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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

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It was World War I, and it was Christmas Eve. The German and British soldiers were dug in just hundreds of yards apart. But it turned out to be much more than just another tense and violent night on the battlefield. It began when one German soldier began singing "Silent Night" from his trench. Pretty soon he was joined in German by many more of his fellow soldiers. Amazingly, the voices of hundreds of British soldiers began to join in the carol from their trenches. Now that has to have been a moment those soldiers never forgot - opposing armies singing "Sleep in heavenly peace" in the middle of a battlefield.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

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Every time you sing that Christmas carol, "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," you sing those words, "Peace on earth and mercy mild." But if you ever watch the news or read a newspaper, you might well be asking, "Whatever happened to peace on earth?" That's a good question. Some have said that the terrorism danger for Americans has remained high, even after September 11, 2001. One national correspondent expressed on television what a lot of people are feeling. He said, "I have never in my lifetime seen such a high degree of threat to our personal security." And recent financial developments sure haven't helped that. Then you throw in dangers that you may be facing personally, medical, financial, your personal life - where's that peace that Christmas is supposed to be about?

Monday, December 22, 2008

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Like most families, Christmastime for us has always been a season of secrets, mysteries and anticipation. And sometimes even a little frustration. Like the year my wife and I decided to build a dollhouse for our daughter and then a general store for our son. We closed off the basement and we set up our workshop. The sign on the basement door said, "Closed - Christmas Workshop." But, of course, the kids could hear the construction sounds downstairs, and it drove them nuts! They begged us to tell them what we were working on. But that, of course, would have ruined everything. Even though it left them wondering, we were building something nice for them. They just couldn't see it until it was done.

Friday, December 19, 2008

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Christmas shopping is really fun for a while. But after a few stressful trips to the mall, after spending more time looking for a parking place than you do in the store, after battling the crowds and trying to find a store that still has what you're looking for, well Christmas shopping starts to lose some of its glitter. But then there's that golden moment when you walk in the house with your last installment of shopping bags, you collapse in the recliner, and you declare in a loud, triumphant voice, "I'm done with my shopping!" What a feeling!

Friday, November 28, 2008

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On a recent business trip, my friend Rich found a site that advertised caverns and an Indian artifact museum. An Indian man, with his coal black hair pulled back and a face my friend described as "well-weathered," offered to take Rich on the museum tour which he thought would last about 15 minutes. Nearly two hours later, he had received an incredible history lesson on the Shawnee Nation. The guide said that the Shawnee Nation is made up of many different Indian tribes which the Shawnee have "adopted" into their nation. And several times the Shawnee man pointed out that when his tribe allows this to happen, the adopted people or person may never speak of his former tribe or nation again!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

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So what was the greatest song of the Twentieth Century? That was the question they asked on a major survey taken early in the Twenty-First Century. And the winner: Judy Garland's signature song from The Wizard of Oz believe it or not "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." The tragedy is that Judy Garland herself could never seem to get there. She was an international star at the age of 17 and she remains one of the towering entertainers of the century. But tragically, her search for health and happiness led her down a road of drug addiction, disappointing relationships, psychiatric hospitals, and a physical collapse. She died of a drug overdose in a London hotel. It's painfully ironic isn't it? The voice that tried to take us "over the rainbow" could never make it there herself.

Friday, November 21, 2008

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It's never fun when the plane you're flying on hits turbulence, especially if the fellow next to you has like a weak stomach. It's really not fun when an entire airline hits turbulence. Several have in recent years, including one of America's largest and one that has been kind of my airline of preference. So, it was a bit of a shocker to read a while back that their indebtedness had reached such a critical point that they were actually considering the protection of bankruptcy to try to recover. Bankruptcy is a word we're hearing way too often these days. Then I saw the headline that confirmed the seriousness of their situation. Here's what it said: "Airline Seeks Rescue in Bankruptcy."

Monday, November 10, 2008

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If you were a firstborn, or even a second born child, you may not understand this. But if you came after that in your family, you'll be able to empathize with our third and final born child. His frustration probably came to a head every Christmas when I'd pull out the old family movies...most of which he was not in. He's later observed that the number of photographs taken of a child seems to go down exponentially after the firstborn. It's like for every ten pictures of the first child, maybe there's five of the second, and if you're lucky, one of the third. I can remember that he would sometimes leave the room for a little while during family movies, after patiently watching his older sister and brother's infant antics. When I'd ask him where he was going, he would reply matter-of-factly, "Call me when there's something I'm in."

Monday, October 27, 2008

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When our daughter and son-in-law became parents the first time, they also became an aunt and uncle thanks to little Maddy. Now, Maddy's a little younger than their first son, but you can imagine that both sets of parents enjoy swapping stories about their first child. For example, he would set out a toy or a puzzle on the floor and then he'd select one of us adults as his designated playmate. It sounds like this, "Dada (that's me), pay." That's "play" for those requiring translation. And he pats the floor exactly where he wants you to sit and "pay." Apparently, Maddy was issuing similar invitations to the adults in her world, like her Daddy, for example. He may be moving around the living room doing whatever, and she'd look up at him with big eyes and asks a simple question, "Papa down?" She really wants her father to come to her level. And he does.

Friday, October 24, 2008

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There's something you may not realize about my past. I spent some time in Alcatraz - about a half a day, to be exact. By the time I got inside that infamous prison in San Francisco Bay, there was nobody home. It was a museum! And it's a fascinating place to tour. I took a group of teenagers to Alcatraz one day to tape a radio program there. We spent some time in the area that was used for solitary confinement - they even locked up the teenagers in the main cell block. Frankly, it is a dismal, depressing environment, even when you're just visiting it as a museum. As our tour ended, we were led through a gate and into a scenic area just outside the wall. It was a gorgeous day, and we had a fantastic view of the bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the San Francisco skyline. One of the teenagers looked back and mumbled three words, "Only a wall." When I asked what he meant, he said, "Just think, only a wall separated them from all this!"

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