Saturday, October 26, 2002
Y' KNOW
I must have been around eleven or twelve years of age, when I was severely put down by a friend for a speech mannerism.
His rather stern denunciation has remained with me all these years and I can be nothing but grateful for his having taught me to watch out for such a lapse in my own speech habits and the hear them in the speech of others.
My transgression was one which proved to have been endemic in my family. I would make a statement and then interject the words: ”See what I mean?”.
We were walking along the street one morning on our way to school when I said something and dropped that question at the end of it. I must have done it several times, because he stopped walking turned toward me and said in an exasperated tone of voice:” No, I do NOT see what you mean!” I can't until our find a better way to say it!” He was right,too. I knew that and agreed with his rather sharp analysis. We didn't say much the rest of the way to school that morning but I remember that verbal “put down” - gratefully.
The current “See what I mean”?
It is much shorter and it is ubiquitous and seems to go with all walks of life, most often among sports stars and entertainment people. I wonder if you say it - “Y' know?”
Sometimes is is with no question mark. It's just there, bare a ugly, between normal sentences and for no reason whatsoever. It is never said with the expectation of a reply of any kind, and, as with my expression of long ago. shows a very weak word power, an undeveloped vocabulary in the speakers experience.
The football player, being interviewed may say. “We come back out onto the field , y' know. Coach had said, in the locker room y' know. Y' know, how it was gonna to be rough out there y' know - like “do or die,” y' know! So I looked up and that bunch linin' up in front of us and they looked like a concrete wall they did, y' know and I say to the guy next to me, “y' know. This ain't gonna be easy!”
And those imaginary comments are not at all unusual, either. The number of “y' know”insertions is not exaggerated at all. Listen to some of the interviews yourself and prepare to be amazed at how often the “y know?” inquiry can be inserted.
Hold a conversation with just about anyone and you will hear the term “Y' know?” When I hear it I am tempted to turn on the sayer and do what Billy Arthur did to me that morning walking to school - turn to them and flatly an say: “No! I do NOT know!”
Check your own normal flow of speech. Is it interrupted by far too many “Y' know” decorations? By which you , of course, admitting you did not say whatever you were saying very well and you hope they understood your poor effort to do so.
You've got to watch this sort of thing, y' know. People will judge what you are and what you can do, y' know, rather harshly, too, y' know.
Think about it. Guilty or Not Guilty?
A.L.M. October 23, 2002 [c564wds]
493wds]
Friday, October 25, 2002
ALL OUT! HOW & WHEN.
As a youngster I remember we talked about “the end of the world”. When I was very young we thought of it in terms of World War I with trench warfare and diabolical gas attacks complete with ponderous, clanking tanks and flying mechanisms of all kinds, Balloons, multi-winged planes, dirigibles, zeppelins, anything that might conceivably attack from the sky. Such a giant would destroy the Earth as we knew it.
Then, also with wars, we always had dire threats of heavenly destruction which came to us through evangelistic movements with fiery preachers expounding upon visions of world-wide castigation by the Lord of all to was our sins away. That was always vague for me especially when it was expounded upon, usually with some plan of instant change. One sure thing,, however, was that the ruin of the world would be not by flood, nor famine but by fire!
It's been some time since we were told that . We faced a time of regret concerning wars and of our role in peace time. World War II was a worthy example - pretty close to making it all come true in our time. Out of that, however, came World War II and the Bomb which is now equated with the “fire” which will, someday destroy us all the same.
I remember one Science News Service items which I clipped and which I still have rotting away somewhere in my “files”. It plainly predicted, quoting no one in particular, that the imbalance between dry land and wet water would do us all in. Exactly what kind algae that was, I do not recall, but I'll let you know if I come across that clipping, so you can if that event has merely been delayed. As I recall, it was supposed to be depleted by the 1960's and the oceans were to be dead and useless without it with terra firma was to follow suit shortly thereafter.
It would be interesting to tally up how many thousands of people have gone in large groups to some mountain top, as a rule, to await the moment of total elimination of the world. So many thought of total ruin as being partial - for they would come down from the mountain top after everybody else had been destroyed to a newly created world of absolute purity into which they fit quite naturally.
One would think we would outgrow this death wish sort of thinking, but the idea of total of total elimination is even stronger and made more personal today because of our environmental proclivities. Dire disaster today faces mankind because of certain foods we eat; because of some quirky political stances; because of the foods we do not eat, and because some social segments seem to want it that way to “prove” their point.
This negative dream places some persons as rulers over wastelands, and, I suppose there is a bit of Sigmund Freud in it all, because some people see themselves and their ideas as being the only method capable of forestalling such a dire conclusion - once more.
We waste a lot of time out time thinking when or how all of this will take place. I have a feeling it will all be over at some point and none of need even know it has happened. In the cryptic parlance of the stereotyped Brooklyn-ite: “Not to worry!”
A.L.M. October 23, 2002 [c579wds]
Thursday, October 24, 2002
GOOSED!
As far as I can remember, I have only eaten goose one time in my life, and that must have been enough because I don't seem to have any hankering after a goose dinner today.
It happened a good many years ago when we lived over on School House Road.
Our two boys came into the house just moment after they had gone out to play on a cold Saturday morning. “Granddaddy here!” they shouted as they came came at the back door with him. “'N he's got a big bird with him! Sure enough he had a big bird -a gray goose of exceptional size. I recognized a semi-pet Canadian goose which had come to his farm several years, fed with the ducks , liked the corn an stayed around eating until he grew so fat he could not fly. He became a permanent resident.
.
“What happened to him?” I asked as we gathered around the limp, feathered corpse stretched out on the back porch table.
My father-in-law spoke softly which seemed right for the occasion and the boys listened intently.”Right after I finished milkin', I tossed a handful or two of shelled corn out on the bank there by the pond. Ole “Cannie”, here, helped the ducks clean it up right quick, as usual. Then, I don't know fer what reason he did it, but that goose ran down the barn bridge and took to the air. On a cold morning like this one, too!”
We all laughed gently because we, too, had seen the fat bird struggle into the air at times. He seemed to get an occasional urge to fly into the wilds. He flew most often in the Fall when the ducks migrated southward overhead, He gloried at their frequent visits to the pond, too.
“Did he fall down?” Andy Jr. asked “Is that what happened to him ? I' bet that's....”
Grand daddy blew his nose on a large handkerchief form his pocket, wiped his eyes a bit, too, and continued as he commented on how cold it was outside. It's freezin'!” ”No, he did not fall, Not that way, anyway. He got up in the air; made a wide run off to the south but, pretty' soon, I could see he was turning back just like he always does and he was headed for the little end of the pond He was comin' home. I was watching him come in. Well, sir, that goose came in across that pond 'n stuck those big feet of his down and splayed 'em out to brake his landing a bit - and that's what kilt him!”
Both boys: “Why, Granddaddy? Why would that hurt him?”
“Fact o' life,boys! You younguns', of course, don't know that birds like that can't tell froze-over water - ice – from regular summer-time water, so he hit that ice on those feet of his'n and slid, I swear he done forty feet or more in no time at all! Even then, he could have made it, but you know that old fence that used to stretch across the middle of the pound - that single old post stickin' up out there in the middle Well, sir! “Cannie”, here, slid on that ice,. outta control, and his wing...” He took the bird's wing in hand to show us; smoothed back the heavy, bloody feathers and thick down “his wing smashed right into that post! Oh, he was really movin', too! He slithered around toward the edge of the pond 'n just lay there, real still on the ice”.
Granddaddy and Dad went aside a talked about what he had found he needed to do, and we boys just stood there and looked at the bird. After a moment or two, we touched the broken wing which, we could see, had been ripped pretty much loose from his body He was brought to our house because we had an old “Warsh House” which was equipped with a giant iron cauldron - a witch's kettle - we called it, and that was about the only thing big enough to hold that bird. We fired it up and dipped that goose down in scalding hot water until we could pick feathers and such a mountain of them we had never seen! In olden days, Mom told us, they would have been dried out and saved for stuffing pillows, quilts and other soft things. Dad and Granddaddy butchered the big bird. Some of it went in the freezer and we ate goose for along time!
AW-RIGHT! I just knew there would be one smart-alec, know-it-all genius out there waiting to play the purist and remind me that a girl goose is a goose and a boy goose is a gander! Well, didn't I call him “he” all the way through this piece? Yes, I know where goslings come from, too.
A.L.M. October 22. 2002 [c824wds]
Wednesday, October 23, 2002
TONE TOGETHERNESS
I enjoy listening to, and watching good hand bell choirs.
Too often, I find, hand bell groups are tolerated and thought of as activity for children only. As a rule there is only shallow praise when such a group performs in secular or church setting.
The next time you have the opportunity, make the most of it and look and listen with special care to see the deeper values of this form of musical presentation.
Look where you will and it will prove to be difficult to find a better example of co-operation. Every member is dependent on all others.
That sense of dependency within the mind of all concerned engenders a measure of unity such as it seldom found in whatever together. You are depended upon to provide an exact note at a prescribed second and for a definite length of time. You built on what the player before you has provided and you serve as proper guide to the person who will sound the tone to follow yours. There is not room for error. Individual players perform as a unified amalgam.
Playing in a hand bell group demands close attention to the director. That is the source of expressiveness for such a group and by judicious use of subtle texture and density control, the skilled director can add enjoyment for the hearers.
The special niche required by musicians who under take to play in such groups is duel in nature. For the young beginner musician it is a discipline in time, tone and in taking direction, and for the accomplished musician it can be a reminiscent moment each time one does it recalling earlier efforts at attainment of varied musical skills.
The next time you have an opportunity to enjoy such music, make the most of it. Make it your own by genuine appreciation of the work the players are doing on your behalf.
I often find I actually hear far more than what is being done “before my very ears”. I have the bells play with pipe but that, as a rule, seems to become overbearing at times. I would like to hear a good bell choir with a concert harp as background.
I don't know why , but bells and harps seem to be compatible and commendable. It would sound heaven sent.
A. L. M. October 22, 2002 [c398wds]
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
FIRST TIME
If you have every done any sailing at all, especially in small craft, where you have complete charge of the sail, you know the special thrill of learning to move into the face of he wind. It is easy enough to fly before the wind, but to work upstream against the wind another matter.
You learn to use the wind against itself. You turn into the wind and angle off so you are tugged across the expanse of the river or bay and then, when you feel it just right you guide in other direction and tack across toward the opposite shore. Seen from above you would appear to be zig-zagging across the river, and each time you zigged or zagged you were further upstream than before – making constant progress against he flow of the wind.
Yes, it does take time,You don't go whizzing back up at the rate you came down before the wind, but you will be pleased to find you arrive at your upstream dock on time.
Of course, that is just one of the good things which come your way when you sail such small craft. Another is the illusion which comes to most people that they are moving at very high rates of speed. It is an illusion, of course but the sight of the slim vessel knifing into the waters just ahead and sending a glimmering swirl of water past your sides, creates a sense of movement that exhilarates and charms any sailor. And, another thing which will linger I in your memory is the absolute silence out there on the blue, save for the slapping of the water against the bow. That monotone, itself, repeated again and again, tends to salve and soothe any noises you may, otherwise, be aware of coming cross the active bay waters.
There are lessons to be learned from sailing, even in the amateur stage. We learn to meet with the winds of adversity. We can, of course, ignore the tempests and be swept before the wall; be carried away by the force within it. We can, if we choose to do so; decide try it, “batten down the hatches” as both real and fictional mariners used to say in stories of the sea - batten down; keep the bow into the wind and wait it out. If, however, we wish to make progress against the opposing force, we can make use of it's early force to help us tack across the wind and gain he safety of a protected haven before the full force of the storm hits. Only a fool challenges the storm at its worst, too. One learns that lesson, as well, having sailed.
Few do it alone. I was on military base when learned my first learned the basics of sailing thirteen-footers on the bay. My teacher was a man named Homer Fogle, from Shenandoah, Virginia, with whom I made several instructional trips prior to going “solo”. I shall always be grateful for his patient guidance.
Set your sails to suit your size. Seek out an objective on the distant shore and work toward it, across smooth or troubled waters, even against the wind, if need be.
A.L.M. October 21, 2002 [c544wds]
Monday, October 21, 2002
HOW DOES IT WORK?
A question or two, please....
When I read that we are economizing by closing various state government buildings one day per week, do employees lose a full day's pay? If not, where, then, is the great economy? That suggests we are just giving the hired help fifty-some day so of paid vacation time per year. Thus far I have not heard of anyone having lost a day's pay and one could expect a rather general outcry if such a thing actually happened. In like circumstances, I think I would be asking “why me?”
If such a loss is being sustained by employees, where is the Union voice protesting such treatment? Will it hit some individuals so hard, they will be forced to go out and seek second jobs to make ends met?
I'm merely curious. I'm not all sure what is happening but I have a strange feeling this is little more than window-dressing. If “merchandise” within the “store” remains at the same price, where is the great economy this is supposed to bring about?
Just think of the savings on utility costs alone, someone suggests.
A modern office, being closed on mid-week day doesn't save that much. Required service and maintenance workers will be on duty with wide scope of duty, perhaps. A day off provides a window of opportunity for equipment repair, testing or re-structuring crews to get necessary work done, And, I have yet to see a plant which did not have one or two dedicated individuals who insist they can get more work done on a day when the office is so crowded with people. They show up for an hour or two, do some paper work and leave when they feel their off day presence has been noted, by janitors and other off-day workers. Utilities savings are, at best, minimal.
I look askance at most such “economizing packages.”
So many of them concerning things we know we should have been doing all along. The rules – most of them - are common sense, housekeeping procedures by nature. They are already “on the books” but simply not followed.
I am convinced that our state, as swell as others, has revenue potential as yet untouched. This election year there is some interest being shown in tapping into some of these areas. One is our state (Virginia) tax on tobacco products. It is the lowest such rate in the nation, in the past been politically untouchable. It may well be considered this time around and about the only people who will object are tobacco farmers, tobacco products manufacturers, and those smugglers making profits of an estimated $25,000 per truck load of Virginia cigarettes moved north to be sold in he State of New York.
Will we do so? I wonder.
A.L.M October 2002 [c475wds]
Sunday, October 20, 2002
GROUP COURAGE
In a time when we are faced with a serial killer running amok in our nation's capital; when we are also living under a threat of an even greater war than the one in which we engaged, not to mention an economy in the doldrums, questions arises concerning courage.
Where do we find such group courage?
The primary factor, no doubt, is concerned with ways in which we build individual stamina and the will-to-succeed. That may be a good a place to start as any.
Obviously, negative thinking can be the cause of much hesitancy and bitterness. No matter how bad any set of circumstances might seem to, or actually be, some basic goodness remains untouched. All is not lost. There is ,somewhere, a point on which to stand to re-build once more.
Our loved ones may die, but we have a legacy from each of them. Often, we may find it difficult to see how that might be true. We may not have felt “close” to many of them kinfolks, friends or even contenders or outright enemies. We make use of this heritage more than we may think we do.
In using such a fund of human conduct bequeathed to us, we often find life seems to be made up an almost endless “Do” and “Don't” list. In one way, it's true, but we make choices from all of them to help determine our path. We absorb every speck of courage they ever knew because they, too, made choices and have winnowed out the chafe.
Only after the individual nourishes and strengthens human Will can the group do so. It will manifest itself without our being aware of its existence. Cooperative awareness is one key to it all. We need to freely share our inherited treasures rather than to hoard them or, worse yet, to ignore them.
Courage will not be forced. Do not attempt to push it by means of showy heroics. Seek it with sincere dedication, just as you do the other good things in life, and it will be there when you need it. True courage comes as the need arises. There are no handy “On/Off” switches, handles or buttons.
More than one person who thought of himself or herself as being “timid”, has stood forth as a fine example of personal courage when the moment of need struck.
Be ready. Do that, and we will all be better off..
A.L.M October 19, 2002 [c412wds]
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