Fall is in the air today. Seventy-six degrees feels lovely when you are accustomed to temperatures near 100. The Naked Pastor says that we should choose kindness…and I agree. Another admonition that I read today is that teachers should teach their students with love because many of them do not receive that emotion when they return home. How is it that we all respond to love, kindness, and cool temperatures…when it is our turn to pass those good feelings along to others we are otherwise occupied? Indeed we can not pass on cool physical temperatures but we can pass on a way of treating others that promulgates cooled-down temperatures of emotions and interaction with our fellow humans.

One of the first lessons that I learned when I began in supervision and later management/administration at Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale was that the person that you see on the outside does not reveal the challenges that they are undergoing on the inside. The famous actor and comedian Robin Willams seemed to be joyful and unbothered in his performances. We found out differently when he sadly took his life.

When I receive kindness from another I am energized and encouraged and enlightened! We live in a world of lonely people. I am not just speaking of those who have little financially but also of many who have most of what money can offer. Politicians and preachers alike have divided us. Social media has caused us to either be envious of our friends and neighbors or to distrust them due to differences that should not matter in forging friendships.

Perplexing it is to think that there are so many divisions by class in our society when our final destination is equal. Certain religious sects teach their followers that if they follow all of the intricate precepts of their doctrine they will be rulers in the next life. Money is suggested as a foolproof way to buy your way into a preferred placement in Heaven. Faith is coopted into an investment program that is better than the bank or stock market. If you give enough of your hard-earned money you will receive the place nearer God’s Throne and the better assignments of mansions that are in the gated community named Golden Streets.

Jesus loved the seemingly unloveable. His people were the outcasts. He preached to and was a friend to the unheard and the unseen. The forgotten of society were Jesus’ friends and confidants. The Losers as perceived by the world…were the Winners with Christ.

When this life is over…the pretty golf clothing of the elite will be uncommon and of little use. The clannish behavior of the rich as they surround the campfire of their wealth…or as well as the nationalist and separatist and America for Americans…when for the life of me I do not understand who they deem worthy of their Club?

Kindness is a rare consideration that I promise we will all need before we leave this journey.

There were not as many children at Giant City today…school began yesterday. I do not recall school ever beginning so early. Mid-August perhaps…but August 7th must be a new record. That is a short summer vacation.

‘Well they went and did it…they began school on August 7th just like the Board of Education suggested that they do,’ Billy B. said with a smirk.

‘I think we should play hooky,’ Chet observed. ‘We must claim at least a day of our stolen summer holiday,’ he continued.

‘Let us go to Pounds Hollow on Wednesday,’ Jane exulted! ‘They are planning on school being out Thursday and Friday for Teacher’s Workshop and our leaving tomorrow at lunch will not be noticed,’ Jane said with a wink.

Pounds Hollow was especially rich and joyful in light of the avarice of our Eldorado confederates. There was the Banker and Chair of the Board of Education…and the Social Studies teacher…basking in the summer early August Sun…

‘Hey, Chet…I did not know you enjoy swimming,’ said a scantily clad Ms. Jennings. ‘I brought my van out here to camp over my long weekend and told several interested people that if, ‘This Van is Rockin…Don’t You Come Knockin’,’ Ms. Jennings said!

‘Schools In…Schools In…The teacher brought the Monkeys Back,’ called out Mr. Seagraves the Junior High Principal.

‘Asleep already,’ said Mrs. Gray? ‘It is your turn at the chalkboard to write out the 12’s of our Times Table, she added as the reality of Billy B.’s circumstances took hold of him…school had indeed begun…

As is my custom I snapped some photos at Anna, Illinois this morning. Jonathon recommended Kiki’s Coffeehouse for a good cup of joe! He was so right. Did you ever enter a business establishment and feel the kind atmosphere? That is Kiki’s! Great coffee and I noticed an area where apparently live music is performed. They also have wonderful little chairs for children and coloring books. There were several gnomes in the front of the store and when I saw them I was hooked…I like gnomes!

Anna is the largest town in Union County.

I am well into my second year of photographing the little towns and villages and hamlets of Southern Illinois. Everywhere I go I meet friendly people with a ready smile and hard work as their history.

As I was snapping these photos I wondered what the people were thinking who erected these old buildings. When they were building them they were at the zenith of their powers and the shining buildings were a testament to the strength and determination of the folks who built them. Old churches intrigue me. There is so much handiwork and craftsmanship in the churches of Little Egypt. Faith can be found in the intricacies of the stonework and the bell towers.

I have lived in three separate towns in Southern Illinois. Each had its own personality. Just a few miles separating one town from another can be like entering another world…

I sit here on the Writing Porch anxiously awaiting our dear friends Laura and Jim. I remember our many wonderful fellowships together. Jim and I customarily enjoyed a holiday wine at the Mississippi Flyway in the days leading up to Christmas. I swear our friends had the best Christmas decorations that I have ever seen…and multiple Christmas Trees!

Our friends provide a mirror for us as to what we are all going through and our shared struggles. As the great philosopher Forrest Gump’s mother once said…Life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you are going to get.

Faith is abstract to me until I see it in my friends and fellow members of the human family. Often I see hope in the eyes of a child and peace in the eyes of the aged.

The dynamic of friends brings a quickening of spirit and a surety of purpose.

My best friends Steve and Susie in Chicago loved to put on a Marionette Show for me and my peers. Steve and Susie were a bit older than I. The Marionettes fascinated me and I often was caught up in the peculiar puppet world of actors on strings. Thunderbirds was a popular television show in 1965 and 66. All of the performers were marionettes. I found a couple of marionettes at the Cricket And Red Brick Antique Mall on Friday. Suddenly I was transported to Sauk Village Steve and Susie’s house and the Marionettee Show. Susie was my girlfriend…in my mind…and they were taking time to perform a show that delighted their audience…was friendship.

I saw my good friend Carlyn at the Antique Store yesterday and she told me it was the last day before school started. I asked how this could be and she agreed. Time flies when you are having fun. Southern Illinois University is on a two-week break and then comes Fall Semester. The beginning of the Fall Semester was a keynote time for me during my over 32-year career at Southern. The start of the academic year is a renewal of the marvelous opportunities that our University brings. I could imagine the word ‘Opportunity’ being emblazoned over every entrance to the campus.

I sat and watched my favorite pond that is on campus earlier today. The peaceful colors and serene atmosphere reminded me of how lovely summer is. Life is simply popping up all over and the seeming freedom of want and struggle has gone to another place. We are indeed part of the animal family and with that distinction, we are sensitive to temperature and climate. Summer gives us the freedom of the fear of freezing if we have no shelter. Although we are primarily an industrialized society… not so long ago we were an agrarian society and the hope of food when you are hungry was as close as your hand could reach. In fact in days gone by the coming of fall and then winter was a bit fearful for so many who lacked the proper shelter and clothing.

So it is today. Many of our human families suffer from the lack of the necessities of life. When I was growing up in the 60s my elders would often ruminate that a person could do without air conditioning but that they could not do without heat. Air conditioning was considered a luxury that was enjoyed by the well-endowed financially. Now it has become a necessity of living in many parts of our earth.

Global Warming produces torrential rain…and that has been true in our neck of the woods. We are somewhat like our uncle Nero…fiddle we do while our home burns…

The rain is falling in buckets or as the British would say it is ‘pissing down.’ Now I love rain but many find it depressing when the sun does not shine and the clouds weep. I love to share blogs that are uplifting and positive. The primary reason for this passion is that I read so many blogs that illustrate how people are suffering. ‘It’ My Party,’… And I’ll Cry If I Want To,’ sung by Leslie Gore is an apt description of how so many feel. We were not all born with a silver spoon in our mouths and if we had one…it was horribly tarnished.

There are a plethora of reasons for feeling sad. Poor health domestic strife or financial ruin are among the chief causes. We may be attempting to be what others think we should be while the secret is locked up in the expectations of our clan. Jesus admonished us to take his yoke upon us and learn of him and in turn, we would find rest for our souls. I wonder how that is going to happen. Is Jesus going to come down from Heaven and minister to our needs? Of course, there is prayer…but prayer, when you are hungry and forgotten, is of little comfort if there is no effort by others to reach out to you and your needs.

Living under the watchful eye of Screens is not a solution for loneliness.

‘Neva J. you do not shun me or seem to be afraid of me,’ Abagail observed one day as she was a passenger in the Old 57′.

Abagail was accustomed to being ignored and people averting their eyes when she passed them pulling her shopping cart along the Eldorado sidewalk. She had one eye and the populace had named her One Eye as a mark of derision and a perverse boost to their own fragile egos.

‘You can go anywhere with me Abigal…I love you and you are my friend,’ Neva J. said with a tear in her eye.

‘I was in Vaudeville when I was young…my husband…a doctor…came to watch me perform in my show and fell in love with me,’ Abigail said. ‘Lou would take anyone as a patient and his patients loved him for it,’ Abagail continued. ‘One night a thief broke into our apartment and jumped on Lou with a knife…I wrestled the attacker to the floor and he plunged his knife into my right eye,’ she said matter of factly.

‘Tonight is Christmas Eve and you shall be my honored guest,’ Neva J. told Abagail. ‘We will have Roast Beef and mashed potatoes…I have homemade coffee cake and Merlot,’ Neva J. said with a beaming face!

Who do I know that seems to be unseen? Who has suffered alone?

A cool breeze is wafting through Little Egypt. It is very welcome after the intense heat that we have experienced. Rain is in our forecast…a lot of rain. I love rain but it has become a scary occurrence in our new normal. Flash Flood Warnings are increasingly common.

We humans like to become judges. I wonder why more of us did not stand for an election to the judiciary. We have all of the skills other than the law degree. We are into comparative judgment. We compare others to ourselves. Someone told me one time that they felt it was wrong for our government to help hungry kids as no one had helped them feed their kids. The case in this argument is that the parents should get up off their asses…go to work and feed their kids. But the direct problem is that our country has millions of hungry kids… Should we teach the kids to instruct their parents to get a job?

We have a bit of a false template in examining those who are less fortunate than we are. We are often certain that we rose on the ladder of success by our sweat equity. Seldom do we consider those who helped us along the way. Or we make the executive decision that the homeless must be lazy…or they would not be homeless. We fail to consider that much of the homeless population are the precious souls that we used to provide shelter for while they were treated for their mental illnesses and substance addictions. And…before you tell me that substance abuse is not a valid reason for being homeless…do you drink alcohol or smoke or take a plethora of prescription mood-altering medication?

We see those who are seemingly taken in by a would-be dictator an autocratic leader or a cultish personality…and we wonder how that could possibly happen. Perhaps these people are us and we do not recognize the kinship? Just a few times of being marginalized or not heard or not seen or being forgotten can lead to the path of joining others who seem to care about our welfare.

Straw houses are where we live. Secure we are until the wolf comes to our front door. He announces that he will huff and puff and blow our house down…and we laugh to ourselves as we understand that we have done what needed to be done to be safe…as we sit in the rubble our our home…

‘It was just the beginning of June and now it is August 1st,’ Billy B. bemoaned.

‘You will soon see that life goes by like a weaver’s shuttle…according to the Bible,’ Neva J. responded.

‘The first day of class is August 21,’ Chet remarked.

‘We must make the most of the few days that we have remaining…how about a road trip Neva J. What do you say?’

‘Let us go to Kentucky Lake…remember the fun that we had last August with Marcy and Brock and Jaime and Morgan and Jeb,’ Neva J. enthused!

The Old 57′ was packed to the brim with picnic lunch and Merlot. Billy B. had brought his contraband cigars and was sure that Uncle Brock and Aaron would smoke one or more with him. Jonathon remembered the hilarious card game that they had played and that Uncle Brock was hard to beat.

‘I am looking forward to more volleyball on the beach,’ Aaron said.

‘I can not wait for some Bullet Rye Whiskey to sip while looking out at the placid Lake,’ Billy B. said with a wistful look in his eyes.

As our intrepid explorers pulled up to the Air BNB they found instead an old log cabin. Out stepped Uncle Brock and Aunt Marcy but there was no car to be seen.

‘Welcome Illinois Brooks and friends…I just put the buggy in the barn,’ Brock said with a laugh.

‘What kind of Buggy are you driving…a Ford or a Chevy,’ Neva J. asked?

‘Why…Horse and Buggy Mam,’ Brock said with a wink. ‘It is similar to yours and your horse looks thirsty,’ Uncle continued.

Before the bugging eyes of Billy B. and Neva J. and Jane and Aaron and Jonathon and Chet…where the Old 57′ had been parked was a horse and buggy from the 19th century.

‘I wonder if we should have waited to break out the White Lightning and Rye Whiskey until after we arrived,’ Chet observed.

‘Nevertheless, let us unpack and feed the horse and light up a stogie,’ Billy B. said with a wicked good smile…

‘