Share Your Talent Boldly
Please enjoy, another, Great Jonathon Brooks Blog.
One of my favorite quotes from my favorite author Ray Bradbury is as follows: “You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” I enjoy fiction immensely. I’m a reader and I have been since I was in my late teens. Also around the first year of college I decided to try my talent at fiction writing. I’ve since been published a few times and written a good deal of other works that are unpublished.
The beauty in the fiction world is that it’s whatever the author desires it to be. Anyone who’s read my short stories would verify that I write happy stories. The great teachers have always said to write what you know. There’s so much sorrow in so many lives. If I can bring joy to anyone through the art of fiction, while entertaining them and causing them to smile, then I’ve done my job…
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The Olympics is Inspiring!
I was watching the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, last night.
I have found the Olympics both inspiring and energizing, since I was a child.
‘If ‘diplomatic dance’ were an event at the Winter Olympics, Kim Jong Un’s sister would be favored to win gold.’
‘With a smile, a handshake and a warm message in South Korea’s presidential guest book, Kim Yo Jong has struck a chord with the public just one day into the PyeongChang Games.’
‘I hope Pyongyang and Seoul get closer in our people’s hearts and move forward the future of prosperous unification,’ she said in her guest book message, referring to the capitals of North and South Korea.’ CNN
‘Jaw, jaw and war, war Jaw, jaw is better than war, war.’
‘Winston Churchill’s official biographer, Sir Martin Gilbert, speaking of this quote, noted that Churchill actually said, ‘Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war.’ winstonchurcill.org
The dedication of Olympic Athletes and the rigorous dedication to the fulfillment of their dream…is inspiring and a catalyst to…get up and do what needs to be done.
This Winter Olympics, being held in South Korea…which is just 60 miles from North Korea…could either be the beginning of peace talks and agreement between North Korea and South Korea…and the rest of the world. Or it could be the last glimmer of hope…before devastation and suffering and carnage and ‘fire and fury’, as president Trump promised…earlier this year.
Vice President Pence, sat stony faced as the sister of the leader of North Korea sat just behind him, for the opening ceremony of the Olympics.
In a glimmer of hope,South Korea has united with North Korea to field a unified Olympic team…for Korea.
The Summer Olympic Games were held in Berlin, Germany in 1936.
Many, though out the world, were watching Hitler with a wary and fearful eye. Herr Hitler attempted to portray his government as, inclusive and caring, but the athletic prowess of United States Olympian, Jesse Owens, enraged him.
It seems to me that the Olympics has given the people’s of the world…a last chance to, ‘jaw, jaw…rather than war, war,’ and we must avail ourselves of the opportunity that the young people of the world and the purity of sport…have afforded us.
When I was a manager of a large housekeeping organization…I was often told negative things about persons who were transferring into our department. The descriptions were chilling and explicit with reasons why that I should not like the person being maligned and why I should seek to discipline them and perhaps fire them at my earliest convenience.
Often these desperate accusations were aimed at minorities or women and the carrier of the bad recommendations swore that they were simply trying to protect me, as the boss, from the poor job performance of the ‘evil person’ that they were warning me of.
More often than not, I discovered the individual being criticized and gossiped about, was a wonderful employee…and often one of the strongest members of my staff.
North Koreans…do not know anything about us but the lies that they have been told.
Could it be that we do not know anything about…or understand…North Koreans?
The majority of people, in any country, are lovely human beings.
To paint a country or a nation or a people…with a broad brush…is a fool’s errand.
The Brutal, Kim Regime, is a terrible government that starves its’ own people and is responsible for the recent death of, United States citizen, Otto Warmbier.
But, to negotiate with a dictatorship…is not new for the US.
Our president has, already, expressed admiration for several dictators across our planet.
The stakes for humanity…have not been hirer…since the Cuban Missile Crisis.
‘Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet. We all breath the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.’ President John F. Kennedy
Note: Photos are from Google.
Good Children…Or Blind Obedience?
I enjoy observing the English Parliamentary Political System, operate.
The House of Commons, which we were privileged to visit in 2012, is the home to vigorous political debate.
When the elected, Prime Minister speaks, he or she is greeted by jeers from the political opposition and cheers from his/her own party.
Religion or personal faith…plays little part in the United Kingdom’s politics.
‘Thirty years ago, it all seemed very clear.’
‘American Planes Hit North Vietnam After Second Attack on Our Destroyers; Move Taken to Halt New Aggression’, announced a Washington Post headline on Aug, 5 1964.’
‘That same day, the front page of the New York Times reported. ‘President Johnson has ordered retaliatory action against gunboats and ‘certain supporting facilities in North Vietnam’ after renewed attacks against American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.’
‘But there was no ‘second attack’ by North Vietnam – no ‘renewed attacks against American destroyers.’ By reporting official claims as absolute truths, American journalism opened the floodgates for the bloody Vietnam War.’ FAIR
As a child I could see that the Vietnam War was a political contrivance and was primarily at the whim and behest of Presidents Johnson and later Nixon. It was painfully apparent to me and members of my family and my friends…that young men were dieing to facilitate the ego of our benevolent leaders.
Osama Bin Laden struck a catastrophic blow on our country on 9-11-2001.
We quickly understood that Bin Laden was hiding in the mountains of Afghanistan, and we retaliated accordingly.
Then…we began a war in Iraq…that was basically to avenge the president’s anger regarding the fact that Saddam Hussein had attempted to assassinate his father, former president George H.W. Bush.
Lies were perpetrated and promulgated, by the Bush administration, that Saddam had nuclear weapons.
We discovered…after thousands of deaths…that he did not.
I heard a woman say, during the Trump Candidacy for President, ‘that he is soon going to be the leader and he can do whatever he wants to do,’…and sadly this is the mentality of many Americans.
Issues that are true should be able to be supported by verifiable facts.
The plea to, ‘Trust Me’ or ‘Believe Me’…should not be the controlling criteria or rationale for a Trump Doctrine.
I often associate my years at SIU with our countries governance. I hope you will indulge me…as the two have distinct similarities to me and the corollaries are patently evident.
Constructive change should be able to be supported by direct evidence of success.
SIU is almost 150 years old and has a rich and vibrant history.
Productive and lasting enrichment of the Campus and the increasing of enrollment and retention of students…will be directly tied to that illustrious history.
A collaboration of ideas and a blending of demonstrated success is the key to the revitalization of a our country and our wonderful and pristine Southern Illinois University.
I was at the public firing of former chancellor, Jo Ann Argersinger, and a member of the Board of Trustees admonished, us…in the audience, to trust them.
Since the untimely and unwarranted firing of chancellor Argersinger…enrollment has declined…almost every year…for 20 years.
To take on the mantel of being an informed citizen of your University and your Country and your planet…is an awesome and rewarding task.
Whatever you are a member of…whether it be a church or or a nation…keep a critical ‘eye peeled’ for Bullshit in the guise of truth from the mouth of the leader.
‘Fact – a thing that is indisputably the case’
‘Evidence – the available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid.’ Dictionary
As a youngster I loved to watch the popular television show, Star Trek, and my hero was Mr. Spock. Mr. Spock could cause a person to fall to the floor by simply placing his hand on their shoulder and squeezing.
Mr. Spock often told Captain Kirk, who although he was the Captain of the Starship Enterprise…was a man who was basically ruled by his passions,….that a plan that he had…was illogical.
I marveled at the intellectual superiority of the pointed eared, Mr. Spock.
It is fun and rewarding to think for yourself. You will make some mistakes along the way…but they will be your mistakes.
One of the all time great singers, Frank Sinatra, sang his, very popular song, ‘I did It My Way.’
‘To thy own self be true.’
Enter a caption
‘A Lie Can Travel Half Way Around the World While the Truth is Putting on It’s Shoes.’
The above quote is often attributed to Mark Twain. Many say that the attribution is a mis-attribution…although the truth of it is difficult to deny.
I am listening to the audio-book, Trumpocracy, by David Frum, who is a senior writer at the Atlantic and was a speechwriter for George W. Bush during 2001 and 2002.
David Frum is a Republican.
In his book, Trumpocracy, Mr. Frum enumerates the plethora of lies that president Trump utters on a daily basis.
The thesis of the treatise is the examination of how Donald Trump became president and who were the enablers that made his surprise ascendency happen.
For the length of my memory, the Republican Party, has been against Deficit Spending for our Federal Budget.
Yet the recent Republican Tax Cut will add more than a trillion dollars to the United States Budget Deficit…which is already at over 20 trillion dollars.
The most recent Federal Budget Proposal will add on 450 billions dollars more to the Deficit. In the Senate, both Democrats and Republicans are in agreement on passing this Budget.
What happens if some of our creditors, like China, call in their loans to us?
Fundamentalist Christians have sworn on the tenets of personal holiness and moral purity. My fundamentalist friends, of which I have several, have noted the moral failures of former President Clinton, and they have expounded that our country will never be blessed by God until we return to his moral standards…and that this is especially true for our countries leader.
Now, we have elected a president, who at last count had at least 19 women accusing him of sexual harassment and we have audio tape of his bragging regarding his ability to sexually assault women because he is a star and we have, most recently, a porn star who has been paid hush money to not disclose an affair that she and Mr. Trump had a year after he and, his wife Melania’s child, Barron, was born.
Fundamentalist Church Leaders attest that the president is; anointed by God, that they saw him sitting at God’s right hand, and that it is alright that he may not be moral as King David, of the Old Testament, was not either.
We look at our world’s problems and we hope to solve them…with the 30% of humanity that are like us.
We get our news, and of course ours is not the fake variety, from the news programs and the written periodicals that cater to our narrow interest and our tunnel vision view of truth and the reality that suits us.
I look at my favorite University and I see silos of people and narrow segments of faculty and staff that want the ‘truth’ of their own interests to be the ‘truth’ that prevails.
When will we seek the Truth…whatever it is…and support it and get behind it?
My Mom always told me that you can throw rocks at the sun…but the sun will still be there.
We can feel secure in our own realities and alternate dimensions and those that we gather around us that believe like we do and tell us how right that we are and embolden us to become more entrenched in our ideology.
Or, we can endeavor to support the fact based evidence and, what we for many years agreed…was the Truth, or we can continue to enjoy the Twilight Zone of Reality.
We can incessantly debate the reasons for SIU’s enrollment decline…or we can set about changing the fundamentals that will solve the problem that are fact based and that are proven to work.
We can continue to expostulate that former President Obama was not born in America and that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton mis-handled her emails…or we can lay down our differences and choose to work together and we can ask that our president seek to be the president of all Americans and not just 30%
Happiness Is Geese in Your Pond
When the television show, The Sopranos, was on a few years ago, I was a fan.
You may recall, if you were a fan too, that a flock of ducks began using Tony’s Pool and it brought him great joy.
In the first episode, entitled Pilot, Tony is seen wading out into the pool with his robe on to offer the ducks some food.
For the past 24 hours we have been privileged to have a flock of geese take up residence in our pond.
I have been told, more than once, by well meaning souls…that I remind them of Tony Soprano. Now I enjoyed the show immensely and it was one of my two favorites of all time…with the other being Seinfeld and the third place going to Lost.
However I am not at all sure that the likeness to ‘T’ is altogether a compliment.
I did show my good friend, Tom S., a photo of Al Capone, once, and when he asked me who the photo was of…I told him my Dad.
But, in any case, the arrival of the Goose Family has brought joy to my heart and another reaffirmation of the beauty and wonder of our world.
The Sopranos was on during some challenging years of my life…and it afforded great relief from the vagaries of being middle aged and the heartbreak of caring for my ailing mother…who suffered from Alzheimers Disease
Not long after we could no longer care for my mother…Mary Jane’s father passed away and she began caring for her mom on a regular basis.
We discovered that the care givers of an ill parent can become ill themselves and must keep an eye on the very real possibility of succumbing to the severe challenges of being a caregiver and the significant stress that caregivers undergo.
So, I like the geese and the balm that nature gives each of us, who are members of the human family,…for free.
Let Us Rise!
‘SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy took flight Tuesday and everything appears to be going seamlessly.’
‘Around 3:45 pm ET, the world’s most powerful rocket took off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.’
‘SpaceX has shaken up the rocket industry by becoming the first company to successfully reuse rocket boosters in order to bring down the cost of spaceflight. To do that, it guides the rockets back to Earth for a safe landing after their payloads toward orbit.’ CNN
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy is headed for an orbit around the Sun and Mars that could continue for thousands of years. In it’s nose is a Tesla automobile, that is manufactured by the business man, Elon Musk, as is the rocket created by Mr. Musk, who heads the company.
This successful launch is an illustration of the capabilities of our human family and is something to be celebrated.
I am often inspired by my friends, Elizabeth and Ryan, and their accomplishments at SIU.
Ryan is such a wonderful chap. He performs a herculean amount of work, as a member of the Building Services’ Staff, and he does it in a quiet and professional manner…that is to be emulated.
Ryan’s wife, Elizabeth, has just raised $500.00 dollars for Special Olympics and she is going to perform the Polar Bear Plunge, in just a few days.
I have been involved in a lot of fundraising, during my career at SIU, and $500.00 is hard to raise!
The kind of, ‘Can Do Spirit’, that the Cheeks exemplify each day at Southern Illinois University is inspiring.
I saw my friend, of many years, George Sheffer, this afternoon at his former Hardware Store, Murdale True Value…now Murdale Ace Hardware.
George was one of the finest supporters of SIU…that I have ever know.
I have sat on committees of the President of the University and the Chancellor of SIU…and the name of George Sheffer was renowned and respected for his benevolence and support of his School.
During my career at the College…many times, George, reduced the price of vacuums for our organization in order to facilitate our purchase of them…on our limited budget.
As my Jewish friends would say…George Sheffer is a Mensch!
I like Southern Illinois University President, Randy Dunn, and find him, extremely easy to communicate with.
Dr. Dunn is widely respected, both at the University and through the State of Illinois.
My friend, Glenn Poshard, admired the work that Dr. Dunn was doing at Murray State University in Kentucky.
We are fortunate to have Dr. Dunn as our University President. He has an accessibility and a naturalness of speaking that is rare in a University Administrator.
So, we can accomplish great things!
The innovative spirit of the American People is not dead…it is alive and well!
We are greater than our politics.
We are greater than our fears.
We are greater than our self doubts.
We are greater than our bias and our prejudices.
We are greater than any internal battle that we have…if we will rise up!
Have You Ever Noticed the Fruit Hanging on the Tree?
As a young person I sought mentors.
We all need to emulate others, to some degree, in order to find or facilitate our place in life.
For a few years, I found myself so identifying with leaders that I knew that I felt troubled and discouraged when they were troubled and happy when they were happy.
The cult of the Hero…is prevalent in our society.
I was watching the Super Bowl, last evening, and I heard one of the sports casters remark that the patriots quarterback, Brady, had winked at him during an interview the past week. The sportscaster indicated that he had seen that wink before and that it signified that Mr. Brady, knew that he had the game in the bag.
Hindsight is 20/20…and the wink was obviously not foolproof.
President Trump’s followers are obviously loyal and a bit enraptured with their president.
For them he can say nothing wrong and for the rest of the country…he can say little right.
This is a phenomena that occurs, to an extent, in every presidency, and it is disconcerting and painful to witness.
For many years…I have looked toward what leaders and people do…much more than what they say.
Talk is cheap.
Actions matter.
When the president seeks to impede and cloud and obfuscate an investigation into Russia’s interference in our elections…and then states his unmitigated innocence…I fear that, ‘he doth protest too loudly.’
It is easy to seek a god that we can see and touch and hear and smell. A god that thinks like we do and looks like we look and is bias towards and is prejudice towards and who hates the same people that we hate.
‘And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.’ Exodus 32:4 KJV
During my 40 years of association with Southern Illinois University…I have lost more than one leader who was my friend.
However, I have always kept my eye on the goal of the success of SIU and the clear fact that our University is not about me and is not about you…but it is about the light and strength and beauty that it brings to our region and our state and our country and our world.
When I retired from our beloved school…I knew that I left a lot of things that I had been working on…undone. Tears came to my eyes as University President, Glenn Poshard, spoke so complimentary of me and my time at the School.
I knew that others would take up my efforts and improve on them and that I was but a footnote in the history of a tremendous institutions of higher education…and that I was the beneficiary of a wonderful opportunity.
‘All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.’ As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII [All the world’s a stage]
Christ Said to Love My Neighbor…Who Is My Neighbor?
‘DACA was an executive action taken by President Obama that allowed undocumented immigrants who came the US under the age of 16 to apply for protection from deportation. After a background check, those individuals were able to get renewable two-year permits to work and study in the US, as well.’
‘Since it went into effect in 2012 roughly 800,000 people were protected by the program, and roughly 700,000 had active protection in September, when the Trump administration announced its end.’
‘To be eligible, applicants had to have arrived in the US before age 16 and have lived there since June 15, 2007. They could not have been older than 30 when the department of Homeland Security enacted the policy in 2012.’ CNN
‘DHS set a date of March 5 for permits to begin expiring. All current permits will be honored until their individual two-year expiration date.’ CNN
A Bill that is co-sponsored by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham and Democratic Senator Dick Durbin would transform DACA into a formal and legal program which would afford the participants a path to citizenship.
Many students, including students at SIU, are members of the DACA program.
Is it fair to tell these students, who came out of the shadows and became members of DACA, a United States governmental program, that now they are soon to be illegal immigrants again and subject to deportation.
There are 900 members of the DACA program in our military.
President Trump says he will make a deal with the Democrats that if they will provide him with 18 billion dollars for his, ‘big beautiful wall’, in exchange for an agreement on the DACA Participants.
Do you recall Presidential Candidate Trump assuring us that Mexico would pay for the wall?
I marvel at the passionate outcries of many in our country that exclaim that the immigrants should leave the United States and that they should be either prohibited from entry to our country or limited greatly.
Our President’s family…were immigrants.
The only Americans that are native to our soil…are Native Americans.
It has been suggested that many countries that seek to immigrate to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave…come from ‘shithole countries’ according to President Trump.
It has also been noted that we need criteria that only well educated and applicants from primarily white populations be given preferential treatment for immigration to the home of the; ‘…Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breath free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp besides the golden door!’ Emma Lazarus
Transformation
On October the 10th, 1978 I began a journey.
I was a young man of 20 years old…who had been a; World Book Encyclopedia, Door to Door, Salesman, a Warehouse worker and a Furniture Delivery man for a furniture store, a Dip Solder Technician for Chrysler Vehicles at Essex International Factory, an employee of a Janitorial Service, and an assistant in laying carpet. Also, during this time I took one entire winter to assist in building a new church in Elkville, Illinois…and was very thin…as there was not much food temptation.
When I was offered a position at Southern Illinois University I had been married a few months and had already experienced being out of work and had only recently been offered a job, by my good friend Brent, helping him lay carpet throughout Southern Illinois.
I came to SIU understanding little about diversity, not because I was against it but because I had never been exposed to it. My first supervisor was a gentleman of 68 years old and African American. Jim treated me, as he said, like a father treat’s his son. He smoked the most aromatic cigars and the smoke, ‘encircled his head like a wreath,’ with apologies to Clement Clark Moore.
My mother had aspirations for me to become a barber…she thought that I would enjoy the job.
My first university course was, Understanding Computers. I received an A grade and I thought that perhaps I had the ability to succeed in college course work.
I met professors who took an interest in me. Carol Burns, in 1984, asked to meet with me after class, where she told me that after reading a few of my compositions, as her class was English Composition, that she believed that I had the ability to achieve anything that I desired and that I should set my sights on more than a Associates Degree and perhaps think about law.
I was enthralled with the diversity of my SIU experience. I worked with students from all over the world. My first custodial crew had students from; Turkey, Iran, Mexico, Africa and Malaysia.
One of the African students that I had the pleasure to work with asked me if I knew that international students wanted to work with me…because that I had no prejudice. This kind statement was one of the greatest honors of my career.
When I was the Assistant Superintendent of Building Services I took note of my supervisor, Ray, and his hiring of a wonderful person who had a disability, Randy, and I thought that if I ever got the chance…I would do likewise.
I am told that Randy retired…just the other day.
Probably the greatest thrill of my managerial career was being able to offer career job opportunities to those who do not usually have these type of chances afforded to them.
I, to this day, can see the faces of the precious members of the disabled community that worked so hard and accomplished so much for Building Services…and reflect on how that I was the blessed one…to be associated with them.
I enrolled in the early 80’s in the Electronic Data Processing. These were the days of punching holes in a card and having them read in a card reader, to produce your computer program. The Chair off the Department was so kind to me and he took a lot of time encouraging me and assuring me that I could succeed in the program…and he was an African American and I admired him.
Through my fifteen years as a member of the Civil Service Council I was given the privilege of associating with and working with several University Leaders…and I became friends with some of them.
Leaders are just like the rest of us…they are human with a lot of responsibility.
None of us are perfect…we are all a work in progress.
If, those of us who are being led, would interact with our leaders…with the Golden Rule as our guide…we would experience much more of…’treat others as your want to be treated,’…or as Jesus admonished us, ‘love one another as I have loved you.’
I attended a retirement reception for a friend and colleague from my SIU’ Days, Kerry, who is a wonderful person and someone who I relied upon on many occasions when I was the president of the civil service council.
I was talking, at the receptions, with my old friend, Tom, and another, former civil service colleague, Julie. Julie asked me what I had been doing during my retirement. I responded that I walked on Campus…seven days per week. She laughed and said that she had seen me walking and that she had seen some of my photos of Campus as well.
I told, Julie, that I loved SIU more now than, when I was employed there. I stated that so many of the good things in my life were directly attributable to my association with the University.
And, so, Transformation occurred with me…and is occurring due to my wonderful gift of; the Second Jewel in the Crown of Higher Education in Illinois…and the Miracle of Little Egypt…Southern Illinois University.
‘For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;
‘The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; Song of Solomon 2:11 – 12
The Happy Traveler 