If you could meet anyone in history, who would it be and why?

If I could meet anyone in history, of course it would be Jesus Christ because He is the Savior of the world. No doubt this will be the same response from many Christians, however, I doubt any of them will win any prizes. Almost all media and public relations efforts strive to avoid 'controversy' and remain politically correct. Religion is rarely correct in today's society even though "practicing what we preach" is the only thing that will save civilization from self-destruction.

i would like to meet President Roosevelt. He is the man who started Social Security for millions of people. He looked into the future of all americans and did this to help us all. Without this there would of been many americans living in proverty. I would want him to know important this was to be for my family and all families who needed any kind of help.

Gandhi. I would discuss with him his ability to bring an entire country together and take their country back from England.
Imagine if we could do the same in the US. We could end gun violence without firing a shot, we could change the laws controlling drug prices, or give everyone the same chance to go to college.
To bad we don't.

Jesus because he was the most influential person in history at least that’s what I think.

President Lincoln, to talk to him about the struggles he faced with his military officers during the Civil War.

Abraham Lincoln

Ludwig van Beethoven. November’s cold clings to the side of a small apartment. Disheveled yet with a touch of madness, a young man huddles beside the light of a single candle. His light offers no warmth and instead he sits alone in the growing dark, lost and hopeless. The furious scratch of the quill serves as the constant rhythm to the occasional staccato pop of the candle’s flame while his soft muttering goes without an audience. He is alone.

From the timely and artistic city of Bonn, this promising young man now finds himself at a crossroads and in this single room apartment, he stares at his future if only to see darkness. The markings on the paper before him are but the latest in a series of letters to his tending physician, Dr. F.G. Wegeler. The symptoms are worsening, he scribbles. With each passing day, my world becomes more silent. His desperation mounts as the questions flood his thoughts. For him, there is no answer, only a solemn quiet of the unanswered for himself, his work, his world, and yes, even his creator.

At just over 30 years of age, Ludwig van Beethoven had penned only one symphony. More than any other, his first was written for his contemporaries in an effort to prove his belonging in their world, a world he knew best. And yet, entering what should have been his prime and the throes of early adulthood, hope now eluded him. As a young man, he was becoming acquainted with three of mankind’s oldest foes: time, sorrow, and grief. With each passing day, he descended further into their hold.

As a composer, he would write, my greatest gift is to be heard! How can I, a man with so much to give, with the ability to inspire with just a few lines on parchment, how can I face this cruel world without sound? Without my music? He was a man, lost. In this dimly lit apartment on the outskirts of Vienna, in the small village of Heiligenstadt, Beethoven was now crafting his last will and testament.

The action itself would be swift unlike the decline of his ability. As he understood it, Fate had cast its lot and now young Beethoven glared at the prospect of a growing silence that promised to deafen his life’s work. Over the past few weeks, he had continuously written letters to his brothers, each more expressive in its pain than the previous. His similar, constant correspondence with Dr. Wegeler clearly illustrated the growing depression gripping his soul. His health, as a result, worsened while his resolve deteriorated. No one could reach him, though few dared. Beethoven was, after all, never an approachable man. Even as an adolescent, he was lost in the music heard only within his thoughts. Yet he remained desperate to communicate with the world around him through the only means which he intimately knew: a ledger. On this night, he sat quietly scratching this final letter when he happened to notice the vibration of the quill running over the paper. He scratched further, this time making small lines along the margin of his letter. In those moments, Beethoven quite literally felt inspiration. His cursive became incoherent. It was less connected yet more excited, perhaps even maniacal. With each line he penned to paper, he heard a growing chorus in his head. Each movement on the parchment was a running series of notes which he felt. And in those moments, he knew his music could be much the same for others: to feel the evocative and powerful influence of music.

Dropping his quill, he rushed to the only piece of furniture still intact in his apartment. Armed with a small handsaw, he began to widdle the three legs of his piano until it lay flush with the floor. Once rested, he began to play. The music flowed from the piano into the floor and from his floor to his body. The running melody from that night would create the beginnings of Moonlight Sonata. Invigorated yet defiant, he grabbed hold of the discarded quill and finished writing that same letter to Dr. Wegeler, though the tone had now changed: I shall seize Fate by the throat, he declared. It certainly shall not crush me completely. Emphatically, he signed that last correspondence of the night before collapsing in a heap of emotional exhaustion. The following morning, he returned to Vienna, returned to life, and returned to his music.

From that moment, Beethoven was renewed. Hundreds of concertos and sonatas still awaited for him. He would complete eight further symphonies after that fateful night. His deafness was a disability but he would be sure it would not become a debilitation. To this day, you can hear it. Listening to his work, you can experience the pain and anguish we all feel in life’s moments of despair but so too in his works we share in the triumph and victory of a life of determination.

In his third symphony, we live through the victory of overcoming the greatest of obstacles, rising above the expectation to declare victory. In his fifth symphony, you can feel his determination and witness his sheer will to overcome fate's seemingly impossible odds. And it was in his seventh symphony that we sense his continued struggle in life amidst a beautiful darkness. In his ninth symphony, we sense a man at peace with himself and with the world around him. At the time of his final composition, Ludwig van Beethoven was completely deaf as he wrote his final symphony, and yet he still called his masterpiece "An Ode to Joy". His was a life that carried weight beyond anything he could have imagined. A man whose world was composition, he wrote one of the most incredible and inspiring pieces of music without ever hearing a single note.

This is a generational question and I respond as a Vietnam early generation Veteran (1962-63 and 69-70). I would like to meet face to face with Ho Chi Minh, alone and unarmed in a time just after Điện Biên Phủ in 1954. Then I would kill that dictatorial BASTARD and let the real democratic and entrepreneurial nature of the Vietnamese people become a reality without any communistic Bull crap. I'm sure Veterans of all past, current and future "engagements, incidents and wars" would like the same opportunity for each crop of SOBs as they appear now or appeared in history and will appear in future. Yesterday was some sort of celebration day for the "Vietnam War" and the failures of the American Political elite from 1954 to 1975 to "Fight to Win" as was done in World War II. It was also a rewriting of history from a false narrative by present day historians who were not sent to Vietnam and were not led by incompetent leaders who pursued "Peace Talks" for years with a team of Foreign-born Nazi escapees. This may raise some hackles for some past political leaders and people still living a lie. We Veterans did not lose any Wars, but they have been given away time after time by our poorly chosen (or appointed) leaders. True history as I lived the past 84+ years does not reflect any declarations of War for Korea or Vietnam. They were "Police Actions" or some other variation of Bull Crap used to gradually let communism expand worldwide. Negotiating ends to these "engagements" always ends with the United States of America sucking hind teat.

Neil Armstrong, growing up as a kid I was fascinated by the space program. I watched every launch that was broadcast on TV back then. I used to marvel at the powerful rockets and the men on board as they flew into space. Then the Apollo 11 mission came along and Neil was to be the first man on the moon. My parents let me stay up late that night, as I was only 9 years old at the time. I remember watching Walter Cronkite describe what was about to happen. Then Neil started coming down the ladder and was then on the moon. Those words that he spoke "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Those words still bring tears to my eyes when I hear them. I would like to talk with Mr. Armstrong and ask him all about that experience.

Soldiers of my Last duty Station, To get me back all the Benefits I was suppose to get like making SSGT, and not getting out, Those who Put together my Exit of the Militia, to include Getting the right to serve in the USAF Reserve,