We just had another outstanding visit with Brock and Marcy!

Each time that we are together I can not help but feel like we have always known each other.

Of course, for those of you that do not know the story…we first met Marcy and Brock in August of 2016 at the Marriott Airport Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.

Our Dad, and my mother, divorced when I was six years old.  I grew up an only child.

To have the blessing of Brock as my brother and his wonderful wife Marcy and their two outstanding children, Jeb and Jamie…is a special gift in my, now, golden years.

We traveled to John A. Logan College for their annual Craft Fair.  Brock purchased this most excellent pen for my sixtieth birthday.

I like the skull…so much…and it feels so appropriate for my Big 60.

Every time I am with my brother, Brock, I see new similarities that we share…and this time I could not help but notice the familial resemblance between he and my son Aaron.

Jonathon told me that when he went to bed, last night, that he had left Uncle Brock in the basement recliner..and that when he got up this morning…there was Brock in the recliner…and that we brothers had another similar like…that of the basement recliner.

Every time that I talk with Marcy…I want to refer to her as my sister…as she is such a lovely person and so considerate.

As we were traveling through the Craft Fair, a gentleman told Brock and I that he loved our hats…I responded that we were brothers…and he said that he thought so!

Have your ever known someone that you not only felt like that your had lived with your entire life…but also that you wanted to be around…all of the time?

That is Brock and Marcy!

For over 40 years we have had a Volunteer Armed Services.

Most of us have gone about our safe and free lives…making money and talking care of our families and enjoying the fruits of our labors…while many thousands of brave, young men and women have gone to war on our behalf.

Most of us are so removed from the horrors of combat…that it is another world to us.

My father was a WWII Veteran and my stepfather was a Veteran of the Korean Conflict.

This was Dad’s birthday. He was 57. Taken in Tennessee

Mary Jane’s Dad, and his twin brother, were WWII Vets.

When I was in school, my cousin was drafted as was most young men…not long after High School Graduation.

I fully expected to be drafted…and just missed being so, due to the draft being discontinued in the early 1970’s.

The terrible effects of War are indescribable and not fully understood by anyone who has not experienced armed conflict.

The men and women that are returning with PTSD and missing limbs…and the increased rate of suicide in  the Veteran Community…are illustrative of the Hell…that War is.

Have you ever known a Veteran that has seen Conflict?

They do not brag.  They do not want to tell war stories and extoll the virtues of beating back the enemy.

Veterans are humble and quite and often they have a ‘long away stare’ in their eyes…when asked about their service…

Our region, Southern Illinois, has taken to flying WWII Veterans and others to Washington D.C. to visit the war memorials.

When they return…they are greeted with bands playing and scores of grateful people  who are thanking them for their service.

This program is one of the greatest ways that I have witnessed…to thank our precious Veterans.

We are free and comfortable and secure in our wonderful Country…while many of our fellow citizens are in extreme danger and injury and death…to  ensure our freedom.

Several years ago Southern Illinois University decided that it would close it’s doors when Veteran’s Day occurred between Monday – Friday…in honor of our citizens who have and are sacrificing the most for the rest of us.

I was never prouder of our University…than when they chose to recognize our wonderful Veterans!

In Flanders Fields

By: John McCrae

‘In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That marks our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the the Dead.  Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie,

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.’

‘Scholars have long maintained that each era has a unique spirit, a nature or climate that sets it apart from all epochs.  In German, such a spirit is known as ‘Zeitgeist,’ from the German words Zeit, meaning ‘time,’ and Geist, meaning ‘spirit’ or ‘ghost.’   Merriam Webster Dictionary

I have been hearing the term Zeitgeist being spoken, often by newscasters, a lot, of late.

I think that it could be said that part of the spirit of our time is a technological renaissance that is unlike any that has occurred in history.  I recall the invention of the personal computer.

I remember when a person that had a telephone in their automobile…was obviously wealthy and or important.  I recall when people would place a fake telephone antenna on the back of their automobile, when they did not have the money to really have one in their car, in order to appear richer than they really were.

In the the 1990’s, I so desperately wanted to have an internet connection for my IBM Computer that I had purchased at my favorite department store, Famous Barr…in Fairview Heights, Illinois.

My little village, Elkville, Illinois, did not have an internet provider.  When I finally was able to connect, through my telephone modem at 14 kb, I was not only thrilled but willing to wait for minutes for the front page of the New York Times to download…and forget video.

My provider, who was in Murphysboro, Illinois, notified me after the first month, that he was being forced to discontinue his Internet Service as the connection that he was offering me was three times more expensive for him…than he had been originally told that it would be.

My supervisor, who knew how badly that I wanted internet connection, encouraged me to apply for an opening for Superintendent of Building Services at SIU in Edwardsville…as they assuredly had a good internet connection.

I read, recently, that the majority of people believe that there is intelligent life on other planets.

I wonder if we will see, in our life time…the discovery of Aliens from other worlds…and will they deem us…intelligent?

There is a spirit of discovery and learning and wonder…in our current generation…like that I have not seen before.

However, there is a corresponding lack of support for our young people and their higher education and a hardness and a bitterness in our political discourse.

The spirit of our time could be described in one word…fear.

Terror invaded our lives beginning with 9/11.

Since that terrible time…politicians have used that fear to their own advantage and political gain.

Our government began spying on it’s own people…and we said…ok…if it will keep us safe.

We fought a bloody war in Iraq…that left countless thousands dead and maimed and marked with physical and emotional and mental disabilities…that accomplished nothing toward the war on terror.

We are still at war in Afghanistan…and it may never end.

Our current President was elected on a sprit of fear!

In his Inaugural Address he spoke of, ‘American Carnage.’

I watched an instructive movie, Tuesday afternoon, Suburbicon, by the Coen brothers.

In the movie, an African American family moved into an all white suburb, and the ensuing uproar of the ‘good christian white residents’ became more and more caustic and disruptive and dangerous.

The African American families’ neighbors consisted of a husband and father who subsequently had his wife murdered in order to be with her twin sister and the attempt to also have his son murdered, by the mob, in order to cover up his crime.

At the conclusion of the movie the wife’s sister and both of the killers had been murdered and the mastermind evil husband…and the neighbors were seen being interviewed by a local television station saying…that nothing had ever happened like that before the African American family moved into the neighborhood.

Our political leaders would have us seek ‘straw men and women’ to blame for the many ills that befall us.

We are at the crossroads of humanities both short and long journey.

We can give into the spirit of fear or we can choose to unite as a family of human beings on a beautiful planet…that offers us abundant gifts.

Of course…evil has to be sought out and punished…but can we not do that much better by uniting with all of our fellow members of the human family?

‘Our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this planet.  We all breathe the same air.  We all cherish our children’s future.  And we all are mortal.   John F. Kennedy

New York, UNITED STATES: TO GO WITH AFP STORY “Americans mark 9/11 anniversary with new questions on vulnerability” – This 11 September 2001 file photo shows Marcy Borders covered in dust as she takes refuge in an office building after one of the World Trade Center towers collapsed in New York. Borders was caught outside on the street as the cloud of smoke and dust enveloped the area. The woman was caught outside on the street as the cloud of smoke and dust enveloped the area. AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDA (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)

We either live at the dawn of the golden age of man and the realization of what God intended for his creation…or we live at the precipice of Armageddon.

‘ One of the key insights that Albert Einstein used to develop his theory of relativity was that light within a vacuum always moves at the same speed.  The particles of light, photons, therefore move at the speed of light.  This is the only speed at which photons move.  (Note: Photons do change speed when they pass through different materials.  This is how refraction occurs.  It’s the photon’s absolute speed in a vacuum that cannot change.)’   ThoughtCo.

Light travels at a 186,282 miles per second.

Our perception of our surroundings is controlled by light.

Of late it has become popular to denigrate and make fun of our free press.

‘Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government: When this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved.’   Benjamin Franklin

‘The liberty of the press is essential to the security of the state.’   John Adams

‘Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.’   Thomas Jefferson

‘In galvanizing public support for the Vietnam War, President Lyndon B. Johnson uses the orchestrated Gulf of Tonkin Resolution through Congress just three days later.  Stone is the first reporter to question the credibility of  the government’s account, and he criticizes the mainstream press,  omissions, lack of curiosity and susceptibility to official propaganda in reporting on the event.’   investigating power.org

‘ Isidor Feinstein Stone (December 24, 1907 – June 18, 1989), better known as I.F.Stone, was a politically radical American investigative journalist and writer.’   Wikipedia

The other night I saw the most interesting documentary regarding I.F. Stone and his contribution to investigative journalism.

‘ He is best remembered for the newsletter, I.F. Stone’s Weekly (1953-71), which was ranked in the sixteenth place among ‘The Top 100 Works of Journalism in the United States in the 20th Century’ by New York University’s journalism department in 1999, and in second place among print journalism publications.’   Wikipedia

‘The journalistic professionalism and integrity of I.F. Stone derived from his intellectual willingness to scour and devour public documents, to bury himself in The Congressional Record, to study the transcripts of obscure congressional committee hearings, debates, weekly newsletter-such as contradictions in the line of official policy, examples of bureaucratic mendacity and political obscurantism.  Stone especially sought evidence of the U.S. government’s legalistic incursions against the civil liberties and the civil and political rights of American citizens.’   Wikipedia

Stone, was dedicated to doing the hard and painstaking work that was required to be  a true investigative journalist.

At times,  reporters, who are assigned a Beat…such as the Pentagon or the Capitol, take on the speech patterns and much of the beliefs of the agency that they are covering.

Often reporters are reluctant to share everything that they see and everything that they hear…because of being afraid that they will be ‘shut out’ of further reporting opportunities or due to have been subtly co-opted into the company mindset of the organization that they are charged with reporting on accurately.

You may recall Michael Hastings, June 22, 2010 article for Rolling Stone, where he accurately described some disparaging utterances, made by General Stanley McChrystal who was the head of military operations in Afghanistan, in private in a hotel room in Paris, France, before a speech the General was to make.

The opening for the article by Mr. Hastings was: ‘Stanley McChrystal, Obama’s top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: ‘The wimps in the White House.’   The New York Times

Light is vital to our navigation of our world and our appreciation of it.

Real investigative journalism is vital to our continued viability as a free and thriving Country.

Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s dogged persistence in discovering the truth of Watergate was beautiful to behold and a bulwark against the powers of dictatorship and reliance on a Strongman to solve our problems.

Nazism and Fascism…we thought were relegated to the dust bin of history…but they are not.

A free people must have those who will take the time and be unafraid of the  ramifications of telling the truth…no matter where the light shines.

I had a minister, many years ago, who regularly admonished me to, Stay on Track.

His analogy was that of the locomotive, who, if we can use our imaginations, wanted to travel though the fields and forests and cities and villages, it can not due to the restriction of the railroad track.

Indeed, success in life or school or relationships are predicated on a  certain determination to follow a path that yields a successful outcome.

A Faith Path is important to negotiating the deep valleys and the high mountains of life.

Often, when I see a person who believes that they have no hope…I know that their life has ‘jumped the track ‘ of a belief that there is a purpose for each of us.

During the many disappointments that I have encountered in my life…I have always had an inner compass that will not allow me to vary to far astray.

I marvel at the dedication of the Jewish Faith.  Their commitment to eating certain foods and to the Sabbath and their commitment to help their fellow man.

My Muslim friend, Alfie, prays seven time a day.

Scripture and prayer and a belief in something greater then you…is an amazing centering and peace bringing enterprise.

A belief and a dedication to the fact that all human life is sacred…and to be cherished.

We members of the human family are here but a moment…what if the secret of happiness is loving and helping others?

UNITED STATES – SEPTEMBER 11: People seek refuge inside a bank building after the first tower of the World Trade Center collapsed. (Photo by Corey Sipkin/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

So many, extremely troubling and violent occurrences are happening in our country and across the world.

They illustrate hopelessness and desperation and chaos.

Terror has a face…and it is evil.

The purpose of terror is to make us all afraid to associate with anyone who is not like we are.

The purpose of terror is to give us a bunker mentality…to purchase more guns…and huddle behind larger walls…to only associate with the good people…but who is that?

‘ Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.’   Romans 12:21   KJV

‘ A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.’   John 13:34   KJV

‘ An eye for an Eye will Make the Whole World Blind’    Mohandas Gandhi

I just finished a documentary on Netflix entitled, ’11-8-16.’

In three days…it will be one year since Donald Trump was elected as President of the United States.

I recall having dinner with our good friends, and solid Democrats, a year ago, and their assurance that Trump could not possibly win the Presidency.

During that, enjoyable dinner, I was the lone voice that asserted that Donald Trump could win.

My friend assured me that the ‘Blue Wall’ would prevent him from doing so.

The ‘Blue Wall’ was breached.

There are numerous reasons why we have a President Trump..but the documentary, 11-8-16, covers several very clearly.

For instance, coal mining communities, in Virginia and Kentucky and Southern Illinois…have been devastated by the economic downturn in the need for coal.

I grew up in Eldorado, Illinois…and coal mines are what built the town.  At one time the little town of Eldorado had three movie theaters and was a booming rural town.

When I graduated from high school, in 1975, my aspiration was to become a coal miner, as that was a job that had a good salary and benefits.

My little town did not have a lot of opportunities.

Today, Eldorado, has turned into an Antique Store Meca…as many rural communities have been forced to turn to Antique sales…do the lack of real economic opportunity.

Politicians, from both parties, have lied to us.

They have assured us that they cared for the poor of the land and the middle class…and soon after taking office…have ignored us…until the next election.

There is a profound disenchantment with our politicians, from both parties, due to their habitual lack of even attempting to fulfill their election promises.

And, so, the forgotten of the land…and the disenfranchised and the poor and the needy and those who had no hope….voted for Donald Trump.

The American people were so disillusioned that they voted for someone who blatantly lied to them about his concern for the middle class and the poor and the forgotten…because they had been lied to…so many times before.

President Trump’s history did not illustrate any examples of his care for the middle class…or his empathy with the working people of America…but rather clearly showed the opposite.

Yet, the mist and the fog was just to great…in the trust factor…

for Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton.

During my lifetime our Country has lauded and applauded the economic success stories of our land.

Money, equals power and prestige and voice in the critical decisions that comprise our government.

Even, on our current Board of Trustees for Southern Illinois University…economic success is the primary criteria in the selection of who sit’s on the Board.

Now, it does not take much examination to concur that most academic scholars…are not rich.

Capitalism drives politics.

Humanitarians are not the first choice for political leaders.

Bigotry and Misogyny and Xenophobia are on display in the current administration…and many who voted for our current President…are not of these awful proclivities.

They, are, however, beyond despair…with the multitude of lies…and broken promises…and forgotten dreams…that have been assured them by both political parties.

You know, we see the world, from where we live.

If I have been treated in a biased and prejudicial manner…I see the world as biased and prejudiced.

If I have never know anything but economic depravation…I perceive the world as a hard and extremely difficult place to survive.

If I am told that I am not the right color…or the accepted religion…or have the preferred economic status…or the correct education…I see the multitude of doors that are being shut in my face…and I look for an alternate leader…or an obscure political philosophy…that explains my situation.

Jonathon and Aaron and I enjoyed some beer at our favorite watering hole.

I have been there so many Saturdays, of late, that the bartender said to me, ‘Dragon’s Milk,’ and I responded in the affirmative.

I do not drink many…but I throughly enjoy the ones that I drink!

I am certain that what I enjoy, much more than the milk of the dragon, is the fellowship with my two, of my three, favorite people in the world…my sons!

I have noticed, over the last several Saturdays, that there is an old couple, about my age, that sits across from us.

Today, the bartender told us that the couple that I have observed, each Saturday, are regulars on Saturday.

I have referenced, before, my new, portable record player, and my growing collection of vinyl LP’s.

Today, Jonathon and I, made our way to Plaza Records, who were having a Mega-Sale.

Each time that I purchase an, old time, vinyl record, I am taken back to my youth when I was a member of the Columbia Record Club.

When I was a member of the Record of the Month Club…I purchased everything from Andy Williams to Boots Randolph, I played the Tenor Saxophone when I was in sixth grade, to Dianna Ross and the Supremes.

I bought my first Long Playing Album in Evansville, Indiana…and it was Good Times…with Sonny and Cher singing.

Today, I obtained; Muddy Waters and Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin and a Christmas Album.

They were gently used and on sale.

The enjoyment of taking the vinyl album out of it’s paper sleeve and placing it on the turntable then…gently applying the needle to the first groove on the disc…is the 1960’s all over again.

There is something calming…and a slower pace…and reminiscent of a less complicated time…that Vinyl gives to the listener.

We are all seeking a calm and more measured and more peaceful approach to the frenetic pace of our daily lives.

We desire a surety…and a reliability and a pleasant memory…that can be saved and perhaps relived.

The slow pace of the 33 an 1/3 Long Play Album…is a good place to start.

There is a comfort in the familiarity of a bar, ‘where everybody knows your name,’…if your know your limits.

Tradition adds meaning to our lives, that so rapidly pass…as the ‘weaver’s shuttle,’ and it is good to remind ourselves, daily, why we are here and where we have come from and where we are going.

‘Everyone in this world is somehow connected.  So why not just be nice to everybody.’   Richard Simmons

‘It’d be nice to be what they call a Renaissance man.’    George Takei

For well over a year we have been hearing the term, ‘Fake News’, this term is, by and large, coined or made popular by our President.

I encountered an old friend and former colleague, the other day, and she told me that, ‘ times were getting so bad…that the Lord was going to have to do something soon.’

She went on to say that, ‘poor old Trump is sure taking a beating.’

Also, that, ‘she had, had enough of Bill and Hillary…the eight years that they were in office.’

Now, without a doubt, our country is as divided as I have seen it in my lifetime.

Also, Hillary is old news…she did not win the presidency.

‘The former CNN news commentator and the interim chair for the Democratic Party, Donna Brazile…has said that the Democratic Primary was rigged against Senator Bernie Sanders in Hillary Clinton’s favor.

I do not doubt it.

I do know that news, that is based on verifiable facts, is not fake news.

When I was growing-up in the 1960’s the Nightly News with Walter Cronkite was exclusively focused on facts…or what is called hard news.

News commentary had a small place in the news of my youth…but was clearly titled as such…and there was no confusion.

Today, and for many years, Americans consume their news from the news agency that most agrees with their political or social beliefs.

The information that we receive from either a liberal or a conservative news outlet…is not the last word on verifiable fact.

Real news is news that can be verified by research and can be supported by two or more verifiable sources.

When our President tells us that all news outlets are fake news…other than the one that agree with him…is that all the proof that you need?

If our minister or spiritual leader informs us who is God’s choice…to lead our Nation…is that good enough?

When someone tells you that you are mis-informed…if you are not liberal…why?

Facts…science….verifiable empirical data…is vital to our continued existence on this planet.

It is extremely important to analyze what another is telling you and determine for yourself if it stands up to…a fact check.

On the old Dragnet television show, Jack Webb who played Sargent Joe Friday, would regularly tell a witness to a crime, ‘Just the facts..’

Our glaciers are rapidly melting.

Gun violence, in our country,…is at epidemic proportions.

Our dedication to a political party over respect for our fellow humans is unconscionable.

A massive tax cut that primarily rewards the rich in our country…while promising an extra hundred dollars per month to the middle class…is not a Christmas present.

Trickel Down Economics did not work under former President Reagan, who I voted for, and it will not work now.

Do you really believe that CEO’s and the movers and shakers of the Business Community are going to take their tax break money and reinvest it into American workers?  Will they suddenly leave the profoundly cheaper labor of; China and India and Vietnam, for the much more expensive labor of America…or will they simply bank the money or increase their stock holders dividend shares?

This massive reinvestment of Bail Out money that occurred in both the Bush and Obama administrations…after the Great Recession of 2008…certainly was not passed down to Main Street…but rather became ensconced on Wall Street.

My early years were spent in a fundamentalist church.

Fundamentalist had moral standards…that they swore to…and that they expected in a presidential candidate.

I was saddened when former President Clinton was a participant in the Monica Lewinsky affair.

I am outraged at the numerous accusations that are coming forward, daily, toward many actors and power brokers…in Hollywood.

When I was, quite, a young…I heard a friend of my stepfather…speak in a sexually harassing manner to my mother…I have never forgotten the sickness in the pit of my stomach…that I felt…when this occurred.

No woman, or man, should have to undergo verbal or physical sexual harassment by a more powerful figure in the hierarchy that they work in.

So, let the facts take us where they lead.

Gut feelings…are not worth much.

I heard a prominent newscaster say that, ‘Obama made a chill run down his leg,’ when referring to the emotional inspiration that he experienced…during former President Obama’s first candidacy for the Presidency.

President Kennedy, a hero of mine, nevertheless, is judged more by…what might have been…than by what he accomplished.

Former President Nixon was a brilliant man.

He wrote one of my favorite books, Leaders, and it contained more insight regarding foreign policy…than I had ever read.

President Nixon…was forced to resign…rather than be impeached…for lying about a third rate burglary in the Watergate Hotel.

Senator Jeff Flake is a profile in courage.

He has sounded an alarm…much as the canary in the coal mine would signal when the livable oxygen has run out…before you soon die of asphyxiation.

Senator John McCain…is a war hero.

Senator McCain is giving a warning, in his twilight days, of the dissolution of the American Dream.

Senator Bob Corker is speaking what many Senators are thinking…privately.

I am almost 50/50 in my votes for republicans and democrats.

I, as I know we all want, to have responsible leadership that includes all members of the human family…and not just those who are like me.

My friend of 45 + years, Jeff Lestz, has a feature article in the London Business Journal entitled, ‘The Journey of Jeff Lestz From Homeless Orphan To Millionaire CEO of Genistar.’

I met Jeff in 1971 when he was living in a hippie commune that was off the Royalton Blacktop near Elkville, Illinois.

I was attending a little church in Elkville that was welcoming to the hippie community and had recently seen an influx of 40 or more hippies, mostly from the Chicago area.

Jeff, who is Jewish, as many of the hippies were, came from Chicago, where he had been homeless and and orphan and institutionalized for a time.

Jeff, had lost both his father and mother , tragically, and had not known…for some time…anyone that loved or cared for him.

As we became good friends, I noted that he had a sweet spirit and a great desire to serve his fellow man.

Jeff spent time in my home…when he and I were still in high school and he enjoyed my mom’s colloquial sayings.

I spent time in his foster home with his foster father Michael.

I remember when he began dating his wife, of over 40 years, Margo.

Margo, is one of the most lovely and sweet people that I have ever met.

I recall when Jeff began to sell insurance for Metropolitan Insurance Company.

He tired to get me a job there…but they did not like my attire.

I have witnessed Jeff Lestz help countless thousands of people to achieve financial freedom.

You may recall that the Blues Brothers said, ‘ That they were on a mission from God?’

Jeff, truly is on a mission from God!

A little over a year ago, in Leeds, England, I was privileged to visit with a group of prospective sales associates…for Genistar…Jeff’s company.

There were numerous ethnicities represented in the eager audience.

Before the meeting began, Jeff spoke with each person…individually.  His brilliant smile and open and inclusive manner was engaging.

Jeff has the unique gift of projecting to those that he is speaking with…that they can achieve the same success that he has…if they are willing to perform the hard work that is necessary to do so.

The visit was exciting…what Jeff said to the audience was inspiring…it was a a Horatio Algier Moment!

When I stayed at the Hippie Commune….in Elkville…in 1972…Jeff and his foster father Michael showed me where to shower…and it was a makeshift shower in a corn field…that was gravity fed from a wash tub that was on top of the structure…and there was no curtain.

They assured me that there was no problem…as long as the corn had not been harvested.

To, today, where Jeff is an international speaker on christian financial freedom and christian principles of money management.

My life long friend..Jell Lestz…who Mary Jane and I have visited numerous times in Europe…and hope to again…soon!

A Brooks Tale

Pauly and Danny lived down the street.

Danny was my age and Pauly was two years younger.  Pauly was one of those kids that was always in a good humor.

Pauly laughed at everything that I, or anyone else said, and, as a rule, I laughed along with him.

We were playing cowboys and Pauly wanted to play with my toy gun.

I told him to not to touch my gun or I would have to hit him with it.

Pauly laughed…as usual.

The game went on, in the highest of spirits, until Pauly…touched my toy gun.

I responded by hitting him on his head with the butt of the purloined instrument.

Pauly stopped laughing.

A bump arose on his poor little head…the size of an egg.

Pauly, announced, through tears, that he was going home.

I told him to be certain to tell no one of our disagreement.

He said that he would not tell.

Later that afternoon my Mom asked me why that I had hit Pauly with my toy pistol?  I told her that he had disobeyed my request to not touch the gun…and that he had laughed.

Mom responded that Pauly laughed all of the time.

I replied, ‘ I know.’

As I was sleeping…the night of the touched gun incident…I heard a voice say that, ‘I was as mean as the devil.’

The voice was clear and concise…and my conscience hurt.

Pauly’s Mom accompanied him to my house…the next day…and I apologized and he accepted.

I have a dim memory of thinking about my house in Chicago, so many year ago, and it reminding me of the television sitcom, of the time, Leave it to Beaver, and pondering that my mom looked somewhat like June Cleaver and that my friends reminded me of, Lumpy and Wally and the Beave.

My friend, who lived at the opposite end of the street, Steve, had marionettes, and I was intrigued by them.  Steve was older than I and his sister was older than him.

I had a crush, on Susie, Steve’s sister.

Steve, could make his numerous marionettes do anything.  It seemed to me, that he could bring them to life.  He seemed to have countless hours to devote to my puppet pleasure.

Steve and Susie’s mother was, Ivy, and she was a small woman who smoked cigarettes…one after the other.

Ivy was a tough little woman and she was my mom’s best friend.

Ivy cursed and drank and said just what she thought…and she was fabulously interesting.

Ivy’s husband, and Steve and Susie’s father, was named Bob.

Bob was a mechanic and quiet…almost mute.  He smoked, as well, incessantly.

Living next door to us, in Sauk Village, a Chicago suburb, was Helen and her husband…who called me Doc.

Helens’s husband was named George and he had a perpetual sore back.  Periodically, when we were all sitting in the adjoining back yards of our close houses, I administered a back rub to George.  He raved at my chiropractic skills.

Later, when we had moved to Eldorado, Illinois…Helen wrote my mom that she, soon, was going to send me a new bicycle.

I am still waiting on the new bike.

A big car parked in front of my house…one day.

I was told that I must stay outside while a woman and my mom talked, adult matters, in the house.

It was hot and I noticed the the car had several girls in it.

I asked them if they would like for me to get them a glass of water…as I knew that they must be as hot as I was.

One of the young women in the car, remembers our first meeting, as she is the mother of two of my brothers and two of my sisters.

Dad, dressed in a motorcycle hat and a leather, motorcycle jacket.

Springfield, Ohio “69”

He rode a Harley Davidson and he carried a gun…which was illegal at the time.

He was a mechanic and he worked on Semi Trucks.

When he came home, in the evening, he placed me on his shoulder and it seemed that I was the most important person in the world.

Mom was sad…much of the time…it seemed with my best efforts…I could not cheer her up.

We rode the Harley on a significant trip and I remember riding in the middle…between mom and dad.

We stopped at a restaurant that also sold books.

I took a book back to the table that we were eating at…and said that I was going to read it.

Mom laughed and told me that I must take the book back where I had found it as we were not at a library but rather the book that I had was for sale.

We vacationed in Eldorado…which seemed exotic to me.

Grandma Askew lived in a little house with a big front porch and a mean dog named Nugett.

Grandma and her sisters, Wanda and Vema and Guelda…were all Pentecostal.

I found out that mom had also been Pentecostal…before Chicago.

The Richardson’s were Grandma Askew’s next door neighbors.  Debbie was my good friend…when we visited Grandma.

Also, I visited with my cousins, Brenda and Billy.

Billy showed me his Monster Magazines and Brenda was so nice to me…and pretty.

I slept on the living room couch…at Grandma’s and Nugett…slept in the chair that was next to the couch.  In the middle of the night he would growl…and I did not bother him.

Grandma Askew’s family called my dad, Junior.

I thought that was so strange.

We usually attended a church service, when we were visiting in Eldorado, and the sermons were so long.  I fell asleep…as did others.

I heard Jack Archer sing.  He had a beautiful tenor voice.

Later Jack…became my pastor…for several years.

Life seemed very different in Eldorado…than Chicago…I did not realize the changes that were in store for…Beaver and June Cleaver.

We had wonderful Christmas’s in Chicago.

There was a great Christmas Tree and Laughing Santa and Christmas cookies and many gifts.

Christmas became special to me…during this time.

When we moved to Eldorado, not long before my mom and dad’s divorce, Santa visited our house.

I could not believe my good fortune!