December 1975, and 9-year old my spirit was as low as the Missouri thermometer.  But the simplest of gifts warmed not only the heart of myself but my family for decades to come. Following divorce, my mother had recently moved to Texas so this was to be our first Christmas apart since my birth. One of my favorite holiday activities was shopping with my mom to find the perfect Christmas gift for my maternal grandparents, but of course this year it was not to be. My dad and I had a difficult relationship even at that early age, so though he had legal custody I spent as many weekends, school breaks, and other days with my grandparents as possible. It was the thought of not having a gift for my beloved grandma that hurt me most of all.  One weekend shortly before Christmas my grandpa finally coaxed out of me the reason for my somber mood during this season of joy. “You know son” he said “we can go buy something for your grandma, but I have a better idea. Lets go out to the garage.”  Out into the cold we went where behind the garage lay a pile of scrap lumber, including a pine stump about a foot long — the leftover trimmed from this years Christmas tree. “I think your grandma sure could use a good candleholder, don’t you son? Bring that little log into the garage.”  Out of the tool chest came a family heirloom in its own right — my great-grandfathers antique hand-cranked drill.  So, while grandpa gently guided my hands and applied the needed pressure I cranked away until two fine-looking holes were made. ”Grandpa thats great” I exclaimed “but I wanna make it even better!”  In a flash I was off like St. Nick, sneaking past grandma to the toybox for some red and green crayons. “Just what are you two up to out there son” she asked. “Oh, uhhm, nothing grandma” I replied with a mirthful glint in my eye. Back to the garage, where another thirty minutes of careful work on each end of the pine produced satisfactory hues of evergreen and crimson.  The three wisemen from the Orient could not have felt more pride as I marched my gift into the house and presented it to grandma. “Oh my!” she softly exclaimed as her tears flowed and my face beamed like the star of Bethlehem. Years later I came to realize those tears of joy were not only for the treasured gift, but for the rekindled Christmas spirit in her grandson.

   For the next 38 years that old pine log, covered in crayon, with two discount-store candles stuck in it, was always the centerpiece of my grandparents holiday decorations.  Invariably, any guest who paid the least notice of it were told the story of its creation in reverent tones.  We lost grandpa in January 2004 but still the gift lived on.  In the summer of 2008 it was time for grandma to enter a nursing home for good.  One of the personal posessions she absolutly insisted on taking was, you guessed it, that old pine stump. Now a whole new audience of nursing staff and residents were regaled with its legend. Grandma passed away this June, so this is my first Christmas without either of them in my life.  However, as I write this, sitting on my kitchen table sits the centerpiece of my own home decorations this year — an aged candleholder made for next-to-nothing yet more valuable to my family than all the worlds gold.  So this Christmas as you rush from store to store then home to wrap those gifts remember that sometimes the old cliche’ is true — that with some gifts it really is the the thought that counts. 

Online Dating Mysteries Revealed (Even the Politically Incorrect Ones) — Sphere News, Opinion and Analysis.

     Many of us learned in our US History class about “the shot heard round the world” — the Battle Of Lexington which started the American Revolution.  And one could say that the shot fired by John Wilkes Booth into President Lincoln’s skull caused a major alteration to our nations path. But for those of us in modern times perhaps no shots altered history more than those fired in Dallas 46 years ago, the ones that ended the life of President John F. Kennedy.  November 22, 1963 is said to be the day that Baby Boomers lost their innocence, that America’s post-World War 2 feeling of invincibility came crashing down.  As an amature historian I feel that it also sent us down paths Kennedy would likely have not followed.  I’ll not speak to the controversy over who fired the shots from what location, how many shooters, etc. only to the aftereffects. 

     Let us consider the biggest event of the 1960s for America, the Viet Nam War.  Even in 1962 and early 1963 President Kennedy and his advisors could see the writing on the wall, so to speak, that the South Vietnamese government was totally corrupt and undeserving of America’s support.  It was Kennedys plan to gradually reduce US military advisors and supplied equipment, particularly after the 1964 election and let South Vietnam stand or fall on its own merits.  Sadly his successor, Lyndon Johnson,  so feared being labled soft on communism that he would commit billions of US dollars and millions of US warfighters to a cause that was lost from the very beginning. Some 58 thousand names are chisled in black granite on the Washington D.C. mall that otherwise might have lived had not those shots rang out in Dallas.   I theorize that our entire dealings with communism for the remainder of the 20th century also changed on that November day.  Prior to the Cuban Missle Crisis, the USSR considered Kennedy a weak and naive leader. However his resolve during the crisis earned him grudging admiration from Nikita Kruschev.  A small thawing of the Cold War occurred in 1963, leading me to believe that a second presidential term for Kennedy would have seen the US and USSR become, if never friends, then at least nations willing to peacefully co-exist without the threat of instant nuclear annihilation.  Again, LBJ followed a different path.  While Johnson was a man full of bluster and bombast when dealing with underlings and political rivals, in essence he was noting more than a schoolyard bully. He so feared making the wrong decision and leading to nuclear war that he allowed the USSR and China to foster non-nuclear conflicts worldwide, from Viet Nam to the middle east to the Congo. 

       But let us also consider positive changes made by President Johnson that might have been delayed, or indeed never implemented under a Kennedy administration.  While Attorney General Robert Kennedy had done what he felt he could to protect black protestors in the south, the Kennedy administration as a whole felt a slow gradual change in race relations was the safer course to take.  To his great credit President Johnson saw the time for action was long past due and strong-armed the Civil Right Acts and Voting Rights Acts through Congress.  If it had not been for that, then the likelyhood of a young african-American from Chicago becoming our current president would have been greatly diminished.   The war on poverty is another area where one could say a major shift occured due to that terrible day in Dallas.  The poor and the uninsured were America’s dirty little secret during post-World War 2 boom. While most lived in luxury in the suburbs with new cars and full cupboards, a shameful percentage of our population, in rural Appalachia and the inner cities particularly, lived a hand-to-mouth existence.  The elderly were also constantly on the precipice of financial ruin from hospitalization and doctors bills.  President Johnson saw this and felt a country as blessed as America could do much more for its citizens, pushing legislation for his Great Society program which brought about among other things medicare, medicaide, food stamps, and Head Start education programs for disadvantaged children.  Oh yes, and it was Johnson’s Great Society that provided initial funding that brought us beloved characters like Big Bird, Burt & Ernie, and Oscar through Sesame Street. 

     All of this change, both good and bad, would not have happened in the way we know it had JFK not been gunned down in Dallas.  For like a stone tossed into calm waters the ripple of those shots wash ashore in Americans daily lives still to this day.

Okay, so I heard about the new chat blog link and thought about what I could possibly have to say that would be educational, interesting and important. I know, I know….not much, right? Haha. I thought about it and actually got my inspiration while watching tv. Have you ever seen those commercials ‘for only (insert amount here) per day, you can help feed a family of four in (insert 3rd world country name here)for a month’? I’m sure you have-they are all over tv-some even have celebrities speaking for them. Not that there is anything wrong with helping to feed families and children in Croatia, Zimbabwe, Laos, and on and on…..in fact I am happy there are programs that do this (assuming the money does in fact go towards the care of these children/families). However, I would just like to say that there are so many children and families right here in our own country; our own states, counties and towns that are JUST as needy as those in others. And yes, I know poverty is global, but for the intents and purposes of this blog, I’d like to speak about the USA. I work for child protective services in my state and I see first hand on a daily basis that there are children in the US just as desperate for love, affection, food, and medical care. I’m reminded more so now that the holidays are here. I work with so many children that have nothing; shoes too small, LOVE going to school because they get to eat breakfast AND lunch, kids who are so desperate for love and attention that they hang on your leg and beg you to take them with you to live at your house. Last year at Christmas, I gave a child a stocking and he had no idea what one was or what he should do with it. He’d never had one before in his life. And there were people in the community who had donated presents for workers in my agency to give to children on their caseloads and let me tell you this-I had a family where each of the children received three presents. There were four children and the parents cried and went on and on about how it was “too much”. THREE Christmas presents. It blew my mind. So I guess I would just like to remind everyone that there are people right here, right now who could use some support. I’m sure every county has a food pantry. Would it really be too much to grab an extra can of soup,  box of noodles, cereal, crackers…….and donate it to a food bank? (And I’m sure some people are saying right now, yes. That sometimes is too much…ok). But honestly, if you can’t donate money-donate time. Be a big brother or a big sister. Volunteer at girl/boy scouts or a church AWANA program. You will never know to what extent  something that seems so trivial to you can affect the life of someone else. My community has alot of support for families especially around the holidays. We have something called the “Giving Tree”. It’s where agencies/schools/whatever hand out paper ornaments to the workers and the worker writes a child’s age, gender, clothing size and a few items they would like for christmas on this ornament. Then, all the ornaments are placed on a tree that is set up in a very public, well-trafficked area. Anyone can pick an ornament and buy some or ALL of the items listed on it, wrap them, tape the ornament to the present and deliver it back to the center where the tree is. It’s a great way to make a child’s Christmas brighter. If you aren’t sure if your area has any programs like this, and are interested in helping in some way…I would encourage you to either call your local Chamber of Commerce or local children’s service agency. There are many children in families,foster care and residential placements who receive little to no cheer on Christmas, and it would be great if they could know that there are still good people in this world who care about them.