BMW Robots

Richard came to visit. He was here a week and we had a great, busy time. There was a walk at the beach. The beaches on the East Coast are different from the West Coast. You don’t have giant rocks jutting up, blocking you from moving forward. You don’t have a painful foot path causing you to need to wear protective shoes that keep you from cutting your feet or squishing seaweed that has washed up on shore. On the East Coast there is the fine sand along with a 2-3 foot path of shells and shell fragments along the shore’s line.

My birth flower is chrysanthemum, a flower that I have never been particularly attached to. I like white daisies; a flower that seems to spring eternal in a vase of clear water, and for a very long time. My husband used to buy me chrysanthemums because he thought they were daisies. Such was my lot.  Earthy colors have never been my delight.  My birth stone is golden topaz, again an earthy color that I have never been particularly attached to. Of all the blues and reds available, I get the earthy brown/yellow that goes with the colors of harvest. I am not a Fall. I am a Spring.

So, why is it that I walked the Eastern shore and gathered up, bringing home, shell fragments that ended up matching with each other, looking like they would also match with those golden topaz stones and golden-brown chrysanthemums? Perhaps we don’t know ourselves as well as we think we do. Perhaps we fight against what is natural and never learn to relax and accept.

So, we walked the beach. Then, on another day, we walked through the BMW (auto) plant. We watched the giant red robot arms put together silvery parts of cars that would eventually sell for thousands and thousands of dollars. It was good to see expensive cars that were built, and birthed in the USA. Richard is an enthusiast. He owns a classic BMW. He belongs to several clubs. He is a retired engineer who appreciates everything: conception to finish. Me? I just watched the giant arms lift high up into the air, turn, turn, turn to look at us (I swear they were) and then turn back, pick up a large portion of metal and connect it to the next part that glue had just been added to. Then another robot arm, holding the great power of fire and heat, melds the two parts together permanently. Of course, an engineer like Richard would say, “That is not what it does” but that is what my eyes saw. And I remember the giant arm looking at me before it turned back to its work.

So, we walked the BMW plant. On another day, we walked through the USS Carolina, a battleship that is dailly being preserved and rebuilt to original specs. It is a reminder of a time and a war that changed so much of our country. It was a war that my father was a part of. It was a war that took my uncle before I ever had a chance to meet him. We walked down the narrow steps and across to the next narrow steps and across and down the next narrow steps, seeing the live-and-work spaces crammed into the ship’s belly. They even had a shop to fix and re-create pieces to replace destroyed parts. We can truly be a remarkable people.

So, we walked the battleship. On another day we walked the old downtown. The U.S. does not have old buildings like Europe. And of course, the West Coast does not have buildings like the East Coast. I have seen walls in Europe, built in the 1500’s. I have seen buildings, on the East Coast, built in the 1700’s. There is a quiet awe in all of that. There is a deep respect. There is a wonder when looking at something that was here long, long before you. There is a wonder when looking at technology that surpasses your understanding of how to make your IPhone work. There is a wonder at looking at the ocean that offers up its daily changes over and over again without technology or any of man’s ingenuity.

I still am not wild about golden topaz, but with what I have seen in the last week, I have begun to find peace with such a color. It is calming, reminding me that I exist among so many facets of technology: a BMW plant, a street lined with very old buildings, a WWII battleship, and a heavenly constructed ocean shore, all daily welcoming visitors to walk the designated lines and to enjoy all that can be seen.

BMW robots cannot swim, at least not yet. I thought I’d throw that in. You’re welcome.

December 7, 1941

Nicknamed “The Showboat,” BB55 spent months testing her systems and undergoing sea trials. On December 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked, and the United States declared war on Japan and Germany. BB55 was ordered to the Pacific Theater of operations, arriving in Pearl Harbor, on July 11, 1942. Firecontrolman 1/c Larry Resen recalled

“The crews cheered and cheered us. I couldn’t help saying to myself, ‘They’re cheering us for nothing.’ We hadn’t done anything. We had not fired a single shot yet. But to them, we were the symbol of help finally arriving in force.”