Saturday, December 31, 2005
TO WHERE? Are we, indeed, as a nation, in a period of cultural decline as many loud persons, so proclaiming , tell us we are. I am generally suspicious of any person who has a cure ready for everything that might face us socially or physically. Could it be, rather than a declining situation, that our case has been improperly diagnosed? As a nation we are rather young. We think we have lived a rather full existence in our short span. My own state, the Commonwealth Virginia. Is getting ready to observe her 400th birthday in 2007. It will call for us to take a close look at what we have accomplished in that time. It will also be a time in which we mus evaluate the enduring worth of our action in the past. Youth, generally, lets confidence show itself. We have been accused from time-to-time of being a bit on the cocky side when meeting with European or other nations. The opinion has, at times, been justified depending on the nature of the individuals who have represented us in those specific times. The upcoming years of such birthday celebrations marking four hundred years of existence, may be a good time for us to access our past accomplishments and to determine wherein we may have been amiss in dealing with with some of the problems which faced us. It may well be that we, at times, have confused quantity those quality. In our past we have taken risks. That element, too, is typical at times of most nations as they grow and mature. How did those experiences affect our national history? Are they part of the reason for the alleged attitude of superiority? Can we justify actions we have taken in the past which may no fit well with he best thinking of today? In truth, there will, I think, be little reason to think we can change things we did wrong as any point of crisis in our years of becoming what we are today. We can , however, learn to live with them in constructive, healing ways. Any nation claiming to be pure is in abject error so, on our 400th Birthday be prepared to witness the presence of warts, wens and withered areas on the birthday cake,. Some of the candles simply will not burn and add light. Some of he sweetness will be bitter and some of the color will be faded and waning. It could, perhaps, be that we have forgotten much of the stress and growing pains because of the exceptional blessings which have come our way. This 400th birthday celebration will be a good time for taking inventory of our accomplishments and of our failures and those times when we have been, perhaps, amiss in our duties toward others. A.L.M. December 31,2005 [c474wds]
Friday, December 30, 2005
FUTURISM I find people,this year,to be rather reticent in predicting what might take place in the immediate three hundred sixty five days now upon us as the year 2006. They will talk long-term, but few seem ready to guess what the next twelve calendar pages will hold for us. Find I among them, too. I think many of us agree that Iraq - and bigger than that narrow name – will continue to be the main source of news. However, I do not feel it will increase in the catastrophic dimensions predicted by some politically-pegged groups here in the United State. With some nasty nit-picking associated they will continue to plague present leadership with with negative views fresh from the stale stock of the mullah's minions in their maddest moments. We will need to be on guard as average citizens in the next twelve months, lest we are our own victims by reason of informational ignorance. In spite of all that is currently being bandied - and “banded to just about every physical portion of the Earth by an aging, somewhat in-grown television system and and expanded to just about everywhere by advances in sonic style radio. The average citizen is going to be called upon to think more for himself rather than to simply swing on the informational vine in company with a chattering pixel head or keyboard. We stand in rather urgent need right now of the presence of a strong public voice among us which remind us that in the past our attitudes concerning war and peace; my-way and your-way, right and wrong have been by and large, rather fundamental in keeping with the serious economic, social, religious stands we have set for ourselves. For the year ahead I am confident that this stature which is so much a part of the American way is strong enough – true enough to the ideals of its founders. A.L.M. December 30, 2005 [c335wds]
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
TAKE A POLL It is not necessary for a person to qualify as one of the world's few remaining, internationally-known brain surgeons,or to claim that you are rightfully the fastest peanut sheller in the country, to decided that what we call “television programming” is getting to be of poorer quality each year. I met one such individual just this past week,who thinks at the production people who make so much of TVs programming material have collectively, it seems, gone stark, raving mad. Not just ”off their rocker”,or some other witty way to say “they don't have all of their allotted potatoes, mashed, fried, or even powdered. They may not be that bad off, but some of them are, indeed, well...sick. Many of them are making use of the reruns on half a dozen stations. If anything, Raymond is now loved by everybody – plus. Certainly,TV show producers must see what happens when they kill a successful show. “Friends” did it. “Raymond” made the transition just as others have done in the past. How many times do you watch Andy Griffith in his various roles, how about “G:Green Acres”, The Munsters,”, “The Adams Family, Lawrence Welk and others? The re-run is not new. One can easily see the money re-runs must pays at other doorsteps. Of course, it could also be true that producers actually fare better financially - if they drop an older show and go with a new one- even if it is known to be inferior in some ways. It is not at all clear just what money arrangements are made by “rentees” and “rentors” of such properties and it may well be that the original owners ,even the stars performing the leading roles, are making a”second killing” all over again in some manner. So, we may not be aware of the forces which drive changes whereby good shows are ended and replaced by ones which seem, to us, to be inferior. Money talks, and in a host of local dialects, as well. We get so used to certain favored shows that we fail to see changes which occur as the year as the years go by. That which seems normal and right for us might not so appear to those who live about us – the growing group in our midst; those we know and live with. The characters on the shows mature and grow older. Part of the reason for such changes in favorite shows depends, you see, on you. It is not always some “high-paid numskull” in TV production land who decides he final favorite show date. Each of us contributes in our own, small way. A.L.M . December 26, 2005 [c458wds]
Monday, December 26, 2005
BOXING DAY
England has had a “boxing day”for more than eight hundred years, I'm told, and I think we need one.
Everywhere the tradition still holds firm it has, through misuse and application without self-defacement mindset. Boxing Day is that one day of the year – traditionally the day after Christmas Day – which has been set apart for all of us to give expression through the concept of providing for those persons who did not enjoy the “Merry Christmas” you enjoyed.
The observance occurs in many forms, I'm told. Some keep it close to home hearth by simply wrapping our old shoes and other wear replaced with new ones and deliver them to the poor and needy people. Americans do pretty mush the same thing when we clothing items at the Salvation Army' or Good wills collection points around he city. The items are then channeled to those in need. It is said that Boxing Day was, at one time, more closely connected to individual family group. One system placed empty cartons in the rear of each eating area used by the family during the holiday and members dropped in such gifts as they had which were then divided among the servants. All those servants who had worked so long and so long might have a worthy reward for their trouble and a holds a sort of holiday time of their own. One might out a point out a parallel in American industry whereby firms give their workers Christmas bonus gifts such a frozen turkey, a ham, candies, fruits, fruitcakes, whisking,wines and seafoods but this practice has grown less evident as economic condition worsened and our industrial locations have lost family status with workers off shore. A.L.M. December 26, 2005 [c303wds]
Sunday, December 25, 2005
AT THE MOMENT Now that the Christmas Day celebrations are coming to a halt in most sections of our country we can make an evaluation of the day in the light of what was expected. Some people had anticipated a time was was ripe for another sneak attacks by our sworn enemies, but that has not, as yet, occurred. Those people who have been worried about such an attack are not to be scorned or vilified for guessing incorrectly this time, because it is, very often, their alert worry and care which tells the rest of us that danger does, indeed, still exist. We must not let our guard down, even when things begin to take on a rosy glow according to the manner in which the “news” is placed before us. We are ,in spite of our much lauded systems of communication not all aware of the true structure of those news accounts which reach us through channels we, ourselves, have set up very often to retain certain elements we deem to be of importance. Today's accounts say today was a rather quiet one in Jerusalem. Well over a hundred thousand pilgrims form all faiths were there and no tales of rioting or mass assault as absent from tonight's news accounts. Dissident groups will report minor, local skirmishes and try to make the make them appear to have been major problems censored for some indefinite reason. It is, perhaps, unwise to place complete trust in any one telling of such stories. The day has been good one. If you followed the path I did, we all overate, perhaps over-rested a bit, too and now we have a memory of a peaceful day during a time of war. We must remind ourselves of the consequences of relaxing too much and even pretending there is no war in the traditional, all out sense. If you fail to support the troops we have active in the fields of war around the world you are committing treason. The war in which we are engaged demands much of each of us – all citizens and chief among the moral honesty. Be firm in your beliefs and live by and with them. A.L.M. December 25, 2005 [c379wds]
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