Thomas enjoyed his lackadaisical life on the Hill in St.Louis. His wife Abigail had requested that he speak with Fred to ascertain what he and his wife, Maudie, were planning on for Thanksgiving dinner. Abigail wanted to invite Fred and Maudie to their house for the holiday feast! She was especially fond of Maudie who […]

The Adventures of Thomas Turkey — The Jazz Man

Brody just returned from Hydro-therapy. He is a 16 year old Boston Terrier and the exercise of a 10 minute walk in chest high flowing water…is an exhausting enterprise. If it was not for the peanut butter that is held in front of his nose…I do not think he would complete the task… Nora Jones is playing and singing on the internet in a live performance that she has done since the beginning of our 2020 pandemic, each Thursday.

Our year has brought us many stresses and trials and troubles…laid upon our regular life hurdles! All of us need to give each other some extra leeway…and we need to give ourselves a wider path. I have read with great interest the terminology of ‘Snowflake’ with this seemingly harmless meteorological term being applied to persons who are hurt by others unkind and biting and demeaning remarks. If you follow the ‘Snowflake’ labelers you will discover a propensity of using this terminology for those with whom they disagree or who they feel deserve marginalization. As they observe the emotional pain of their perceived lessers…they take some perverse pleasure in momentarily boosting their perception of toughness and invincibility. But, if you continue to watch these lords of the universe…they whither under even the tiniest of harsh words or constructive criticism…or misplaced attempts at humor… The point is…words matter. The childhood axiom that I heard quoted on numerous occasions that, ‘Sticks and stones may break my bones…but words will never hurt me…’ is totally untrue.

All too often we create a standard for ourselves that is wearing our bodies and minds out! It could be that it is not our burden to be all things to all people? Our human condition is a finely tuned instrument that is reliant upon the care necessary to keep it in tip top working condition.

Worry is an all consuming activity! So much of the time those things that we agonize regarding…will be ephemeral or non-existent memories in a year or less… Time heals all wounds…it has been said. Certainly time evaporates many of our interpersonal conflicts and answers the age old question…Are we keeping up with the Jones’s? Have you considered that there are times in your life that you are doing good…just to tread water?

Beware of those who want to solve your problems for you! Stay clear of those who claim to hear from God and then want to telegraph his instructions to you…for your life… Take one day at a time…once it is completed…you have a new day… I enjoy causing another human being to smile! It may be a little thing…but it brings me peace… ‘A soft answer turner away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.’ Proverbs 15:1 KJV

Often the simplest of lessons of life…are the most difficult to learn. We have gotten the life’s equation backward…we live to work…when we should be working to live…

MJ and I have been watching the PBS series, Endeavor, on Amazon Prime. It is the prequel to the Inspector Morris series. Young Inspector Endeavor Morris is the protege of Detective Inspector Fred Thursday. DI Fred Thursday’s primary admonishment to his friends and family is to, ‘Watch how you go.’ I believe this is equivocal […]

Watch How You Go! — The Jazz Man

Recently it has been to cold to write on the porch. Today it is 70 degrees! Oh, the wonders of weather in Little Egypt! I am wearing a heavy shirt from LL Bean of Maine. I purchased it at their Flagship Store in Freeport a year ago this spring. I love Maine! Pastor Kerry sent us an inspirational message this morning regarding our need to vote and the primary message of Jesus…’To love our neighbors as ourselves.’ MJ and I found the message uplifting and a harbinger of peace… Today is absolutely beautiful. There is not a cloud in the sky. There is a quietness and a certainty and a feeling of joy…in the air.

Prior to today there has been over 100 million Americans who have cast their vote. This is unprecedented and illustrative of our being in the midst of our 2020 pandemic and the passion that voters on both sides of the aisle have for their political candidates. I have been reflecting on what a great nation we live in. We are able to cast our vote for the leaders of our choice and the voice of the people will decide this election. The old and the young…the rich and the poor…citizens from all of the countries of the Earth….are able to say today…this is the country that I love and this is the person that I want to call from our group of 328 million…to lead us as our citizen representative! Today hate does not prevail… Today is a day of solemnity and centeredness and hope and promise for the idea of one nation under God…

MJ and I have visited El Paso, Texas many times. Her aunt and uncle moved there in the latter 1970’s from Southern Illinois. We loved visiting Juarez, Mexico with them… as it is the bordering city of El Paso. It is difficult to determine where Juarez ends and El Paso begins. I purchased a chess set there…many years ago. Also we bought a stone carving of the Last Supper and gave it to MJ’s mother and father, Berl and Fernie. Aaron consumed some hot peppers in a restaurant in Juarez and he had difficulty in putting out the oral fire! On another occasion we visited uncle Merle’s favorite restaurant where the procedure for notifying the wait staff of your culinary needs was to raise a miniature flag at your table. Merle enjoyed the procedure so much that he kept asking if we needed another Sopaipilla or enchilada…in order for him to facilitate the obtaining of the delicious delights by raising his flag… Fort Bliss is in El Paso. Their cafeteria served a brunch on Sunday that was to die for! We attended every Sunday that we were in the city. The visit to Fort Bliss Sunday Brunch was the height of our semi-annual visits! The young woman, who was the hostess for the Brunch, always smiled broadly when uncle Merle would greet her! Sometimes we would walk the Fort Bliss Cemetery with Merle and Lauretta and ponder the symmetrical and white grave stones for each of the servicemen and women who were buried there. When Merle passed and we returned with Lauretta…the young woman who was the hostess….wept when we told her that Merle had died. In the cemetery there were notations for the Jewish faith and the Muslim faith and many others…as well and the christian faith…but all of these women and men were united in their love for the United States…their country…as they fought and died beside each other…

You know our founding fathers did not envision our elected political leaders serving careers in their community service as our representatives… The farmer was expected to return to his farming…the shoemaker was to return to the making of shoes…and the tinsmith was to return to his prescribed trade when public service was over… I have never been a political leader but I firmly believe that elected office is to be held with a loose grasp… I was humbled and honored to hold elected office as both a representative on the Civil Service Council @ Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale…as well as the president of the group and I held several elected and appointed offices in church government over the past 50 years. Always, I have been happy and pleased to lay down those assignments as soon as I felt that my effectiveness and mission was completed… There is an element of peace and contentment in letting go of a call to service…when the service is completed. The dramatic roles that we play on the stage of life are temporary…and there is another worthy actor waiting in the wings…

So we vote and we wait for the results. I have read the admonishment that we should vote like our lives depend on it! I heartily agree! We live in a democracy…or as Benjamin Franklin told us, ‘If we can keep it!’

As I sit in my customary seat on the writing porch…the evening shadows are falling. The time of year when we watch the warm and pleasant days of summer transform into the cold and introspective days of winter. Thoughts of all that we are thankful for and a more clear view of sugar plums dancing […]

The Hour Grows Near… — The Jazz Man

As I walked the beautiful campus of Southern Illinois University @ Carbondale I was amazed that the beautiful leaves are still resplendent in their majestic array of colors! It seems like a dream that 2020 has gone by like the blink of an eye! Where did it go…

Aaron has a birthday this month…I am excited about it! Then comes Thanksgiving which is MJ’s favorite holiday! I really did not realize the significance of the holiday before we were wed…soon to be 43 years ago! In my childhood home I watched the Macy’s Day Parade…and that was it! My mom was already planning our Christmas celebration! Mom dedicated the months of November and December to planing her Christmas dinner and the cleaning of our house and the purchase of Christmas gifts… What took her roughly 7 weeks probably could have been done in half the time…but mom took her Christmas planning seriously. One year I received a Big Swinger Polaroid camera. It was grey and it took an almost magical instant snap shot of whatever moment in time that you captured! I took it on my 6th grade trip to New Harmony, Indiana and snapped a pack of film…and maybe two. I still have the photos…and one of them was taken at home of me playing my tenor saxophone. I as extremely proud of my saxophone and my music teacher told me that I played the best set of scales that he had ever heard…for a beginner…

We have so much to thankful for. We are alive and sentient on a beautiful planet in a vast galaxy that is a part of untold and infinite space. Somehow we believe that our ideas and conspiracy theories and peccadilloes are the only thing going in God’s creation. We would be wrong! Pastor Kerry reminded me this morning during our Zoom church service that the very reasons that one side of the political tug of war says are the reasons that they are voting for their candidate…are the same reasons that the other side of the battle pronounces are the causes they are supporting for the candidate of their choice… The election is upon us! It happens this Tuesday…although 90 million Americans have already cast their ballots. The lofty concepts of the United States are ideas that it is up to us to make real… It is not automatic and no one will do it for us… It would be the same with christianity. It is up to us to be God’s arms and legs on this earth! It is on our backs… to be the eyes and ears and tongues of truth for the principles of what our nation is founded upon. If we believe that we are a nation of immigrants and a open door to the promise of Emma Lazarus, ‘With silent lips. ‘Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breath free, The Wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’

The holidays are coming and they mean something to most of us. Thanksgiving is significant and Christmas is celebrated all over the world. We love these special days because of the principles that they hold and that we grasp on to. The same can be said for our nation. It has been a golden city on the hill for all of the peoples of the earth… The United States has represented hope for the hopeless! We have brought comfort to the oppressed and food and shelter to the hungry and homeless… Shall we continue…or shall we seek another identity that is self-serving and insular and isolationist in a global society?

Hate speech and mockery and violence is not the clarion call of our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence! Vitriol and division of our citizenry is not the answer to our problems but rather a catalyst of civil war… ‘Weeping my endure for the night…but joy cometh in the morning!’ Psalm 30:5 KJV

We just returned from Walmart. I tell you that ordering your groceries on line and picking them up in the parking lot is the best thing that I have found since sliced bread! For months I was doing the shopping for the Brooks. I was constantly worried about my exposure to Covid 19…and with good reason due to so many shoppers not wearing masks! Now, I pull up the car and pop the trunk and the nice young people load the provisions into my trunk…and wave at me! I wave back!

I was watching a documentary on HBO the other night regarding the author John Meacham’s book, The Soul of America. Mr. Meacham spoke of America’s struggle with isolationism and racism and he cited specific examples of our not living up to our creed of, ‘Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breath free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.’ Emma Lazarus But, John also spoke of redemption and the history of our country continually seeking to do better.

Indeed, the last few years of our political life has drawn a sharp contrast not only in our political ideology…but also our faith communities and our families. If we are ever going to understand each other we first must listen to each other and place ourselves in the other persons’ shoes. How we believe and how we feel about government or faith or human rights…did not come upon us overnight!

Certainly we desire redemption for many parts of our lives that have not lived up to the ideal that we were striving for. The entire concept of christianity is the power of the forgiveness of sin and renewal in Christ… with a clean slate before us. As a woman who complained to me about housekeeping in Pulliam Hall not long after I became the superintendent of Building Services…’Mr. Brooks…you could be better!’ I heartily agreed with her and told her, after speaking to her for 1 hour, that I was going to hang up the telephone and get to work on becoming better… That really is the story of us…is it not? We are a people who want to become better! We want to see the forest as well as the trees…

‘A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.’ Proverbs 15:1 KJV

Just imagine that you and one other person were shackled together and running for your lives. You had been imprisoned by an adversary that meant to ultimately kill you both. You both are emaciated and exhausted and frightened! Each of you had to rely on each other for your continued existence… One of you was a Republican…and the other was a Democrat…

John Meecham often refers to our living in a fallen world. This a common concept in christianity that explains our herculean struggle with ourselves… Each instance that we can shine a light in the darkness and despair of our fallen human condition…is Redemption…

Our anticipation of normality has played a trick on us. We seek our comfortable routine and we want to walk on the well worn paths of our lives. Just now I am sitting in my loft and listening to the steady rain that is falling outside. It has rained much of the day and will […]

‘Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread’ — The Jazz Man

Chet headed for home as the cold rain continued to fall. He thought how good it would be to see his

mom…at her correct age. He and Porter and Parker had experienced more Halloween adventure than 1st graders could stand! First there was the hayride to the haunted house…and then everything had seemed to go off the rails! They had had seen the bodiless head that looked like a Jack-O-Lantern and their friend Buddy had disappeared. Then there was the weird experience of traveling to the future where they were shown a film of their adult selves in the year 2020. But, that too had ended in what was apparently a dream…that was all too real! In fact Chet had felt like that he was in a waking dream since they arrived at the Haunted House. And what about the visit to Porter’s cousin Billy’s house and no one being there accept for a very realistic looking Frankenstein and Dracula, who acted as their guides to 2020… Chet wondered if it was not the aftereffects of drinking those two swigs of Peppermint Schnapps that Lanny, Porter’s neighbor, had given him when he drove them to the Orpheum Theatre. Porter and Parker were suppose to come over tomorrow for them to compare notes regarding the strange occurrences that had happened to them.

When Chet arrived home he called out to his mother who was sitting in front of the TV and was engaged in her favorite pastime…watching her stories, as she called her favorite programs. Thelma did not respond to Chet’s greeting and he assumed that she had fallen asleep in front of the television…as she often did. Chet was relieved that his mom was the age that she should be and his Lost In Space Robot Halloween costume was hanging in his closet. Suddenly the telephone rang and and Chet answered. It was Porter and he asked in a hushed tone if Chet had been experiencing anything weird… Chet responded that no more than usual for the last few days of their scary adventures. Then Porter told him that he had rode his bicycle that looked like a motorcycle home and entered to see his mom lying on the couch. He called out to her and asked if there was any supper left. She did not respond… Porter knew that his mother enjoyed a good nap. So, he ate some left over roast beef, his mom’s speciality, and sat in the Lazy-Boy recliner and watched some TV as well. When his mom got up to go the rest room Porter asked how she was doing…and she gazed his direction and smiled… Chet then asked, ‘But she did not respond to you?’ Porter answered that she did not…it was as if he was not there.

Parker saw Doc Irvin as he was leaving Hillcrest School. She sat on the first seat of the school bus that Doc drove and listened to him as he spoke to another bus driver. ‘I tell you it was the strangest thing that I have ever seen…I was enjoying the crisp night air and a good cherry filled tobacco pipe… and having the reigns of the horse in my hands had taken me back to when I was a child on the farm… ‘ I swear…Doc Gasaway!’ ‘The kids were a bit shaken after entering the Haunted House…but they seemed none the worse for wear once they had some roasted hot dogs and smores! ‘But, Irvin continued, when I told the horse, ‘giddy-up…he looked around at me like he had seen a ghost!’ ‘So I stopped and went back to the wagon to count the kids one more time…’

Thursday morning, October the 29th, 1962. The day was gloomy and the rain that had been falling throughout the night continued unabated. Mrs. K called the roll call and when she called Parker and Porter and Chet…they replied, ‘Present…Mrs. K!’ Mrs. K marked each of the three absent and then instructed the class to open their Dick and Jane Readers. Parker told Porter and Chet at recess, of which they had 3 throughout the day, that she had attempted to talk with her mother and father last evening…but they appeared to not be able to hear or see her… Porter said that they should go back to Billy’s house and see if it, now, had it’s furniture… When they arrived there was Billy sitting on the front porch smoking a large cuban cigar! Billy smiled at the 3 and asked them if they had enjoyed their Halloween? Chet replied that, ‘No one can see us or hear us.’ Billy replied that was the entire idea. He went on to tell them that each of them had died in the haunted house and they were now…ghosts!

Parker began to yawn and stretch her arms above her head and rub her eyes. She peered through the dark theatre and on the big silver screen was a Frankenstein movie. She nudged both Porter and Chet…who were also asleep and they roused to wakefulness and dismay that they had each shared the same Halloween Dream…