International Diplomatic Work...on a direct basis" for the world's children in 1978 with the belief that we could never again use nuclear weapons or we might plunge the world into a final military confrontation that would in short order kill "all of us," i thought visitors to this website, trying to understand "the big picture" of what the "International Diplomatic Work...on a direct basis" for the world's children and this website are all about, might like to consider this series of hotlinks and what they culminate in...with the current U.S. President.
A final note before you go on this brief journey of understanding is a point i also recall to this very day telling Paul in a 1978 letter. It's pertinent to such understanding as you may pursue in spending time to evaluate the contents of this website that you know that what the U.S. Congress was debating in 1978 was the bill that produced "The U.S. Presidential Papers Act". If you want to see an excerpt from it relevant to what i told Paul in 1978 and also the contents of this website: TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE.
I told Paul if he wasn't satisfied by the amount of substantiation of the SENIOR ADVISER TO THE YEAR OF THE CHILD authority i then provided him with that this wasn't a practical joke or a crackpot bugging him, he should write to the Vatican and ask them to substantiate what i was writing them about as the Holy See was included in the process.
...I trust visitors to this website, therefore, understand the contents of what you find if you TAKE ANOTHER BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE.
That 1978 "legal agreement" to provide the Vatican with a "summary statement" to detail what happened in continuing and completing this "International Diplomatic Work...on a direct basis" for the world's children that they could compare to the documentation that was provided for them in 1978 requires that i, Gordon C. Wong, on behalf of "a Christian concern," prepare that document.
Then the Holy See is expected to state whether the promises made in 1978 were kept as to how it should be continued and completed.
I seriously doubt that what can be found in the public libraries in Canadian towns and cities about my unemployment insurance disentitlement appeal is going to satisfy the Holy Father as an effective remedy to the threat of "suitcase-sized nuclear weapons," "five-pound bag of sugar"-sized biological weapons, or "aerosol cans" that can contain chemical and biological weapons (as one pundit during this recent session of American-Iraqi "megaphone diplomacy" (as Pierre E. Trudeau once termed the strident, accusatory and angry exchanges in the media between the Americans and Soviets during the 1980's Cold War) explained is a possibility in identifying these arms.
I continue to believe that the Holy See policy would be what is mine to respond to this threat to which, i happen to think, does not now and never will have an adequate military answer. The only answer i see is what you find when you TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE.
Mind you, in my 198======== registered letter to Pope John Paul II, i included as a term of reference what you find if you TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE. Marc Ian Barasch's book, "The Little Black Book Of Atomic War" (copyright 1983 by Marc Ian Barasch) also records the following:
"There are contingency plans in the NATO doctrine to fire a nuclear weapon for demonstration purposes to the other side that they are exceeding the limits of toleration in the conventional area, all designed to maintain violence at the lowest level possible." (Alexander Haig, former [U.S.] secretary of state, 1981)
...Presumably the Clinton Administration will demonstrate to "all of us" how one of its Patriot missiles can home in on, say, the surviving family members of what you find if you TAKE A BRIEF SIDESTEP HERE.THE GORE SPEECH DATES... Now, to begin this revelatory journey, TAKE YOUR NEXT FOOTSTEP HERE.