It's embarrassing

I begin each day with coffee, English muffin, and the local newspaper, The Island Packet. It is a ritual I began when I retired a couple of decades ago. Former Chief Justice Earl Warren started his morning paper with the sports section because it is “about winners” and the front section is “about losers.” I wade right in, however, and take on the front section, then sports and end with the comics and feel good stories.

Today, before I left page 7 of the 10 page front section I felt embarrassed for our country and personally down hearted that we have in many quarters not advanced much in the last 50 or 60 years. Discrimination, hate and meanness still reverberate throughout many segments of society.

In Oxford, Mississippi, members of a fraternity hung a noose and old confederate flag on the statue of James Meredith, the first black to enter the University of Mississippi in 1962. The offenders have been kicked out of the fraternity and the fraternity chapter has been suspended indefinitely by the national organization. While the response is good, the basic act itself is vile and contemptible.

Down in Texas, the rock guitarist, Ted Nugent, on the campaign trail for a gubernatorial candidate publicly called President Obama a “subhuman mongrel.” Later as protests arose he went on a radio station to apologize – not to the President – but on behalf of “much better men than myself.” Obviously, referring to the candidate with whom he was stumping for votes. Such insults are the stuff of meanness, hatefulness and stupidity. They demean all of us and are unworthy of Americans.

And then there is the Arizona legislature, which it is fair to say, leads the country in anti-immigration legislation and other progressive acts called for in the 21^st Century. This time gay rights are the focus of the legislative ire.  Over “shrill objections” of Democrats and three Republicans, a bill has been passed, and is on the governor’s desk, which allows business owners with strongly held religious beliefs to deny service to gays. (It doesn’t say how to identify gay people.) Opponents of the measure said it was clearly designed to allow discrimination against gays. Governor Jan Brewer’s decision may come next week. The business community considers the bill another “black eye” for the state, and a major distraction as Arizona prepares to host the Super Bowl next year. Reportedly four companies have put on hold plans to open facilities in Arizona until they see if the bill becomes law.

And this is just three stories on one day. Tomorrow it will be something else. It is embarrassing.We are better than this; if only we would act it.

Making Dad proud...Daughter is an author

Many years ago on a pleasant January day in Hanahan, SC, (near Charleston) I came home from work one evening and was confronted by my wife and youngest daughter, our fifth child. Would I adjust the training wheels on the child's bicycle so it could be a real two-wheeler? We bought the bike as a Christmas gift and within a couple of weeks she had mastered riding it so the training wheels were no longer necessary.
"Are you sure, I asked?" Wynn's little face lit up and she assured me she could handle it. I smiled, went to the garage, got a wrench and the training wheels were history. I stood on the walk outside the front of house and enjoyed the moment as my daughter successfully wheeled off toward the house of her best friend.
Last evening this same daughter, now an outgoing, exuberant adult, wife and mother, teacher and businesswoman, sent an e-mail announcing her book, How To Be a Great Teacher: Create the Flow of Joy and Success in Your Classroom, had been published and was available at Amazon.com five days ahead of schedule.
Wynn taught school, kindergarten through fourth grade, for several years and then created her own business, The International Academy of Bee-Sharp Teachers, to help teachers improve their skills and make learning better and most enjoyable for students. She attracted the attention of McGraw Hill education representatives and joined them in similar goals. Now, after several years of traveling all over this wonderful country and interacting with teachers, principals, students and parents she has published a 108 page softcover book that ought to be in the hands of every primary school teacher, principal, and school board member, as well as parents involved in their children's education. If it takes a village to raise a child, then this book will help teachers do the work and parents to know what to expect.
The girl who could ride without training wheels, Wynn Cooper Archibald Godbold, is riding on different streets now but I am still enjoying the moment of her success.

Pick a number

As if peace in Syria and a nuke-free Iran are not enough on your plate there is the problem of not remembering what you’ve read.

Have you gone to the library and found a book by one of your favorite authors only to realize after you take it home and read twenty pages that you have read this book before? Well, my wife recently gave me a solution for that. It is so simple in its conception and execution that I may nominate her to be on the team struggling with the Syria and Iran issues. She has selected a page in every book she reads and when she finishes she circles the page number and returns the book. The page is always the same. When browsing the library weeks or months later she finds a book she will enjoy she checks the page number and if it circled she knows she has read it and moves on. I am now doing this and have chosen a page number which means something special in my life so it is easy to remember. If you pick up a book in the library and find two page numbers circled, it is a pretty good conclusion that Joyce and Archie have read the book.

Complete blog here.

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