‘I can not forget her not acknowledging me at church last Sunday,’ She said. ‘We have known each other 20 years yet she passed me like a ship in the night,’ She continued. ‘I speak to her without fail,’ She noted for the record.

‘I call text and message my friend yet he does not respond,’ He said. ‘Calling and texting works both ways how hard is it to pick up a phone,’ He angrily gestured. ‘Apparently, my friend wants an end to the friendship,’ He said sadly.

Hurtful words seem savory and salty when uttered later to become rancid. Love is lost on assumptions and imagination. Our Flag of being wronged is held high. We showed them. No one will tread on us. Lonely we are for the false victories that forgiveness heals.

Walking in our skin is enjoyable and deadly. We are adults with all the rights afforded thereunto. We do not like bullies. We take up for ourselves. We defend our dignity. We imagine slights. We judge our friends by our conspiracy theories. We stand on our soapbox and defend our honor with strong words of criticism. Doors shut love is lost.

‘But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever smite thee on they right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away the coat, let him have thy cloak also. Matt 5:39-48

Fun to talk about and hard to do.

Joseph forgave his brothers who threw him into the pit and left him for dead. Forgiveness is the milk and honey of relationships. Through our eyes, we do no wrong. The snapshots our friends carry in their wallets and purses tell a different tale.

Getting your mind right yields good fruit. Speak less listen more. Empathy is the key…

‘Objects in mirror may be closer than they appear.’ Labor Day is less than a week away. Five weeks until Maine. Ten weeks until election day. Fifteen weeks until Christmas Eve. The Locomotive is chugging down the track jump onboard.

Life is a Countdown. Johnny Cash told us, from the cradle to the grave. Along the way are many notable stations. Often it is what appears the less remarkable that is the most memorable. The little things make the difference.

If I was Citizen Brooks my last words might be Laughing Santa instead of Rosebud. Christmas was real in the merry eyes of the little stuffed Santa with a wind-up laughing box in his belly.

Aaron swinging in his little swing.

Jonathon climbs out of his cradle.

The call from Mickey that I had been hired at SIU.

The Happy Eyes of a person I hired for a wonderful career. How it felt to offer opportunity to someone unseen.

‘Hit the deck you rubberneck,’ and love it!

Riding on Dad’s shoulders.

The look of love in MJ’s eyes when everyone is at the Thanksgiving table.

Memories are snapshots of life.

When you are a kid you will be a kid forever. When you are middle-aged there is nothing else. When you are old you know it is just the beginning…

Ninety’s today and all of this week. But Labor Day cometh. The State Fair is progressing nicely in DuQuoin, Illinois. It is the second of the two Illinois State Fairs. It was the big summer event at one time in my halcyon youth. We drove from Eldorado 50 miles to experience a night of high-level fair. There were carnival Barkers freak shows and delicious taffy. A high Ferris Wheel and Twister. I had a tooth knocked out on Twister years before at the Eldorado Carnival. I do not like Twister.

We used to say that the fair brought more flys. I have not noticed them this year but I still believe it. The Governor is said to be walking around at the fair. I saw Governor Edgar’s back once. Another time I witnessed Governor Thompson the longest-serving Governor in Illinois history helicopter into the fairgrounds and he and his wife and daughter get off. I thought that this was the epitome of money and power.

Earl liked to drive to the fair on Labor Day. Opal told him when he was going to procure some dirt for her, she wanted ‘That rich dirt…Earl.’ Earl knew rich dirt…

The Carnies were hot and tired and never smiled. They were worse on Labor Day. They began closing and dismantling before quitting time. There were new horizons for them for us The Fair was our conclusion.

Neva J’s boyfriend DoDo was supposed to hold on to me when we were on the Twister at Eldorado. DoDo failed. Later he bought me an ice cream cone…

It is a rough world out there toughen up for the journey. How many of us have heard that refrain? Kicked from pillar to post we seek kind eyes. Someone who identifies with our suffering. Anyone who cares.

Have you ever spoken with someone on the telephone where 98% of the conversation was them speaking of their greatest passion…theirself? Finally, they ask how you are doing whereupon you mention a few things you have been going through. Then, having gotten their breath they continue delivering the lecture of one.

Labor Day is coming. Four months from today is Christmas. Empathy will revive for a bit.

We seek an answer to life’s persistent questions. Why do some of us live comfortably while others do not have enough to eat? How is it that religion has coopted dedication to Christ as a get-rich-quick scheme? Why are so many dedicated Christians so poor?

Our Flag is not the property of one political party. Americans of all political and religious persuasions have fought and died for the red white and blue.

Politicians tell women they know more than their doctors what is best for their bodies. Women need someone to think for them through the hard decisions. They need a man…

Ladies who have cats are a good thing. Faith is not dependent on the musings of old men. Hope is not dependent on the corporate board. Faith does not flow from the Bishop or Elder or Pastor.

He cried and stood to announce that the Vice Presidential Candidate was his Dad. He loves his Dad. He was proud of him and wanted the world to understand his affection. He was not looking for affirmation or approval. His Dad and his relationship was all that was important. He was not afraid of tears affection or demonstrated love. He is us if we can just let go…

The evening is descending on Little Egypt. It warmed up to today. It is still August. I was on Campus today it was quiet like a church. I passed semi-large groups of young adults walking from their dormitories to explore their new town. They had the world by the tail. I look at the Campus buildings and remember the old man in every room, nook and cranny. He was not old then, but he is now.

Each day is new. We have never seen one like it before. We are like kittens who just opened their eyes.

Freshness is our goal. We spend a premium to obtain it. Different exciting and enlightening we seek. How do we understand a world without books? How can we feel with gloves on our hands? How can we see with a mask over our eyes?

Many mouths are taped. Debate is not heard in the Academy. We must have One Thought One Voice One Vision the Great Leader says.

The little girl cries by the side of the road. She is hungry but she looks for wisdom. Someone who has empathy someone who cares someone who has a plan…

Mother worries about the morning. No food in the house. Hungry kids and no help. Belittled at school and shunned in the town. No one has a job for such lowly people…

‘Strike her again,’ said the mob leader! ‘Do not listen to her cries of not being able to breathe…she is faking,’ he continued as spit gathered at the corners of his mouth!

‘Halt No More…dress her wounds and give her water and food,’ Wisdom said. ‘We are all just people with no special attributes…just people created by God,’ Wisdom continued.

‘They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.’ Isaiah 11:9

The big day is here again. Pop the Champagne! Break out the old 45s. It is still summer but not for long. School is back. Books are back. Can you say Transition?

There is a summer me and a fall me. Fall me has almost taken over the operation. The barber asked me the other day what I would do after my haircut to which I replied that this is the day’s main event. She looked quizzical. I thought she would understand clearly once she retired.

I was reminded of the cartoon where an alligator slowly crawled out of the swamp with his big teeth grinning. A tiny body and spindly legs followed his massive head and beady eyes. He noted that he had been sick…

Some days are a piece of cake and you want more. Other days are liver and onions that take a lot of chewing.

As Seinfeld told us we all want to get out. Once we are out we want to get back in. Such is life. We are like Mylo who is short and must be assisted on to the couch or the chair. He pirouets jumps and dances to show his enthusiasm. When lifted up he is ecstatic. Then he wants back down.

We know what we are looking for on Happy Friday. We know where we found it before. Just let us return to our warm and comfy bed when it is over…

At times the Good Vibes are palatable. You know them when you feel them. Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale gave me Good Vibes every day. I knew that I was a part of something special. I understood that I was key to the success of my University.

I grew up around some ‘Negative Nellies’ and often heard that I would only be able to reach so high and to be happy with my class and station in life. When I joined SIUC there was a different world of opportunity. Professors took an interest in me and encouraged my efforts. I was shocked that perhaps I too could achieve.

Fall has been in the air for the past few days. My favorite season is coming and I am ready. Being an old man does not affect a young outlook. The politics of doom and gloom has held us down too long. We are an incredible nation! The envy of the world. The hope of our planet. President Kennedy told us that we would send a man to the moon in this decade and we did…

‘Weeping may endure for the night but joy cometh in the morning.’

We all need a little Joy in our life. Joy is a feeling of great pleasure and happiness. Why do you think folks drink and take pharmaceuticals? They are seeking the elusive Joy…

There really is a Pot-Of-Gold at the end of the rainbow. If you look at problems from a new perspective, there are solutions to problems. Turn the problem upside down and inside out and shake off the dust of despair.

Joseph of the Old Testament was thrown into a pit by his jealous brothers in hopes that he would die. ‘The Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.’ Genesis 37:36

Later during famine, Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to obtain grain from Pharoh and Joseph gave them all they needed and gave them back the money they had to pay for it.

Things Change…

We are told that it is all in how we look at something that yields perspective. Empathy is contagious. Caring for others is catching on.

It is either being wrapped up in our cares and woes or working to relieve our fellow travelers’ cares and woes…the latter is more fun.

‘We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed.’ II Corinthians 4: 8-9

‘A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.’ Proverbs 17:22

I believe we are heading into Good Medicine times.

It is a lovely sunshine day but often we live among the shadows. Life is a heady mixture of supreme joy and abject despair. We ride on the rainbow of life often at its zenith then plummet to the bottom only to find no pot of gold. Frequently we dwell in the shadows.

Feeling good one day only to be sick the next. Wondering what its grip is on you, fearing the mysterious Covid 19. Illness stops the Game Clock. When we are at the height of our revelry and all is right with the world we hit a brick wall.

‘Well I don’t quite know where we are the light is dimming and shadows are on the trees,’ Chet said. ‘Did you hear the whispering voices,’ Chet asked? ‘One said rest here while another said hurry forward,’ Chet explained. ‘I told the shadows that we were lost in the Dark Wood and needed a guide to assist us,’ he said.

‘I have been having the strangest dreams that seem like reality,’ Billy B said. ‘I am in conference with people discussing a coming calamity that I know nothing of,’ Billy B continued. ‘They speak of worlds to come and my place in the plan yet it sounds like gibberish,’ he continued.

‘I had the distinct feeling that someone was following me only to look behind me and see a shadow much larger than me with a trenchcoat and fedora hat on its head,’ Jane said with a quiver. ‘The Shadow said that things will get brighter around the corner,’ Jane smiled. ‘Dad has been sick and we are all so worried but the Shadow told me he was going to get better,’ Jane noted with a tear in her eye.

‘The Shadow told me to not forget when we leave their land and to show mercy to others who are still there,’ Chet said. ‘All must experience their land and from the lesson, they will learn the Secret,’ Chet said with satisfaction…

We have left the 90s for a while. It is a welcome reprieve. The Writing Porch is pleasant. Southern Illinois University begins classes today. When I was working there it was one of my favorite days. The excitement and energy was palpable. Opportunity awaits at every entrance to the campus.

During my 32-year 2 month 3 week career I became an inclusive internationalist. I had friends from all over the world. I realized that we are more alike than different.

University can afford you a sense of place and purpose. The dreams of others become your dreams. The hopes of others your hopes. It is a good model for world peace.

Friends ask a little of you. Friends are those for whom you want to do much. Friends look at you through the eyes of love not the judgment of doctrine. Friends do not give up on you when they disagree with you after all you are their friend.