Silence
Each and every resident of the United States of America came from another country accept for the Native Americans.
Recently our president admonished four women of color to go back to where they came from and pronounced that the women hated our country. Three of the four members of Congress were born in the United States and the fourth’s family moved to the U.S. when she was seven years old and is an American citizen and, I say again, an elected member of Congress!
I watched members of Congress and the vice president stare impassively or avert their eyes as they were visiting a detention center near the Mexican border. As the people that were inhumanly caged…without the benefit of soap or tooth paste or water to drink, without first asking permission or being told to drink out of the toilet, called out to them and attempted to plead their case!
So here we are…our president’s family comes from Germany and his mother, ‘Mary Anne MacLeod, came from the Hebridean island of Lewis, off the west coast of Scotland.’ Google
Do you recall when the president referred to African countries and Haiti as, ‘shit hole countries?’
‘First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out-because I was not a socialist.’
‘Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out-because I was not a trade unionist.’
‘Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-because I was not a Jew.’
‘Then they came for me-and there was no one left to speak for me.’ Pastor Martin Niemoller
Note: Cartoons and photos are courtesy of Google.
Eight Ginger Ales
A great Jonathon Brooks story!
This is my latest flash fiction story.
The ginger ale was my only saving grace during the airplane ride. I had never flown before. Mom and Dad were a few rows in front of me. I could see the backs of their heads. Where do they keep the parachutes on these things in case things go wrong? I checked under my seat and found no parachute. And then I said the Lord’s prayer in silence. I hoped to be delivered from a possible plane crash. I took another sip of ginger ale. It tasted like heavenly peace.
Finally I got the courage to open my window shade. The clouds looked like the stuff poets write about. This is where my head and heart belong, I thought. I felt like Peter Pan flying through the sky. Although I was not a lost boy or on my way to Never Never Land…
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The Dignity of Work!
Jonathon and I just finished pressure washing our house. The last time it was pressure washed Aaron did it for me…and I thought that it would last forever! When I checked the north side of the ranch I noticed some ugly mildew and wondered why I had been oblivious to it before this week?
I began my working carer as a 17 year old working at Essex Wire Harness Factory in DuQuoin, Illinois. Essex manufactured the wires harnesses that connected the electrical components for Chrysler trucks. I was working there at this time of year in 1975. I perspired so badly that I sweat the socks off of my feet and had to, on my breaks and lunch, take my shoes off and pull up my socks! I was a bit slow for the carousel that the foreman placed me on, and so I began to drink coffee out of the vending machine in the lunch room during my breaks. Suddenly I became so proficient that the lead lady on the line called the time study office over to observe my speed! He brought out his large stop watch and measured my performance and said that he had never seen a person perform the job that I was doing that fast! The next day they speeded up the carousel!
I vividly recall the assistant superintendent of Building Services and the associate director of the Physical Plant coming to my work site when I was a Building Custodian for Physical Plant, Building Service and their watching me as I scrubbed a spot on the director’s office carpet with a small scrub brush on my hands and knees. I was neither embarrassed nor self conscious as the job required the workmanlike efforts that I was doing and I felt natural in my work.
Photo by rawpixel.com on Pexels.com
I was watching the famous author and speaker, Norm Chomsky, last evening as he spoke on the historical fact that manufacturing has become a small part of the economy of the United States while financials and their machinations have become the major component of our county. Just a few short years ago it was readily understood that all work had dignity! Whether you were a janitor or a grounds worker or a plumber or an electrician or a mechanic…your hard work was not only necessary but honorable!
I spent my carer in Housekeeping and I am proud of it! I understood that whatever job that I was performing for Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale was vital to it’s continued success. My colleagues and I understood that we were essential to the recruitment and retention of our students. We knew that our job was as important as the chancellor and the president of the university!
Somewhere along the line we have decided that everyone needs to be involved in the ‘thought’ industry. We have lost the intrinsic vision of the dignity of work and it’s value to society. Academics is important…but someone needs to clean the classrooms so that the classes may be taught!
I have, all to often, seen the value of manual labor measured against office work or white collar jobs. Often these false equivalencies are weighted in favor of the white collar jobs and they find that the blue collar jobs are lesser and not to be desired. The outcome of this mistaken hypothesis is is painfully illustrated in the current economic condition of our nation. Half of one percent holds the majority of wealth in the U.S. Working women and men have been frozen, economically, in place for many years as the primary focus of the elites is to make theirselves richer at the expense of everyone else!
My mother-in-law and my father-in-law both worked carers in factories. My dad was a mechanic and my step-dad was an electrician.
To value one job over another and to deem certain work essential and other non-essential is much of the reason that our land is in the shape that it is in!
I remember a gentleman that worked at the Ben Franklin Dime Store when I was a boy in Eldorado, Illinois. He was a dignified and upstanding person who worked his carer at the Dime Store.
I recall buying many pairs of Red Wing Shoes at Breedings Shoes in Murphysboro, Illinois. There was a man who worked his career as a salesman for Breedings…and he was a professional and admired by the community!
I have personally witnessed many sales people look down their nose at blue collar workers as if somehow by their intelligence and fortitude and karma…they had discovered an elite position in the work force scheme of life. When in reality every position that is working honestly and sincerely and professionally…adds to the richness of life…equally!
My old friend, Jim, had been an over the road semi truck driver. To hear his reminisce about his experiences driving across the country would make you want to become a truck driver!
My mom had been a telephone switch board operator in Chicago and she spoke with such joy about the experience that her remarks are indelible in my memory!
When I was a Building Service Worker I or a Building Custodian I would leave the university each night…proud of my contribution to the success of SIUC!
The Dinner
Future Shock!
‘Hurry Jose, it is almost time for our guests,’ said Juanita!
‘I am ready accept for putting on my shoes,’ replied Jose.
‘Jose, when you are finished putting on your shoes please check on the beef tartar and the asparagus, asked Juanita?
‘Raul and Esmerelda, please set the table and open the front and back doors to the great hall so that we will have a good flow of cool air for our dinner, said Jose.’
Juanita thought of how much she liked Pam and Clark. They were both such sweet and kind people! Pam was always helping with school functions and Clark coached the little league baseball team that both Raul and Esmerelda were on. Suddenly there was a knock on the door of the parlor and when Juanita opened it and there was her order of fresh Maine lobster that she had overnighted, at some significant expense, in…
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Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale…The Door Of Opportunity!
As Jonathon and I were walking campus this morning I was reflecting on the value that SIUC brings to the Southern Illinois region. Having been employed there for over thirty-two years and retired for nearly nine, I have witnessed countless lives that have been enhanced by the outreach of our school.
I was talking with my friend the other evening and we were reflecting on the former location of the Old Main building prior to it’s burning in 1969.
You see in the above photo Altgeld Hall to the left, Shryock Auditorium in the middle, and the Allyn Building on the right.
It is still not known what caused the devastating fire.
This happened close to the conclusion of the tenure of President Delyte Morris. Dr. Morris came to the University in 1948 and was President for 22 years. When he arrived Southern Illinois University Normal was a small Teacher’s College and when he retired it was a Carnegie II University with a Medical School in Springfield and a Law School on the Carbondale Campus as well as a campus in Edwardsville.
SIUC is situated in the most lovely geographical location in the state. Students attend from around the world to enjoy the peaceful serene settings that are so conducive to reflection and study and thought.
President Morris understood that he was building an oasis of learning in the heart of the desert of Little Egypt! One of his founding precepts was innovation and entrepreneurship! SIUC is the economic engine of Southern Illinois and much of the success of the entire region can be directly attributed to our University!
Having been a direct recipient of the opportunity that SIUC affords I can attest that being associated with the University has been a significant blessing for both myself and my family! When I began on October 10, 1978 I was newly married and driving a 1962 Ford Fairlane automobile. Our grocery budget was $25 per week and I had a holes in my shoes. No one had ever suggested to me that I should take college courses and I was pleased to have a high school education. Soon after beginning my career I enrolled for a class or two per semester, along with my good friend, Steve, and we commenced what many thought we were incapable of!
I really did not know how to react when in 1984 Dr. Carol Burns asked to speak with me after class and whereupon she told me that I had the academic ability to succeed in any field that I chose! I was…what I am not often…speechless!
I was honored to be a member of the Building Services staff…and I have never know a more professional and hard working group of men and women in my life! Building Services is integral in the recruitment and retention of our most precious University citizens…our students! I have known countless students who would have withdrawn from SIUC if it had not been for the caring and mentoring of their civil service colleagues on the custodial crews that they worked on.
When I began my career…I knew few people that did not look like me and come from similar customs. On my first evening work-shift I began to interact with people from around the globe!
My first supervisor was a kind African American gentleman who smoked the most aromatic cigars! He told someone who had been giving me a difficult time that, ‘You understand that Jay is my son…he just won’t call me daddy?’
I have had the opportunity to visit Europe on several occasions and have met the most beautiful and loving people from many different cultures and faiths. The tapestry of our world is much larger than Southern Illinois…and Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale…revealed that truth to me!
Note: The photos of Old Main burning are from ‘A Southern Illinois University Pictorial History,’ by Betty Mitchell
A Harley Davidson Adventure!
Billy Bump is at it again!
Did I mention that Billy Bump’s dad had a Harley Davidson motorcycle? It was the jumbo model from the early 1960’s! The beast, as Billy called it, was able to comfortably carry dad and mom and Billy, in the middle of them.
Now Billy’s father was not just into his Harley…he had the leather jacket and motorcycle hat and he carried a concealed hand gun, that he did not have a permit for, and he did not seek trouble…but he was on a hair trigger ready for it should it find him!
Billy’s dad enjoyed jazz music. He would listen for hours to Billie Holiday sing…while he had a far-away look in his eyes. Billy’s father had fought in World War II in the Pacific Theatre. He had seen action on Okinawa and refused to speak about what he had witnessed. He had left a wavy haired boy…and had returned…
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Marriage and Politics and Contentment and Happiness…is a Matter of Compromise!
It has been said that opposites attract!
Photo by Johan Bos on Pexels.com
‘In olden times, sacrifices were made at the altar, a practice which is still very much practiced.’ Helen Rowland
‘The most important four words for a successful marriage: I’ll do the dishes.’ Anonymous
‘By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become a philosopher.’ Socrates
‘I love being married. It’ so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life.’ Rita Rudner
‘Men marry women with the hope they will never change. Women marry meant with the hope they will change. Invariably they are both disappointed.’ Albert Einstein
‘All men make mistakes, but married men find out about them sooner.’ Red Skelton
‘The secret of a happy marriage remains a secret.’ Henny Youngman
‘The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing-and then marry him.’ Cher
‘Love is a temporary insanity curable by marriage.’ Ambrose Bierce
‘Before marriage, a girl has to make love to a man to hold him. After marriage, she has to hold him to make love to him.’ Marilyn Monroe
‘Many a man in love with a dimple makes the mistake of marrying the whole girl.’ Stephen Leacock
‘Marriage is an attempt to solve problems together which you didn’t even have when you were on your own.’ Eddie Cantor
And, so, many marriages fail due to unrealistic expectations. A successful partnership is predicted on two equal partners.
The dysfunction in government today is a direct result of having intransigent ideologies that the elected representative and senators and president believe that they must win at all cost…or everyone be dammed!
Our political system was founded on the principle that there are three equal branches of government. Our founding fathers did to want to live under another monarchy…they had fled the one that they had in England!
Also, congress and the senate are specifically designed to ensure that compromise of the political parties is paramount to the success of the legislative process. We live in a nation that has tremendous resources but does not have the will to martial those resources to help the poor and the middle class…but rather is focused on the rich and powerful and those that line the pockets of or political leaders!
The sad state of affairs we are currently experiencing is our elected representatives and senators and president, cater to their base and care little about the rest of the country!
Compromise is the seeking of the middle. People of good will and logic can almost always find a middle ground that both parties can agree on. The truth be know…the United States is not comprised of far left or far right citizens…but rather moderate of middle of the road or people who understand the art of compromise!
Media caters to the most graphic story! Television seeks the headline that will grab the eyeballs of the most viewers! There are entire cable news networks that are dedicated to a political point of view and who basically exclude all other points of view.
Marriage is based on the stellar concept that the successful decision is the decision that is best for both parties. Our political system is predicted on the same concept!
The Little People
We enjoyed a wonderful sermon delivered by Rev. Deborah Troester regarding Naaman of the old testament.
‘Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aka. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the Lord had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.’
‘Now bands of raiders from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, ‘If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.’
‘Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said. ‘By all means, go,’ the king of Aram replied. ‘I will send a letter to the king of Israel.’ So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing. The letter he took to the king of Israel read: ‘With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you that you may cure him of his leprosy.’
‘As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, ‘Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow bring send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!’
‘When Elisha the man of God heard that the king had torn his robes, he sent him this message; ‘Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.’ So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house. Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, Go wash yourself seven times in the river Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.’
‘But Naaman went away angry and said, ‘I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all of the water of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?’ So he turned and went out in a rage.’
‘Naaman’ servants went to him and said, ‘My father, if the prophet told you to do some great thing would you not have done it? How much more, then when he tells your, ‘Wash and be cleansed!’ So he went down and dipped in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.’ II Kings 5: 1-14 NIV
Rev. Troester pointed out to us that the young servant girl from Israel had no doubt that Naaman would be healed if he would see the prophet. All to often our earthly possessions blind us from the love of God and the ultimate power he has to heal us!
We are taught process and procedure and decorum and logic and we can rationalize God’s complete power over his creation! The little people of the Earth have no where to look but to God and his love for his creation. With no worldly resources and, often, no roof over their head…they understand that God is their only supporter!
Naaman was accustomed to issuing a command and it being obeyed immediately! In the empirical world he had all of the gold and silver and shekels and power that any man would ever desire. People were afraid of him and they trembled at a glare from his eyes! People hung on every word of Naaman and he was accustomed to obeisance and genuflecting!
Naaman seemed to have it all…including leprosy!
So it is today…we have houses and lands and money laid up in our modern storehouses…and we pity the poor schmuck on the street without a home or a visible means of support and we warm ourselves by the fire of our ego and ponder how blessed we are and how cursed are they who have nothing.
Photo by namo deet on Pexels.com
I highly recommend the new Hulu movie, ‘Culture Shock,’ or an insightful look into the immigrant experience as portrayed thought a fictional movie.
Recently a father and his young daughter drowned attempting to cross the Rio Grande to gain access to the United States. The photo of their lifeless bodies…is heart wrenching!
How can we say that we are the greatest country on the face of the Earth…and separate children from their parents and lock them in cages?
What is the American Dream…when we decide who shall receive that Dream…through prejudice and xenophobic and biased eyes? If children do not have significance to us…unless they are the skin color that is acceptable to our leadership…then what are our standards?
The little people and the immigrant and the poor of the land…did not cause financial hardship for the middle class…the greedy corporate world did that with the top five percent controlling the majority of the wealth in the United States while the rest of us live on the crumbs that fall from the master’s table!
I am a logical person who is not given to histrionics or fits of emotion…rather euphoric or depressed. I believe in living life according to a christianity that simply gets up each morning and endeavors to live the life of, ‘loving each other as I have loved you,’ as Christ taught his disciples. Yet I have witnessed two people being healed by God in my life and it was verified by medical science.
The reality is that power and wealth and privilege are an illusion for this short earthly walk back to Jerusalem! Let us all reconnect with our child like faith…the faith of the little people!
By the way…we are all the little people!
Note: Photos of Naaman are courtesy of Google.
Enthusiasm Makes The Difference!
A, rare, non-fiction story for thejazzmanblog.home.blog
We visited Bath, Maine at the end of May, and we met some enthusiastic Mainers!
We first stopped in at a lovely little store that had a plethora of items created in Maine. They had the most comfortable bar stools that I have ever sat on…and there was no bar…or beer! They also had an assortment of long narrow paintings of ocean scenes from Maine that were both intriguing and which fit nicely above a doorway.
But, what made this store in Bath so special was the wonderful woman who waited on us! Her excitement and energy and total buy-in to the items that she was showing us and her demonstrated love for Maine…was compelling! If you entered the store with no particular desire to purchase something, this resident of Maine would have you wanting to participate in the Maine experience before you left her establishment.
While we in the…
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Campground Meeting!
thejazzmanblog.home.blog
Billy Bump had been drawn to faith since he was a nine year old attending Bible School at the Christian Church. He had walked the four blocks, and around the corner to the little brick church each day of the week long program. Other than a cursory contact with church, Billy had never thought much about the multitude of enjoyable facets of a life of attending church!
On the last day of the Bible School they were studying Moses and Jesus and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration found in the New Testament. Billy had been a bit of an introvert for a few years, especially after his mom and dad divorced, but he suddenly felt like answering the teacher’s question regrading what had happened on the Mount?
As Billy began to speak he felt a presence helping him to talk regarding the Bible story. When he had completed his…
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The Happy Traveler 