Regarding Mountains…Keep Climbing
The popular singer, James Taylor, told us that, The secret of life is enjoying the passing of time.’
‘Any fool can do it, there ain’t nothing to it.’
‘Nobody knows how we got to the top of the hill.’
‘But since we’re on our way down, we might as well enjoy the ride.’ Secret O’ Life
However, once we enjoy our ride down the mountain…it is time to climb another.
When I graduated high school I was ready to climb the mountain of work and career and university education…all at once.
Forty-three years later…as I slid down the mountain of work and career and sixteen hour days and often weekends and being a part of the physically and intellectually challenged being offered career opportunities…I planned on my next mountain to climb.
Although the parameters were more on my terms and clock…they were still ambitious.
We humans live for challenge.
Challenge is what gets us out of bed in the morning…and keeps us up late into the night.
Innate in our being is the inherent desire to improve our self…make our world a better place to live, and help others.
Scientist tell us that, not only our universe but all of the countless universes that we can observe through the Hubble and other powerful telescopes, are expanding. The stars and the planets are all moving away from us.
As children of the universe…we are expanding, also.
It makes no difference what we have attained…we seek to do more.
My friend, Jeff, attained success before he was thirty years old. He, absolutely, could be enjoying the ride down the hill of financial freedom and knowledge that he has helped countless people.
But, instead, he travels and speaks and ministers and mentors, all that seek his advice in the United Kingdom.
I read a newspaper article written by my old friend Glenn Poshard. Glenn has been a several term United States Congressman and the Democratic Candidate for the Governor of Illinois and the President of Southern Illinois University. Glenn and his wife Jo have a foundation that helps abused and neglected children.
The article, Glenn wrote, spoke of the original vision of our country and how we are straying from that vision. Glenn is constantly seeking how he can help someone.
The retired Thai navy diver was willing to climb another mountain and he sacrificed his life as he was on a mission to provide the Thai soccer team, that was trapped since June 23 in cave in Thailand, air tanks…when he ran out of oxygen.
The remaining divers did not say that the mission was too difficult when they saw their colleague give his life…they, courageously, rescued all twelve of the team and their coach.
Is there an insurmountable challenge in front of you…perhaps not…if you take it a day at a time.
Someone asked me how I possibly stood being an employee at SIU for over thirty-two years…and I responded…one day at a time.
Whether it is; weight loss or money management or the mission to write a book…it is better faced…one day at a time.
Many of life’s challenges that seemed extreme to me, such as becoming a manager at SIU, slowly dissipated into nothing as I lived and worked the challenge…one day at a time.
Do you desire to be more healthy…walk a mile a day…slow…and see where it leads?
Life is a series of habits…we will either inculcate good habits or the bad ones will come…as we slide down the hill.
Adventure and Happiness and Challenge is SIUC
I have been experiencing the endless wonders that are Southern Illinois University, since I was 20 years old.
Prior to that I weekly rode the bus from Eldorado to Carbondale where church friends picked me up and took me to Elkville, Illinois, where I had been attending church since I was 12 years old.
Each week that I rode the bus, which was an adventure in its self, I ruminated and wondered where SIU was located in Carbondale…as I could not see it from the Train Depot where the bus deposited me.
Before my weekly bus rides, I was enthralled with the Theatre Department of SIU. The student performers came to my grade school, in Eldorado, every year, and performed the most outstanding plays for our group.
I quickly understood that SIU was special and unlike anything that I had encountered in my little town’s surroundings.
As I sat watching and listening to the dialogue and often singing…I wanted to be in Theatre!
The SIU Theatre students were so friendly and inviting and talented…that it transported me to an oasis of success and opportunity and a vision of what could be my future.
I loved SIUC before I knew her!
My life long buddy, Steve, and I often had breakfast in the cafeteria that was located in Woody Hall and our dear friend, Thelma, managed the facility.
Many years ago this was transformed into New Student Admissions.
I knew nothing of diversity or being inclusive or the beauty of the multitude of peoples of our Earth. SIU taught me what it means to be a human being in a global society.
When I was a custodial crew leader…and one of my African students told me that the international students wanted to work for me…because I had no prejudice…I was humbled and honored and have never received greater compliment.
Southern Illinois University taught me that I was not place bound but that I could be whatever that I wanted to be.
SIU illustrated to me that there was plenty of room for different religions and faiths and for those who are atheist and agnostic.
SIU demonstrated for me that there was a home for the conservative and the liberal and the moderate and that each had something important to say.
SIU showed me that we all are more alike than we are different and that we desire similar things, such as peace and the hope of prosperity and a safe place for our children to study and play and thrive and become…better than us.
I discovered that, although I worked in the housekeeping services, I could be respected and consulted and enjoy chancellors and a president…as my friends.
Well thought out opinions have value in the market place of ideas.
I drove my friend, Jack, to SIU, a year or so before I began working there. He was applying for admission to the Accountancy department. He was quickly accepted…but ultimately chose not to attend due to his mother’s objections to his leaving her home, in Eldorado, as she felt that she needed him to care for her.
I thought at the time that I would love to apply for admission to SIU…but it did not seem that it was in the cards for me…at that time.
SIUC had an extremely large Welcome sign at every entrance of the university. The sign must be observed with the eye of your imagination.
Who do you want to be?
What do you want to be?
Where do you want to travel on the road of life?
Southern Illinois University at Carbondale has the answer for you…all you have to provide is the willing participant.
Southern taught me to realize that our world was much larger than I had been told by my family and ministers and, some of, my peers.
The university taught me that acceptance of others difference and the appreciation of the uniqueness of all humankind, was not a moral weakness…but a moral strength.
I found out that African Americans were wonderful friends.
I was honored by people from many countries…including me in their circle of friends.
I made many Gay friends and appreciated them for our shared humanity and discovered that we are all just people…leaning on each other and helping each other…on our path through this mysterious life.
During my 32 years and 3 months and 3 weeks at SIU, I have never been a part of a community that so loved its’ student population.
Building Services staff, daily and nightly, brought food for their student colleagues. They invited them to dinner at their homes during the holidays. They inquired about their classes and their exams and encouraged their students that they could do it!
I sat in a history course that had about three hundred students in it and it was taught by my friend and former chancellor, Jo Ann Argersinger. Jo Ann learned all of the students names and referred to them by name when they asked her a question.
The picturesque beauty of SIUC is unparalleled and is a compelling drawing card for students across the state of Illinois and the nation and the world.
One of our foreman, Gerald Davis, began a Thanksgiving Dinner for our Building Service students, of which there were over 200, in the latter 1980s’. This was one of the most anticipated events in our annual calendar. Students and staff and chancellors and vice chancellors and presidents attended…and the love that was in the room was tremendous.
SIUC will offer you an educational experience that is unique and unprecedented and that will stay with you for your entire life!
Family Values
A Brooks Tale
It was another sunny day at the compound. Life was regular and orderly and complete…as long as you did what you were told.
Tom woke up early, at 4:40 A:M:, as was his custom. He had to be at the restaurant by 5:30 to oversee the preparing of breakfast and the establishment of readiness for the first customers of the day.
Theresa was sleeping soundly. She had been up late last night figuring the accounts of her many enterprises that she owned.
Theresa was rich. Her mother had always told her that one day she would be very wealthy…and she was. Her grandfather had made a fortune in stocks and had died, suddenly, of heart failure.
Tom came from a poor family, and he knew it…if he ever forgot…he was reminded by his surroundings and the vacant stares of his brothers and sisters.
Now, Tom tried to help his family, as much as he could, without drawing the wrath of the family matriarch, Abby, who had inherited the fortune that her husband had acquired and had subsequently guarded it with her life.
Tom learned quickly, much as his father-in-law, Rafe, had learned, many years prior, that men did not count for much in the compound.
In fact, it was a matriarchal society
Theresa and her mother Molly and her maternal grandmother, Abby, were the law west of the Pecos.
Men were good for labor and love and making a living…if you could, successfully, point them in the right direction.
They were good for little else…other than humor.
Abby and Molly and now Theresa were the leaders of the compound and the decision makers.
They fashioned their society on the Navajo Indians Matriarchal society.
They were allowed to hunt and fish and enjoy, typical male pastimes and hobbies, but their ideas regarding future outreaches into the compound’s fortune and business ventures…were accepted with benevolent amusement.
When Rafe lost Molly to a sudden and untimely death…he was lost. He simply did not know what to do. Molly had given him his daily instructions for fifty years and he followed them dutifully. He enjoyed the perks of, what he considered their wealth, and subsequently enjoyed traveling to their apartments and condos and hotels that they owned. He loved motorized transportation and proceeded to buy several automobiles and motorcycles and campers of all sizes and shapes.
Polly, the daughter of Tom and Theresa, saw the dichotomy between her brother Michale and herself. Grandma Abby had always favored her and not Michale. She loved Polly and she liked and tolerated Michael. Grandma consistently told Polly that she loved her and wished that she would never leave her while she smiled and told Michael that she knew that he had to be going and thanks for visiting.
The pressure of being a, friend and almost like family, often wore thin with Tom and Rafe and they discussed their place in the bubble society that was the compound.
They primarily did not like the fact that they had to be in by dark. Also, the restriction, that Theresa had placed on all of the members of the compound, that they could not leave the property from sun down on Friday evening until sun down on Saturday evening…or the sabbath.
Rafe had things that he enjoyed doing in the evening hours, that were located away from home, and he certainly wanted to be gone on Saturdays.
Rafe enjoyed traveling to the Caribbean and Europe and across the United States…and he did not appreciate that Theresa’s infatuation with minister Pat and his strange beliefs…was going to stop that delightful activity from occurring.
Minister Pat weighed about 400 lb.. and Theresa loved him!
Minster Pat was a follower of the World Wide Church of God and its’ founder, Herbert W. Armstrong.
To say that Tom and Rafe were held on a short leash…would be an understatement.
They had to report in to Theresa at the beginning of the day, at 8:00 A:M: and at the conclusion of the day at 4:00 P:M:.
The report was divided into fifteen minute intervals where lined space was provided to explain what they had been doing for each interval.
This included bathing and toiletry.
On one occasion, Tom had written down the he had been having intercourse with one of he sheep in the north pasture…and there had been no questions asked.
On another occasion Rafe had written that he had attempted to hang himself from the barn rafters…but that the rope had broken.
There were no questions asked or answered.
One day, when Tom and Rafe were hunting deer on the property, they decided that it was time to rebel.
They were going to make a break for it!
They were going to leave the compound after dark.
They were going to prove that they were men and not mice!
At 9:00 P:M: they made their move.
They opened the gate to the fence and drove their BMW through the opening of the gate.
Suddenly it began to snow.
It was July and the heat index was 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
Something was truly askew with their world…and mother said to Polly…now, Polly, you must stop playing with the snow globe that your father got for you today…even though it is Christmas.
And, Polly, reluctantly sat the globe down…with Theresa and Rafe and Tom…and thought that she would have great fun with her snow globe diorama….tomorrow…as there was no school until the new year!
A Sense of Place
We all identify with a geographic location.
‘Geographic places. Cultural geographers, anthropologist, sociologists and urban planners study why certain places hold special meaning to particular people or animals. Places said to have a strong ‘sense of place’ have a strong identity that is deeply felt by inhabitants and visitors.’ Wikipedia
‘Topophilia (From Greek typos ‘place’ and philia, ‘love of) is a strong sense of place which often becomes mixed with sense of cultural identity among certain people and a love of certain aspects of such a place.’ Wikipedia
‘Topophilia also has a darker side, serving as a motive force behind nationalism and social exclusion, and even extending sometimes to the nazist celebration of Blood and Soil.’ Wikipedia
I have felt a sense of place on numerous occasions in my life.
The first would probably be in Sauk Village, a Chicago suburb, where my mom and dad and I lived on a tree lined street on which I had numerous friends. We had, an apparently free and worry free life…for awhile, and our home and the street that we lived on reminded me of the former, popular television show, Leave It To Beaver.
Another, long standing geographic location, of which I have a particular affinity is Southern Illinois University Carbondale. So many great occurrence in my life happened as a direct result of my affiliation with SIUC…my second home for the past forty years.
I feel a real sense of place in our Carbondale home of the past seventeen years. The scenic and peaceful atmosphere is an elixir to my, ever aging eyes and ears and senses.
Strangely enough I have felt a significant sense of place in three European cities that we have visited and one region.
Paris captivated my imagination! The rhythms of the city…the friendly and courteous people that I met…the beautiful french language and the culture and history and ambiance of the city of lights.
When we visited Oxford, England…I felt like that I had been there before. As we enjoyed a tour of the university’s library…the strangest thought was very real to me…that I had studied there. Perhaps it was the power of suggestion as I enjoyed hearing my history professor friends, the Argersinger’s, speak of lecturing at Oxford and their subsequent gift to us of a pastel painting of the school…or perhaps I was there before.
Edinburgh, Scotland was magical and magnetic. We visited the city in 2016 and I believe that I could live there as I enjoyed it so much. We were there in August when the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo was being performed and the Fringe Artistic Festival. Edinburgh was a sensory overload…but a good one.
I met the kindest gentleman, who was in a wheelchair, the first evening that we were there and he asked if I would assist him in standing to facilitate his placing his order for food in the cafeteria style restaurant that we were in. His genuine warmth and good humor was all that it took for me to begin bonding with Edinburgh.
My most memorable time in Edinburgh was the Ghost Tour that we took one evening. We toured both above ground and underground and heard stories that were unbelievable…but true.
Our time with our good friends, Margo and Jeff, in Tuscany…is etched, indelibly, on my memory.
First we had to drive a, less than one lane path, up a steep and extremely winding mountain…that required a hard ninety degree turn on more than one occasion in both the ascent and descent.
Our hosts lived in a farm house that had been erected in both the twelfth century and the sixteenth century.
The first evening of our visit we were invited by our hosts to attend a local festival in the Italian town, at the foot of the mountain that we were staying on, of Montecatini.
What a feeling of ‘Place’ as I sat at one end of an outdoor table and our hosts at the other and the gentleman and I saluted each other with wide smiles on our faces…and we understood each other…without language.
And, so, today, refugees come to our shores and our geographic boundaries and they come out of fear for their lives and persecution from gangs and drug lords and they come at the, tender mercy, of those who use them and rape them and charge them exorbitant sums to bring them to our country…the land that inscribes on the Statue of Liberty, ‘…With silent lips. Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe 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 New Colossus by Emma Lazarus
They come to find home…they come to find place….
They come…as the Jews fled Europe during the Second World War…and as they fled Egypt….
They come to find a new home that is safe and secure…because their home…their place…has been torn asunder.
They come…as the people on the Mayflower…looking for a home and place and freedom from tyranny.
I sincerely believe that the day is coming that it will be the citizens of the United States that will be searching for succor and hope and refuge from the storm…
Will we be greeted with open arms…or a cage?
Looking For Home
Mary Jane and I were talking about Fourth of July’s in our past.
We both commiserated that we seldom had firecrackers as they were illegal in Illinois for as long as we can recall.
We both liked the meager substitutes of ‘snakes’ or ‘sparklers’ and were more than a little excited when one of our friends had, illegal and dangerous, firecrackers…not to mention…M80’s.
At my home we sought to find the spot…from our house…where we could see the Eldorado fireworks at the Starlight Drive Inn. We quickly discovered that we had to go to Grandma Askew’s…where you could see them…pretty good.
At one of these 4th gatherings, my aunt Guelda’s friend from Holland, Yoop, gave me a simply delicious piece of chocolate that was made in Holland and it was fashioned in the shape of a wooden shoe.
I would like to have another piece of the exotic coco…up until and including…this very day!
My stepfather, Earl, enjoyed a Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, but I never observed him drink one until the time that he was helping us remodel our rest room in our little four room house in Elkville, Illinois and he subsequently became so frustrated that he began hitting the floor, in extreme anger, and exclaimed that, ‘he was not going to be able to complete the job…as he was just getting too old!’ Mary Jane went to DuQuoin to purchase some beer for Earl…but he refused to drink any with us.
The next time that we visited Earl and Mom’s home in Eldorado…we observed that he had a plentiful stock of Pabst, in the bottle, on hand…and he did so thereafter for the rest of his life.
We visited our family in Salem, Illinois for many July 4th’s. One year is was so cold that we all needed sweaters and blankets.
July Fourth is a celebration of freedom and home and country.
Many of my July 4 celebrations come from times when my Mom and I were going it alone. We were poor. But we had a roof over our heads and food to eat. Mom was taking adult education classes to become a photographer. I had nice schools, in Eldorado, to attend. I had clothes to wear, from P.N. Hirsch department store and there was a gift or two for Christmas…and Laughing Santa.
Some citizens of our nation…would like to experience the childhood that I had and the easy and readily available Independence Day enjoyments that I took for granted. Parents would like for their children to be able to attend a good school.
They would like to enjoy a picnic or a block party and have no fear that their celebration of freedom of thought and speech and country…would be misunderstood.
Where I came from…there was some dignity…for the poor. There were a lot of working class people in our town. When the celebration of our country’s independence rolled around each summer…it was blistering hot…and we poor folks had no air conditioning and we celebrated, shoulder to shoulder and cheek to jowl, with our financial betters…because we knew that the Fourth of July was for all of us.
‘One Flag, One Land, One Heart, One Hand, One Nation Evermore!’ Oliver Wendell Holmes
‘With freedom comes responsibility.’ Eleanor Roosevelt
‘From Every Mountainside, Let Freedom Ring.’ Martin Luther King
‘Let’s enjoy this 4th of July by eating foods that would terrify our forefathers.’
‘remember kids, don’t play with fireworks. Have the adults who have been drinking all day set them off.’
‘Isn’t it Funny How Red, White, and Blue Represent Freedom…Until They’re Flashing Behind You.’
Today we celebrate at Aaron’s house! He is grilling hamburgers and brawts and Mom has made baked beans and pie and peanut butter cookies and Jonathon has purchased exotic beer…and I will be there…too!
Southern Illinois University Has Weathered Many Storms…And We Will Find Calm Shores…In This Stormy Sea.
‘Southern Illinois University (known as SIU or SIU Carbondale) is a public research university located in Carbondale, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1869, SIU is a flagship campus of the Southern Illinois University system. The university enrolls students from all 50 states as well as more than 100 countries. SIU Carbondale offers 3 associate’s, 100 bachelor’s, 73 master’s, and 36 Ph.D programs in addition to professional degrees in law and medicine.’ Wikipedia
‘The university continued primarily as a teacher’s college until Delyte W. Morris took office as president of the university in 1948. Morris was SIU’s longest-serving president (1948 – 1970). During his presidency, Morris transformed SIU, adding Colleges of Law and Medicine and Dentistry. Since World War II, higher education has been emphasized as a goal for more students. Southern Illinois University grew rapidly from 3,500 to over 24,800 students between 1950 and 1991.’
‘In 1957, a second campus of SIU was established in Edwardsville. This school, now known as Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, is an independent university within the SIU system.’ Wikipedia
Schools die from either benign neglect or, the much more aggresses form, purposeful and intended neglect.
President Morris did not work his miracle in Little Egypt by, only the power of his personality and his commitment, but he was able to rally the ambitious involvement of legislators and governors and, at times, the active and workmanlike support of the Board of Trustees.
I was told by both a chancellor and a president, when the custodial staff’s budget was cut in a draconian manner, that they hated it…but perhaps we would have to make our point through the lay-off of, extremely hard working and superbly dedicated, house keeping staff…and this included many disabled Building Services staff…and the caviler elimination of most of our over 200 hundred student worker positions…although this would most certainly result in their quitting school due to the loosing of their custodial positions.
I explained to the chancellor and president that the university buildings would be so unkempt and filthy and the classrooms full of debris and the restrooms without toilet paper that their lack of cleaning would result in the Board of Health shutting the campus down.
I explained that the students deserved better…and that their parents deserved better…and that they need not call me…as I would be spending 16 hours per day…stocking rest rooms.
And, so, my meager analogy is intended to illustrate a much larger point…now is the time for the timid to go home to the security of their safe and protected and untroubled gated community.
Now is the time for demonstrated and decisive and determined…leadership.
SIU was not built by hand ringing and determined neglect and leaders looking over their shoulders to ensure that no one in authority heard their meek criticism.
Our great country was built by great and courageous people.
Our great university was built by committed people who were risk takers and who conducted themselves with vision and purpose and a goal of excellence.
The civil service community is ready….
The students are ready….
The faculty are ready….
The administrative/professional staff are ready….
SIUC is to important to make a ‘point with’….or to use as an example…or to settle personal and petty vendettas!
‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth,’ Nathanael asked in the Gospel of John? ‘Philip said unto him, Come and see.’
So…there are those who would belittle us and snicker and wink and they would say to us…..can anything good come out of Carbondale?
Come and see.
Independence Day
‘Independence Day, also referred to as the Fourth of July or July Fourth, is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.’ Wikipedia
‘At the second Continental Congress during the summer of 1776, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia was charged with drafting a formal statement justifying the 13 North American colonies’ break with Great Britain. A member of a five man committee that included John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, Jefferson drew up a draft and included Franklin’s and Adams’ corrections. At the time, the Declaration of Independence was regarded as a collective effort of the Continental Congress; Jefferson was not recognized as its principal author until the 1790s.’ History
Two Hundred and forty-two years ago we, rebels, decided that we had enough of the king of England’s’ abuse and domination.
‘We hold these truths to be self-Evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’ Declaration of Independence
‘That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,…’ Declaration of Independence
We live in a country that that was founded on the freedom of the people to form their own government that best reflected their needs and best interest.
July 4, 1776 was a declaration against tyrants and dictators and a recognition that ‘…
all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.’
The vision of the United States, that was held by our forefathers was a country of freedom and opportunity and acceptance of the ‘unalienable rights of man.’
Now the writers of the Declaration of Independence, vision did not comport with their reality.
Many of them, including the author of the document Thomas Jefferson, were slave owners.
When referring to the king of England, Jefferson wrote, ‘He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose know rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.’
But, this is the story of our nation…we have learned and grown through the sweat and blood and tears and sufferings of large groups of peoples who we have not recognized as our equals…and, alas, we have not measured-up, to our founding document…on numerous occasions.
We are still trying to be the men and women that the Declaration of Independence calls for.
At our countries best moments…we have been a brilliant beacon of hope for the Earth’s oppressed.
We are a young country and an experiment in social justice and the international rights of humanity…
We are, currently, being tested regarding our commitment to, ‘He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.’ Declaration of Independence
‘Isn’t it amazing that we are all made in God’s image, and yet there is so much diversity among his people?’ Desmond Tutu
‘A lot of different flowers make a bouquet.’ Muslim Origin
‘Diversity: the art of thinking independently together.’ Malcom Forbes
‘Ultimately, America’s answer to the intolerant man is diversity.’ Robert Kennedy
‘An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.’ Martin Luther King Jr.
‘It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength.’ Maya Angelou
We visited an American cemetery in Tunis, Tunisia that had the most lovely grave markers and it was maintained in an immaculate manner. Our Muslim tour guide wept when he recounted the sacrifices that American G.I.s had given to defend his country during the Second World War.
On the white and glistening grave stones were Star of David and the Crescent and Star and the Christian Cross and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Hindu and the Buddhist.
When I was the chair of the civil service council at Southern Illinois University I witnessed a heated exchange between an African American member of the council and a white member of the group.
As we were discussing our attempt, and ultimate success in obtaining Veteran’s Day as a university holiday…the Caucasian member of the council said that if we could recognize Martin Luther King’s birthday…we could recognize Veterans’s Day.
The African American member responded that she did not recognize the Fourth of July as it certainly was not her people’s independence day.
Now, if your people had come to this country as slaves and you did not have voting rights until the 1960s and you lived with the constant fear of the Ku Klux Klan and lynching and Jim Crowe…how would you feel?
I love our flag and or country…but it does not make me any difference how my African American brothers and sisters choose to recognize it…as this is their country as much as it is my country…and we will either succed together…or we will all fail… in this grand journey from the cradle to the grave.
A View From the Cheap Seats
I have been honored to have several Southern Illinois University chancellors and, one, president as friends during my forty year affiliation with SIU.
Last week, I read with great interest the emails that have been made public regarding communications with the president of SIU and other university leaders.
Absent a cogent explanation from the university president…it appears that we have a leadership mess on our hands…and a Carbondale campus that can ill afford such a comedy of errors.
I admire SIU trustee, Joel Sambursky, for his courage in asking for a meeting of the executive council of the Board. During my forty years…I have seldom witnessed such exemplary courage and commitment to truth telling by leadership.
When university leaders, ‘play’, with our beloved campus…it can be likened to disturbing our homes and families.
It is not funny, to us, for you to nickname our chancellor, ‘Rasputin’, or to speculate on a dismissive attitude to the needs of the Southern Illinois region by quickly pivoting to the needs of the Metro East region…which is comparing one of the poorest regions of our state with one of the wealthiest.
I have witnessed divisiveness and duplicity…many times during my career at SIUC…but what I read this past week shocked me.
I worked, behind the scenes, with SIU president, Glenn Poshard, on numerous occasions over many years. I had a front row seat to witness president Poshard’s love for the entire university system. I have been with Glenn…when he wept over the loss of employees to lay-off.
President Poshard began his career as a civil service employee in the Physical Plant. He loved the working people of SIU.
For university leadership to have the caviler and condescending attitude for the Carbondale Campus…which is the flagship campus of the SIU System…is an offense that cuts to the bone of all who love SIUC.
I have been retired from my university for nearly eight years. I am past knowing leaders personally…but I am still called upon by my former colleagues and friends for advice and consultation regarding pressing university matters.
I am humbled and honored that some from the civil service community still look to me for advice…and I told them to have confidence in some who, it appears, have misled us. This saddens me…like I have not been in many years.
As I was fastening my, ‘old man velcro walking shoes’, near Anthony Hall…a few months ago…I looked up to see chancellor Montemagno standing in front of me and smiling. We exchanged pleasantries and I was struck with how friendly and open that he was, with me, in view of the fact that we had never met.
As the chancellor walked away…I noticed that he had a pronounced limp and that he was walking slowly. I was concerned regarding his health and observed him, graciously, stop a few feet from me and speak to another, senior person, like he had to me.
Free Will…Or is Life… Lines of Code in an Algorithm?
The popular HBO show, Westworld, concluded its second season last night.
The program is a remake of the original film,Westworld, written and directed by Michael Crichton in 1973.
Westworld is a theme park, much as a Disney Hall of Presidents…on steroids, and the story line has followed the intellectual awakening of the robots and their seeking of free choice.
In the final episode of season 1, the robots, or hosts as they are called in the program, have an uprising and begin killing all of the VIP human guests that are attending a cocktail gala that is in commemoration of the a new attraction at the, humongous park, created by Dr. Ford.
This season of the program has revealed that the true vision of Westworld was to map the minds of every guest that had attended the park over its thirty year run and to subsequently perfect transferring humans to robots, with their minds and psyche in tact,…or immortal life.
The surprise finale, for the season, was to learn that, the man in black, or the owner of the park, was indeed one of the robots…and had apparently been so for some time.
Two of the main characters, Bernard and Dolores, journeyed into the mind of the computer system, that controlled the park and all of its creations, and they talked with the system, in the form of person, who told them that he had discovered that the re-creation of a human mind was simple…only 12,348 lines of code in the algorithm.
And, so by way of a rather involved science fiction television show…what controls our lives…nature or nurture?
When we make decisions are we making our own choices or are we pre-programed by our genetics to take the fork in the road that is in our programing code and hard wiring?
Some would say that we are pre-destined by our creator to become a christian or not.
Others would inform us that all of our decisions are totally our own and that we are free agents as to the directions that our lives take.
I was watching the new Jurassic World movie this past Saturday, which is another Michael Crichton creation, and was taken aback by the final decision made by one of the stars as to the survival of the dinosaurs. The decision did not follow logical progression of thought…free will?
Many of the decisions that we make during the course of our time on Earth are nature decisions. As an example, if you are out of work and have no money to pay your bills or buy food for you family…you will probably accept the first job that is offered to you. Now, you had the right, as a free agent, to say no…but logically you would not…survival made the decision for you.
You find that you like the job and receive a promotion and have the promise of additional promotions in the future. You can make the decision to leave…?
As a child you are told that you must attend grammar school and then high school and then college. These acts are by and large perfunctory and involve little decision making on your part…other than perhaps where to attend college.
Then, you graduate and get an entry level job in the discipline that you studied and you are given a large manual of rules and regulations that outline, in detail, what you are to do and what you are not to do in order to succeed at the company that you hope to have a prosperous career in.
You work in an office that has a preponderance of republicans…while you are a democrat. You have an opinion…but if you utter it…you will be roundly criticized and condemned. You want to get along with your co-workers…so, often, you are silent regarding your heartfelt political views.
You marry or you have a partner who’s primary mission is you. They want to create a clone, or robot, of themselves. Do you attempt to re-form yourself in their image?
You are part of a church that recognizes particular norms of behavior and deportment of its parishioners….and so your act, much as theatre, the role that your are expected to play.
How much of our lives is determined by our, sometimes, limited choices and our desire to fit into the group and our biases?
Why not stretch your options and your vison of your future and increase your choices?
We do not to find at the end or our days…that we have been a robot for most of our time on this blue planet.
‘The Pilgrimage of The Magi’
‘Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the was to Jerusalem, Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he demanded of them where Christ should be born. And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea: for thus it is written by the prophet, ‘
‘And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.’
‘Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what time the star appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, what I may come worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed; and lo, the star which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was…’
‘And when they were departed, behold the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thous there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him….’
‘Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.’ Matthew 2: 1-9, 13, 16 KJV
I shared, on Facebook, the other day a captivating painting depicting Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus, fleeing to Egypt. The caption stated, ‘That Moment When You’re so Desperate To Protect Your Child That You Risk Fleeing To Another Country.’
I was, subsequently, admonished to ‘get my head out of the sand and research the real story,’ and I have listed the real story above.
I was a bit perplexed by the, I am sure, kind admonishment…and then I considered that perhaps the person giving me the sage advice was considering the real story the current southern border crisis and the fact that we have separated thousands of children from the parents as they attempted to cross our border and therefore committed a misdemeanor.
Certainly our current president traffics in the politics of fear and class warfare.
We are told by the president that those attempting to apply for asylum in our country are; rapist and murderers and drug dealers and criminals and members of the MS 13 Gang and that ‘coyotes’ are responsible for bringing many refugees to our border.
The president highlights the familes of US citizens that have had a loved one killed by an illegal immigrant. Of course, this is terrible and we must have strong border security and through checks and procedures in place to stop entry or the granting of assylum to criminals and murders. This is simply common sense and necessary and vital to the security of our nation and our people.
It is not necessary to seperate minor children from their parents to facilitate the determination as to whether they qualify for assylum in the United States.
Many of the refugees have taken an extremly dangerous journye of over 2,000 miles to come to our border…only to find that the legal ports of entry…are either closed or that they must wait for days and weeks to talk with someone. This is by design…to slow down immigration.
The number of immigrants that we accept has been declining for several years.
The Chinese have the largest number of immigrants to the U.S.
The United States unemployment rate is 3.9%…we need immigrants to work in our country in many fields, including construction, and to perform jobs that our aging citizenry have been unwilling to do for many years.
If an African American is mean to me…that does not quantify that all African Americans are therefore mean.
When a white person murders or rapes or pillages another…that does not signify that I and my family should be labeled…murders…rapist…or pillagers.
When a woman flees domestic violence…with her young children holding on to her hands…the human beings at the shelter…believe her…and comfort her…and help her.
Jesus…was not an American…and he was not white…yet would not we all be honored to welcome him into our home and give him the best seat at our table and tenderly binds up and care for the wounds that he received…from his own people…and in his own country?
‘And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.’
The Happy Traveler 