I usually walk around Campus Lake…as you know.  Today I changed it up a bit and decided to walk the beautiful Campus of Southern Illinois University.  Founded in 1869 as a Teachers College it grew into a preeminent Research University.  Popular alumni of SIU are; Jenny McCarthy, Jim Belushi, John Belushi, Dick Gregory, and Melissa McCarthy, among many others.

Delyte Morris came to SIU in 1948 as its’ President and he became the longest serving leader of the University with twenty-two years of service.  Dr. Morris built the small regional teachers college into the major Research University that it is today.

Having been associated with SIU for over thirty-two years I not only have a great love for our University but also some knowledge of leadership mis-steps that it has taken.

After the over nine year tenure of President John Guyon, Donald Beggs was elevated from the Dean of the College of Education to a two year appointment as President of SIU.  Dr. Beggs was a beloved personality on the Campus and a natural leader.  Under his benevolent oversight the Campus began to flourish.  The SIU Community “took heart” and began to believe that our schools’ one time greatness could be achieved again.  He and his lovely wife Shirley were admired and respected.

When the search for a new chancellor began, as the title of chancellor and president of the University had been reversed by then Campus system leader Ted Sanders, there were assurances made to me…as I was the civil service representative on the search committee…that if there was a “groundswell of support” Dr. Beggs would be appointed as the permanent Chancellor.  Sadly the groundswell happened and the promise was not kept.

The Search Committee had the extreme good fortune to find an applicant with a dynamic personality who engaged everyone on Campus from the janitor and grounds worker to the professor and dean with her genuine concern and heartfelt belief that all of us were important and vital to the success of SIU!  I said at a meeting of hundreds of  members of the campus community that Chancellor Argersinger had caused us to dream again!

Chancellor Jo Ann Agersinger was terminated in under a year on sketchy trumped up charges that made no sense to anyone…and our Community felt like an orphan.

Since then Chancellors have been terminated on a regular basis…with many being less effective than their predecessor.

Now the Governor of Illinois has thwarted the budget of the state…and on July 1st  Illinois will enter the second year without a budget.  SIU is being starved to death…by our elected leaders…in the name of political expediency!

From the days of Chancellor Argersinger when enrollment was twenty-two thousand students…to now where it will be under seventeen thousand in the fall.

Southern Illinois University…the miracle in Little Egypt…and often termed the second jewel in the crown of the state of Illinois…with the University of Illinois being the first.

SIU…the hope of the middle class…a beacon to the world…an educational giant…first mismanaged…now awaiting the whims of a recalcitrant government with their own hidden agenda.

Two years ago Mary Jane and I spent most of the month of June visiting Europe with our dear friends Margo and Jeff.  It was an experience that I think about often…to this day.  Although, if I was having trouble remembering the epic journey, Facebook is good enough to remind me of its’ wonders each day with photos that I posted in real time whilst the sojourn was transpiring.

Nice, France was wonderful.  From our walks along the Mediterranean rocky beach to the privilege of being invited to an author’s meeting hosted by well known writer Patricia Sands as guests of our good friend who is an author, Margo!

The above photo was taken on one of our last evenings in Nice.  The Mediterranean is the background.

Venice is awe inspiring in its’ sublime beauty and unique architecture!  It is like nothing I have ever seen.

This is the ancient farm house that we stayed at while in Tuscany.  The road leading to it was frightening!

Florence, Italy is so overwhelming with its’ ancient art and architecture that I am told some people become light headed upon their first experience of seeing it.

I left Florence with a much greater appreciation of Dante!

I was raised very poor.  Especially the years that my Mother and I had to go it alone.  During those days I would never have had the wildest dream that I would be blessed to visit other countries.  Margo told me that visiting other countries was like reading another page of Earth’s Book.  I not only have found that to be true but would recommend to anyone to travel as much as you can…it has enlightened and energized my mind and life experience.

Or as my favorite quote from G.K. Chesterton states: “We are all in the same boat on a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty.”

British MP Jo Cox was shot and stabbed in Birstall in Northern England last Thursday.  She died from her injuries.

A few days before her death she had written a heartfelt defense of immigration.  She was a strong advocate for Syrian refugees, and especially children, and a solution in Syria.

Ms. Cox murderer gave his name as, “Death to traitors, freedom for Britain,” at his first court arraignment.

After the horrific mass shooting in Orlando, Florida last week hundreds of central Floridians lined up around the block of the Blood Center to donate blood.  OneBlood has been overwhelmed by the donations.

The accounts of wounded victims in the Pulse nightclub assisting others in the chaos at the risk of their own lives in inspiring!

I think that if I have learned anything in my few years on our planet it would be that life’s problems and issues are not solved with trite simplistic answers.  When a leader announces with supreme confidence and braggadocio to, trust them they know what to do, …it is time to question and doubt.  When their philosophy is to build walls …prohibit immigrants of certain religions from entering the United States…label a judge as making poor judicial decisions due to his Mexican heritage and then to chasten your own political party and admonish them to, “Be quite and dont say anything”…it is time to question and to doubt the character and ability of the presumptive nominee.

Mass shootings have sadly become so regular in the United States…that they almost seem commonplace or to be expected.  I believe in gun rights and the second amendment…but do you really think the founding fathers would react today as our spineless politicians do to the mass carnage wrought by semiautomatic weapons that have only a military purpose?

I have heard all of the NRA arguments that guns do not kill but that people do.  Guns are only a tool.  I know tools…I have been associated with tools all of my life…tools didn’t kill all of those little children at Sandy Hook Elementary…tools did not murder forty-nine sons and daughters and brothers and sisters…and father’s at Orlando last Sunday.

Over ninety percent of Americans believe that semiautomatic weapons should be banned as they were for over ten years.  Are there enough heroes in Congress that will simply reflect the will of their constituency…or is there another constituency that they must adhere to?

If it was your child or grandchild at Sandy Hook…how would you feel?

I can remember my Father carrying me on his shoulders and my laughing with the glee of a four year old.  When he would come home from work he would greet me as if I was the most important person in the world.  I rode between he and my Mother on his Harley Davidson motorcycle.  He looked mysterious and cool with his leather jacket and motorcycle hat.  I learned years later from my mother that he regularly carried a gun.

When I was six years old my Mom and Dad divorced.  I never saw him again.

Aaron and Jonathon are the light of Mary Jane’s and my life!  Nothing has given us more joy than their presence in our lives!  When they and their Mother are happy and well…I am at peace.

Being a Father frightened me at first…I so desperately wanted to be a good one.  The best remedy for the early Dad Jitters is just to dive in…immersion…and let the key ingredient be love.

I often lamented in the early years that my sons did not come with a manual or book of directions.  But then again, what is the fun in that?

I had a minister…many years ago…that took a fatherly interest in me and several of my church friends.  Many of the lessons and admonishments that he shared with me have helped me throughout my life.

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

Springfield, Ohio “69”

I wonder if we do not have an innate human desire to find our Heavenly Dad…Father…Creator?

Often I agree…I think…with the premise that we are all God’s children and thus all worthy of the care and consideration of our fellow human beings.  This morning our Director of Faith Development Rev. Laurie Fields preached a thought provoking message.  The sermon was regarding our seeing our fellow human beings as God sees them.  Rev. Fields sited the recent Stanford University Rape Case where the assailant received a six month jail sentence for sexually assaulting an unconscious woman.  As Rev. Fields explained to us that,” the first sin the assailant committed was his failure to see his victim as a human being rather than an object to gratify his needs.”

Having been a regular church attender for the past forty-six years I can attest that you grow accustomed to the same faces and personalities that you encounter each Sunday morning.  What do we do when someone enters our sanctuary that is perhaps disheveled…perhaps with an odor…perhaps with the challenges of mental illness…extreme loneliness…or without enough food to eat or money to provide for the basic necessities?  Do we welcome them into God’s House?  Do we connect with them…engage them in conversation and by that I mean perhaps the bumpy type that comes from two humans from different walks of life working to know each other?

I heard Don Lemmon who is a prominent newsman on CNN ask a panel of political commentators if they were racist?  Each said that they were not.  Then he inquired if they regularly socialized with or had people in their home that were of another race?  He then said quietly and humbly that if a person does not do this that they probably had some racist views.  Mr. Lemmon then went on to quote a study that noted that the breaking of this cycle happened when a person of one race loved a person of another race.

Early this morning the largest number of people killed by gunfire ever in the United States occurred in Orlando, Florida.  This tragedy occurred at a gay nightclub where a shooter opened fire with a semiautomatic weapon.  Currently fifty people are dead and over fifty are in the hospital.  These precious human beings were children of God…his creation…not objects to fulfill an evil person’s prejudice upon!  Some of the nicest people I know…my friends…are gay…and I am honored to know them!

When the Syrian refugee flees for their life from their home…their country…their family…all that they have ever known…will I welcome them and give them shelter and succor…and love that transcends their religion and attire and sees them as God’s children…and my fellow traveller through this earthly life?

The great author Ernest Hemingway said that, “If you write a sentence that is true you have written a great sentence.”  The truth is that I am not where I want to be in loving and caring for God’s creation.  Are you?

There are two lovely little ocean side towns not far from Miramar Beach and Destin that my family and I must make a pilgrimage to each year when we visit Florida.  The first is Watercolor which has our favorite wine store and restaurant called Wine World.

The first year we visited Ron recommended to me the secrets and wonders of a visit to Wine World.  While Mary Jane chose to shop at the wonderful little speciality shops surrounding Wine World…Ron and I proceeded in our quest in immersing ourselves in deep philosophical discussions and the subsequent unlocking and solving of life’s sundry mysteries.

When Mary Jane checked on us to ensure that we were not becoming bored with our revelries we graciously assured her that we would be fine…and ordered another bottle of wine.

I recall many of the thoughts that I had that afternoon.  Thoughts of how wonderful it felt to be newly retired and able to spend quality time…in such a beautiful place…with a good friend.  Thoughts of the future and how to best utilize the precious gift of life that God had given me and my loved ones…and not to take it for granted.  Thoughts of how large our world is and how much there is to see…know…and experience…in such a short time.

Or, my first visit to Sun Dog Books in an adjoining Gulf community, Seaside.  This is a lovely bookstore in the grand tradition of “The Shop Around The Corner” and “You’ve Got Mail.”  This a bookstore where the books are important…loved…and admired by the people who work there.  Have you ever encountered an employee of a store that not only was having a wonderful time helping you…but also had an ownership in the books that they told you about that gave them a tangible, physical, reality?  When a book lover is explaining the beauty and wonder and mystery of a book they have read and loved…you find yourself being transported to another world and reality.

Life is so much larger than the petty squabbles…lies…and innuendos of politics.  Or, as the great James Taylor told us, “The secret of life is enjoying the passing of time…”

” And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye become converted and become as little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Matthew 8:13  KJV