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.

I am on the Writing Porch and it is almost dark. Our year is proceeding toward its end. Not yet my writing colleagues will point out but certainly on the road to dark and cold nights. My kind of weather. My brother Brock told me he likes cloudy and rainy days. So do I. The sweater and jacket weather is good. The last four months of the year…the Ber Months renew my spirit. I have returned home. Walking today at the Woods, I felt like I was walking through water. I will not miss that feeling.

I did not care for summer when I was a kid. I did like summer vacation. I remember I was never cool. It was hot when I awoke and hot when I went to bed. The window fan in the kitchen did little to ameliorate the agony. A bit of respite came when a storm occurred.

We had bagels this morning courtesy of Aaron. He is a good boy! Many of my adventures are local of late. However, the Maine Holiday is just around the corner. MJ reminded me of what a nice life we have. A calm and serene home. Reliable vehicles. A relative lack of fear. A Holiday in-store and the money to pay for it. It was not always so. We remember the tough times. We remember that a few cared. We asked for nothing and yet were recipients of love. Life seems like a long story. It is short and sweet. Enjoy every minute…even summer…

I carry a Walking Stick that Jonathon gave me for Father’s Day. I think about the stick every day. The movie The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston fascinated me. I was mesmerized by the story of Moses. He did not fear Pharoh. Moses had God on his side. His Staff transformed into a snake and ate the Staff of Pharoh’s Magicians, Moses placed his Staff into the water and it turned into blood. Moses held out his Staff and the Red Sea parted and the Israelites crossed over on dry land. Pharoh’s Army drowned all 666 of the chariots.

We seek answers to life’s persistent questions while the answer is within us. I have been in the Lodge at Giant City so many times that I am known. It is fun to be known. Our sense of place comes to us organically from our relationship with our community. A waitress pats me on the back while the owner calls out to me. I am part of the Tree River Wildlife community. I am the Old Man Of The Woods.

Reflect I do on my lengthy career at SIUC. Consumed I was by the machinations of the powerful elite. Study I did how to enter the unawares and incognito to the club just long enough to gain something for the people I represented.

So, September is two weeks away. September is the beginning of Meteorological Fall. It is time to place the Thinking Cap upon my gray-haired head. It is time to address the world as an Old Man sees it. It is time to help somebody…

‘I do not remember the desks being so small,’ said Billy B. ‘At times they seemed quite large,’ he continued. ‘Once there was ink left in the ink well and I got it on my new shirt,’ Billy B mused.

‘The desks with the lids where you could place all your academic gear seemed like my office,’ Chet laughed. ‘I relished the role of scholar,’ said Chet. ‘ The beginning of each school year I determined that this is the year that I set my sights on becoming a doctor, ‘ Chet smiled.

‘It was so hot when we began school,’ Jane observed. ‘I felt as if I would melt,’ she said. ‘ I loved twirling practice which began the first day of class,’ Jane beamed.

‘I do not think our teachers made much money,’ Daryl noted. ‘I recall Mr. Beard brought his lunch in a brown paper sack and that he worked pumping gas in the summer,’ said Daryl. ‘Mr. Beard greeted me one day when Neva J was getting gas for the 57′ Chevy,’ Daryl remarked.

‘The fear of guns never entered my mind in those halcyon days,’ Jane considered. ‘There were a few bullies full of hot air,’ she said. ‘Our school felt sanctuary and safe,’ Jane said with a tear.

‘I remember duck-and-cover,’ Billy B grinned. ‘There were 3 recesses a day,’ he chuckled. ‘The ice-cold milk from the machine was to die for,’ Billy B laughed.

‘I preferred the glue over the paste,’ Chet remarked. ‘I loved when the teacher rolled in the movie projector for a film,’ he smiled broadly. ‘Sometimes I napped a little while the lights were off,’ Chet winked.

‘Remember the day that JFK was assassinated the principal announced it over the speaker system,’ Billy B asked? ‘School was dismissed and I walked home to find Neva J crying,’ Billy B said sadly. ‘The world changed and we were there to witness the transformation,’ Billy B whispered…

‘I still fit at my desk there are my initials carved in the wood,’ Jane exulted! ‘I laughed all the time everyone was my friend,’ Jane said happily…

‘So many of our classmates are gone,’ Chet noted with dignity. ‘We were at the beginning of things now we are at the end,’ he said. ‘I would like to do it again,’ he dreamed…

‘Settle down please, Mrs. K. told the first-grade class at Hillcrest School please tell the class each of your names beginning with the first row,’ she said.

‘My name is Billy B and I know how to write my name on the chalkboard if you want me to show you,’ Billy B proudly announced. ‘I have been writing my name for some time ever before we moved from Chicago,’ Billy B ascertained. ‘Several people have commented on how well I write my name,’ Billy B assured Ms. K.

‘Please come forward and demonstrate your name-writing skill for the class, said Mrs. K. ‘While Billy B is coming forward Chet would you please remove your hat and place it in the Cloak Room,’ Mrs. K asked.

‘Billy B that is not your name but appears similar to Cuneiform Script interesting for further examination,’ Mrs. K. smiled. ‘You may take your seat,’ she said…

As a lad, I found talking to old men enjoyable. I was a member of a church that was almost all elderly people. Now I am a member of a church primarily comprised of senior citizens or members of the Golden Years Club. The difference is I am no longer a lad but a member in good standing of the Senior Section.

It is said that we old folks do not change. We are set in our ways. We no longer read the instructions. The familiar becomes precious. Surprises shock us. Change calcifies our resolve. Youth informs us of the new ways. The fresh as dew on the Lilly 50-somethings. We know they have not seen what we have. They have not heard what we heard. They have not felt what we felt.

The revelation is that the young tell us many things we have not experienced. Our youthful friends are multicultural and multiracial. They were born with a computer in their crib. They attend school daily fearing for their lives. They witness wars that last 20 years. They seek God but not in a hymnal. They have skill sets that are not for a 32-year career at one job.

Climate change is here. We oldsters know we will not live to see the worst of it. The generations behind us wonder where it will end.

Baby Boomers were taught to get a good job and a home car. Money is the answer. Riches erase dividing class lines. A vacation a year is the goal of the suburban dream…

We are on the train that is rapidly clickety-clack down the track. The Old Man watches with keen interest. He remembers when he was a boy. He recalls the mystery of the Old…