Philadelphia: The City of Brotherly Love

I spent this weekend and a couple of days in Philly for a Lifesavers Conference. I flew, and my co-worker, Gregg, drove. I consider any trips over two hour’s flight time. Gregg is still a trooper so he’s ok with the driving. The people were very nice and friendly, not surprising, I understand. It is a very diverse population and I can see why. The city seems to ooze history. In some parts of the area, it’s like walking back in time. And believe me, I love to walk. Yes, wherever I go, I like to get up early and start trekking. If there are landmarks, that’s even better. I’ll walk at least 10 miles, five to get there and five to get back. I try to walk in the safe areas but if you’re foreign to any area, how would you know? You can ask but if you look at, any area can be dangerous. Cars can be just as dangerous as people, even construction work can be harmful. It’s a chance you have to take. Keep in mind, I said I walk early in the morning, ample time to recover, if lost, and plenty of daylight to mark your bearings. Well, I walked this weekend and saw where the founding fathers of this great nation signed and wrote the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of the Federation, and the Constitution. I was in the same building (Freedom Hall) where they were, saw the places where they sat, and quite possibly walked along the same areas. I imagined that there was quite a bit of heated discussion regarding the colonies, their separation from England, their new found freedom, wars, and the issues. of slavery. After all, the Philadelphia was part of the Underground Railroad and the Liberty Bell became the battle cry for abolitionists, Liberty for All!

The conference was informative and creative! I enjoyed hearing about new ideas and implementations in traffic safety that’s happening throughout the country. You’ll see in cars, laws, and neighborhoods. On the way back home at the airport, I met Janette Fennell, founder of Kids and Cars. If you’re in the policy making hierarchy, she’s well known. I didn’t know her, so you know where I stand. She and her husband were instrumental in pushing the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) to collect Not-in-Traffic Statistics (NiTS) (Not head lice). It’s all about little kids dying in cars with the windows up and the adults forgetting about them, fatalities that occur in driveways when the adults accidentally run over them, and closing the door on their little body parts. She also worked with the doctor who lost his son in the trunk because there was nothing to open from the inside. Well now there’s a glow in the dark pulley that unlocks the trunk from the inside. This is something in the safety world. By the way, Janette is a wonderful person. Click on the red highlights, they’ll link you to the websites. Please see how many children are injured, it would surprise you.

Turning A Page In A Life

Today, 5 adults decided to volunteer their efforts towards the improvement of helping our fellow man. We all met at an orientation towards improving literacy in the state of South Carolina with the help of Turning Pages. Turning Pages is a local non-profit organization serving adults in the greater Columbia area. Their mission is to help adults reach their full potential by helping them improve their reading, math, computer, and English language skills, through customized learning plans. They want to open doors of opportunity for adults, children, and families to become enthusiastic lifelong learners. It was exciting to meet such educated and prolific individuals who continued to better themselves throughout their lives. In attendance were educators, past principles, French chefs, engineers, missionaries, and world travelers. Most of them were fluent in two languages and understood a few others. One lady was so fluent in German that she still read her books in German. Even the director and her assistant were former educators and are still teaching because of their compassion to help others. I felt that I was sitting on the board of directors in such esteem company. So, hats off to Edwina, Laura, April, Anas, Malcolm, Genevieve and Deborah, they deserve a hearty pat on the back. I do have to say that Malcolm a retired French chef, who has cooked around the world, is returning to school at Carolina for a Masters in Linguistics and a Ph.D., at 70 years of age. How’s that for not slowing down? Volunteers are people willing to help each other for free. I never thought that I would be a part of that group. I hope someday, if I have any readers, would be willing to take that chance, too.

Who's Minding The Home?

These are some interesting times we are living in. We all seem to have good days and bad days. We worry now more than ever about our future. Look around you, young people are committing suicide. So many of them don’t even believe in a future. They live for the moment and don’t even think of the consequences. There is a difference between appreciating life and living for the moment. But how can you make them aware of this when as an adult you are faced with complex problems of your own? More importantly, are you still there to help guide your children in these troubling times. So many parents ignore their children when these youngsters need guidance from the family than the streets. Have we as parents failed our children? Are we more irresponsible than they are? I was offsite today visiting an upstate agency. I was shown some statistics regarding teenagers from 12-16 years old that would rival adult criminal activity. I’m talking about rape, attempted murder, manslaughter, breaking & entering, drug dealing, theft, vandalism, and even illegal internet activity. These are but a few of these major offenses committed by this particular age group. There were some 10 year olds involved, too. What makes it worse is that these numbers are in the city, not the county. I was told major efforts towards mentoring, finding community support, did not bring the kids to any of these positive activities. Why? Will the excuse single parents can’t raise their kids fly? I don’t think so. If anything, many of them try harder to raise their children. I sincerely believe that when religion and discipline was taken out of the schools, our children’s future went down hill. Children are raising children, classmates are raising each other, and modern technology (games, computers, cellphones, etc.) are helping raise the children, too! Neighbors, during my time, were involved in the each others’ welfare. Now when you return to your roots, nothing looks the same. You might find that there are no flowers, no well-manicured lawns, no fruit trees, and no pride in the homes and community. I heard on the radio coming back that a radio announcer was frustrated with television entertainment ministers and television entertainment academicians. They are selling their show and books. They both preach and use well intended words eloquently, but don’t put forth any actions. In other words, they talk a good game, but can’t back it up. Money talks, BS walks. It’s easier to criticize what others do wrong when you don’t do anything yourself. Yes, neighborhood churches have a lot of ministries and need the money to fund them but how many are actually walking the neighborhood and bringing the church to the people?

Others To Lean On

I want to apologize to my readers about discussing my political views. I got frustrated on the state of our national divisiveness that I vented my own take about partisan politics. I know that there are some of us that will not like the other person for whatever reason but I do believe that we should at least respect each other.

As you all know, the month of March, all Thursdays, and the day after Easters are rough for me now. Easter is such a glorious time!  But I want to give some recognition to people who understood and proved that no man is an island. Lt. Russell Wilson gave me a beautiful card on March 24th marking my mom’s 2 years. His father passed 7 years ago on that date. Cheryl Anderson’s father just recently passed this year on that date and Kathy Solkofske’s father passed last year on that date. It’s amazing how much we all share in this life when we take the time to listen to each other. We never know what others are going through. I tend to think that my problems have priority over others until I learned that compared to other people’s problems, I really don’t have any major problems. I am blessed everyday and still manage to forget it. Miracles are happening all around me and I still don’t see them as I should. We need each other to lean on regardless of our differences. It can be our differences that can unite us, if we just take the time to listen and respect each other.  It starts with little acts of kindness towards each other.

Same Old Negative News

I don't know about anyone else but I have heard enough about Tiger and his sexual exploits.  If I want to read or hear porn, I can go to the internet.  Is this a new found way that the "purist" reporters get a chance to talk dirty and cover steamy news without feeling guilty?  Seems to me this a new reason for the media to go into our bedrooms.  Even though Jesse James and Sandra Bullock are making the latest news, we still hearing the old news with the same players but new information.  Tiger screwed up and let's move on.  Jesse screwed up and lets move on.  David, Eric, Charlie and a whole group of famous and not so famous guys screwed up and some are making the news.  Apparently, people that are doing good deeds aren't worth reporting about.  And if they are, they will get only 5-15 minutes of fame.  Bad news continually sells.  If we don't want to hear it, turn away from it or turn it off.  Adulters have been around for a long time and they aren't going away.  But not everyone is and not everyone will.  But is sex is addictive, I'm not the shrink to figure it out.  Was the same said for alcoholism?  Drugs?  Can you be addicted to porn?  Particular foods?  You see where I'm going with this?  If you have a problem, find a way to get help and work it out.  Do we need others to air our problems?  I know that people are nosey and love to gossip about other people's business instead of their own.  Is insecurity an addiction?

Happy Easter!!! He Has Risen!!!

I hope we all meditated on Christ's supreme sacrifice for us!  If we didn't it's still not too late!

Rest In Peace, Ms. McDaniels

Another co-worker lost his mother today.  He suffered through her illness this past year and lost other family members along the way.  Pray for Michael for strength and divine help to guide him through this new phase in his life.  Yes, my connection is the loss of any mother and the closeness to Easter is also a factor.  He will never forget it because Easter is the Resurrection of Our Lord, Jesus.  My mom loved all of the holidays but most of all Easter.  She loved singing on Easter Sunday.  I guess that's why she waited until Easter was gone before she left.  Michael's mom fought long and hard and left during Holy Week!  The heavens are singing and praising because all of God's children are coming home!  Celebrate the reunion of souls!