Civility Message

Dear Friends,

Art Linkletter, host of the popular 1950’s and 1960’s television show, “People Are Funny”, used to say on his show, “Kids say the darndest things.” Linkletter died in 2010 at the age of 97. His statement regarding kids has become immortal because it was spot on.

Dear Friends,

My English teacher, Ms. Alma Holland, introduced me to Robert Frost when I was a 10th grader at Booker T. Washington High School in Wichita Falls, Texas. My assignment one week was to memorize the great poem, “The Road Not Taken.” Even today, I still believe that it is not only beautiful, but sermonic as well. I credit Robert Frost, through Ms. Holland, for inspiring me to discover the magic of words.

Dear Friends,

A veteran member of the US House, who had served as the chair of a powerful committee and had become a household name, died. Immediately after he took his last breath, he found himself at heaven's gates face-to-face with St. Peter.

Dear Friends,

My choice in life is to never throw away friends, no matter their station in life. I will mention one such friend, whom my family and other friends have experienced from time to time. After his third incarceration in a state prison, I assisted him in securing a room in a half-way house. After all, he had been framed, yet again.

Dear Friends,

Some of us are old enough to remember when Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley misspoke during the massive anti-war demonstrations at the 1968 Democratic Convention. Many demonstrators and, frankly, members of the media criticized the Chicago police for overreaching and excessive use of force.

Dear Friends,

The Kingdom of Spain, located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southern Europe, is situated between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Somewhat arrogantly, Spain, during their superpower years, declared that land did not exist beyond its beaches. They, and most of Europe, accepted the notion that the world ended off their coastal waters. In fact, with a plethora of pride, they professed such with an inscription on their coins, Ne Plus Ultra: no more beyond! That is to say, there is nothing beyond the Pillars of Hercules, the Spaniards fervently believed.

Dear Friends,

A while ago, I spent a great deal of time thinking about and grieving over the situation with Richard Incognito and Jonathan Martin of the Miami Dolphins. As many surely know, the voicemail messages that Incognito, who is white, left for Martin, who is African American, include racial epithets and other vile statements. Appropriately, Incognito was suspended from the Dolphins. Martin was so impacted by the bullying that he has quit the team and walked away from a multimillion dollar contract.

Dear Friends,

During the spring of 1692, a small group of girls in Massachusetts township called Salem convinced their parents and village leaders that they were possessed by the Devil. But as ridiculous as the claim of demonic possession may sound, the madness metastasized as the girls identified women of the village who they claimed practiced witchcraft. Like an airborne virus, witchcraft hysteria spread across what we know today as the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.