Spring is almost here! The sun is shining and the wind is howling with the last vestiges of Old Man Winter! I thought of my days in Eldorado so many years ago. We got up in the morning, went to work or school, and came home in the evening to watch Walter Cronkite on the CBS Evening News. We had our share of drama but it was primarily portrayed on our television sets and we only could receive three channels and two of them were fuzzy. My fun was watching movies at the Orpheum Theatre and the Starlight Drive Inn during the summer months. Pounds Hollow was the primary dramatic event of the summer. We did not know much about the world around us except what we heard by word of mouth or front porch gossip. When we wanted to do research we went to the Eldorado Public Library. I thought the Library was too good to be true. How could they afford to lend books with nothing but a few pennies in overdue fines? Eldorado Pubic Library had the wonders of the world inside its walls and I was mesmerized!

I dreamed of owning a set of World Book Encyclopedias…but we did not have the money. Later I sold World Book door to door…and still did not have the money to purchase a set. Now I have the funds for a set but instead can read them on the internet.

Although we enjoyed dramatic movies and television shows we did not concern ourselves with either what our neighbor was doing or how the Kardashians of our day were fairing. Neva J. enjoyed reading the National Enquirer but we knew…although I am not certain if she knew… that it was hyperbolic and written for maximum entertainment value. Entertainment was fun but we did not base our life’s path on it.

I loved our annual journey to the DuQuoin State Fair. The Carnivale Barker and the Hucksters and the Freak Shows were mind-expanding. They did not give me a roadmap to my political or faith life. I discovered that people will lie to your face and have a wide Cheshire Grin while doing so. This could represent either theatre or deceit.

Often things are not as dire as they seem until they are placed under the Dramatic Enhancing Magnifying Glass. News has become about 90% opinion. The opinion is purposefully directed toward the people who view the newscast. Facts have become fungible. Lies are promulgated as truth…and many adopt these lies as their

mantra and feel so strongly about what was given to them as a creed with money at its core…as the indisputable fact of their existence.

Library research has fallen on hard times. As we obtain our truth from News Anchors who are explicitly concerned with their wallet or pocketbook and not with the facts. Faith is obtained through prayer and endeavoring to follow the kind teachings of Christ. When we sub-contract that duty to entertainers and charlatans we are made poor both spiritually and monetarily.

Simple is good. Life can be both fulfilling and easy to navigate if our compass is working properly. We were discussing recently how so many of us want to live a bit higher than our finances will carry us. Contrary to common opinion this is not just the working class but indeed the upper middle class and even affluent folks as well. As we sit in our warm homes and drive our Subarus we wonder what it would be like to drive a finer automobile and live a step up home from what we are enjoying. We enjoy a glass of Aldi’s Wine but wonder what a $200.00 bottle would taste like. Don’t look too close but this is what has happened to our failing banks. They were monetarily secure but they wondered how it would be to become bigger than their dreams. Thus they lend to people and businesses who are not capable of fulfilling their loan requirements. Greed.

Facebook and Media tell us that the sky’s the limit for us. Gold is King Of The Castle! You are not a success unless you can soar with the eagles…rather than the Blue Jays…