First Person Limited

In this election year, when candidates are debating everything — second-guessing decisions made and programs launched by previous administrations — why is it no one takes on Daylight Saving Time? Who thought up this idea of losing an hour of sleep? This government-imposed jet-lag feeling we all will experience just one week from today?

Actually, Benjamin Franklin had the original idea that he outlined in an essay in 1784, but the United States first experimented with the concept during World War I. The plan was to lessen the use of electricity, primarily incandescent light bulbs. We do benefit from having more daylight hours after work and school but since the light bulb is such a small part of our energy use, any actual savings today might be debatable.

The correct term is Daylight Saving (no ’s’) Time, though no time is actually saved, only moved around.  And over the years, the period of DST has been lengthened to 7 1/2 months of the year. Citizens have become confused. “Are we on real time or DST?” is one question you hear. “Is it Fall forward or Spring forward?” is another.

Possibly one third of the world will transfer to Daylight Saving Time during the early morning hours of March 11. Every state in the union, except Hawaii and Arizona. Arizona stays on “real” time. Except for the part of the Navajo Nation that lies in AZ.  The Navajo Nation recognizes DST. Except the Hopi Reservation that rests within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation. The Hopis do not change their clocks.

Each Amish community can individually choose to observe Daylight Saving Time or not, making time-keeping in Ohio interesting.

Most of Brazil and Chili will move to DST, but since they are on the other side of the equator, when the USA springs forward, they fall back.

So next Sunday morning at 2:00 am (or more practically before you go to bed Saturday night) move your clock forward. Then, for the next week or so you’ll eat at noon when you’re not yet hungry and go to bed when you’re not yet sleepy, and arise in the mornings way before you’re ready to get up. But before you know it (sometime mid-summer) you’ll adjust to this rude change in your life.

Oh, and don’t forget to check the batteries in your smoke alarm.

If you want to learn a lot more about DST go to http://www.webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/c.html

Once, when my daughter was five  years old, her Sunday School teacher gave her a lily bulb. The instructions were to put it in the ground and, in several weeks, a shoot would appear and become a beautiful flower. We chose a place and Kathy planted her treasure. The next day, she ran to check on the progress. Nothing showed above the dirt so she dug up the bulb to see how it was doing. After we talked about how God makes the flowers grow, we planted it again. Later, I found Kathy spading the dirt around the spot to check the plant once more. It took several tries to convince her that her job was to plant the bulb and then leave it alone and give it a chance to grow. Nowadays children in kindergarten plant beans. Beans are guaranteed to produce visible results in 24-48 hours.

We are amused a a child’s impatience, but are we different? We want fast solutions to our problems, quick results from our efforts, instant answers to our prayers. We find it difficult to leave it alone and let God take care of it in his own time.

So, before we become concerned about the status of a project, let us think: did we plant beans or bulbs? Beans grow very fast and make lots of other beans. Next year, if we want more beans, we plant beans again. Bulbs grow much slower, but they are long lasting, often returning voluntarily year after year. Both have value and there are many reasons for planting either. But we shouldn’t expect bean results when we plant bulbs.

From Every Day a New Day and other short stories. (c) 2006

I’m aware I posted about Valentine’s Day last week, but I didn’t tell you one of my favorite stories about the day. It’s about love. Not romantic love and not filial love. It’s about agape.

I had a friend several years ago who was a counselor at the crisis center where I worked. One winter day she drove to a West Tennessee prison to be with a client whose abuser was appearing before the parole board, asking for early release. She stayed through the day, supporting the victim with her presence and her caring until the hearing was over.

Afterward, emotionally drained, my friend decided to treat herself to a good meal in a fancy restaurant, so she drove into Memphis to an upscale eating establishment. After she was seated alone at a table for two, she began to relive the day and to weep for her client, a young girl who had bravely faced her offender once again.

My friend said that after several sympathetic looks from customers at other tables, even an encouraging pat on the shoulder from an older woman walking past — only then did she remember the date. February 14. Valentine’s Day. Surely everyone thought she was crying over a lost love.

Instead hers were the most precious tears of all. Tears of compassion shed for someone else’s pain.

Valentine’s Day brings love and caring. Unfortunately, it also brings lots of angst.  Choosing an appropriate remembrance can bring on major concerns for both the giver and the recipient.

When I was in grade school, a child might be concerned that when the much-decorated box was opened, there would be nothing there for her/him.  This was before the days when the teacher sent home a list of students with these instructions: If you give a valentine to ONE, you must give to everyone in the class.  Not a bad idea, by the way.

If one claimed a boyfriend and could rightfully expect a valentine in the box, that brought different worries.  Would it be just a regular old one-penny heart or something spectacular she could show her friends — like a special card with an ‘all day’ sucker attached?

As we grew older the day was special — or not — depending on whether we were going steady or single.

And so, over the  years expressions of love and the expectations of those expressions have changed dramatically.  Now, men are urged to ‘go to Jared,’ ‘Life’s too short for ordinary jewelry,’ and so on.  I wonder, is the angst still there? What if he goes to Sears instead of Jared or Sissy?  What if the gift is practical, something she will use much more often than she will wear a diamond necklace?

Well, all the counseling in the world can’t save that relationship.

Roland Mann on his Ramblin’ Web Log (rolandmann.wordpress.com) opened the subject about what a pastor might say when someone dies while out of the fold, so to speak.  The usual platitude, ‘He’s in a better place’ doesn’t really work because the dear departed just might not be in a better place at all.

Then some of the comments to Roland’s blog moved the subject to things that are said to bereaved persons that are well-meaning but, well, for lack of a better term, insensitive.

When we speak to a grieving person we need to remember that what we say is being heard through a layer of pain and may not come across the way we want it to sound. Many are at a loss when it comes to speaking to the bereaved.

My husband died in October (1996) and by Thanksgiving I was back singing in the church choir. One person told me she ‘didn’t know how I did it –’ (sing Christmas music) so soon after my loss. I heard that comment as an accusation that I must not have cared much for Ed if I could recover so quickly. Now, I realize she just wanted to talk about her own loss.

Another comment on Roland’s blog was that we say ‘If there’s anything I can do, let me know,’ thereby putting the responsibility on the grieving one. They must ask if they are in need. How many have the emotional ability to do that?

Which reminds me (again) of the first Christmas I was a widow. I had shopped for our son’s presents, putting them in the trunk of my car, away from an 8-year-old’s curious eyes.  On Christmas Eve we went to an 11:00 communion service, arriving home at midnight just as a fine mist began to fall. I hustled him off to bed and about 30 minutes later went to the car to retrieve Santa Claus.  The trunk of the car was frozen shut.

Well, I did what I usually do in difficulties like that — I cried.  And I wondered, which one of those people who offered to do anything at anytime would like to come help me at 1:00 am on Christmas morning?

The answer is they all were let off the hook. A pan of warm water and a rubber hammer solved my problem. Christmas was saved and I didn’t have to ask for help.

So, back to what to say. You can say, ‘I know you miss him.’ Or ‘I’m so sorry.’ But, it’s not really necessary to say anything. Give a hug. Let them talk about their grief. Many people don’t want to listen to pain and the ones who will are a blessing to the person who is hurting.

“God comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” 2 Corinthians 1:4

The scripture for today was Miriam’s song of praise after God parted the Red Sea, led the Israelites across and then let the sea fall on the Egyptians. The writer of Adult Bible Studies (Cokesbury, The Methodist Publishing House) suggested that some might be disturbed by Miriam’s poem for its military mood and violent language (“horse and rider thrown into the sea”). But, he goes on to point out, the Bible “reports things as they are, not as we wish they were.” And things were violent during Old Testament times (New Testament, too). I don’t have a problem with Miriam praising God and saying, “The Lord is a Warrior…”

However, this does remind me of a pet peeve: Taking yesterday’s heroes and judging them by today’s yardstick. There is a trend today to out every famous person’s past mistakes.  And on a slow day, some media personnel searching for sensation look at past presidents, founders of our country, heroes of United States history and point out all their faults.  Ahhh, this one owned slaves, that one had a mistress, another obviously had Asperger’s or ADHD. (Undiagnosed of course, because no one had heard of it back then. But we can pin point it because we saw a PBS special once.)

All this makes me wonder if some time in the future, when the world is enlightened, when there are universal child labor laws, when the world knows what our hunger for the newest electronics has cost in human sacrifice . . . what will historians look back at the leaders of 2012 and say?  ”They did a valiant job facing economic challenges, addressing climate change and health care. But they all owned iPhones!”

(An iPhone is made by hand by children working for FoxConn Corporation in Shenzhen, China.  I can’t judge. My Tracfone was probably made there, too.)

And so this has moved from Miriam’s song to American heroes to children working 12 hour shifts in China.  So much meandering you probably need a road map.   Not exactly focused writing, but maybe a few morsels of food for thought.

For more information about FoxConn here’s a link http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57367950/the-dark-side-of-shiny-apple-products/

When a movie is nominated for an award, it’s rarely a film I have seen. Most of my movie viewing is done on basic cable or through Netflix.  Which means, the movies must be at least old enough to be released on dvd.   But this week, only days after it won Golden Globe Award, I saw Midnight in Paris.

This movie stars Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams, two of my favorites, and features Kathy Bates, another favorite, in a smaller role.  Wilson was nominated Best Actor, and Woody Allen scored two nominations, for directing and for writing the screenplay.  The musical score is beautiful, good enough for an award nomination, except awards are given only for original scores.  This sound track contains a lot of Cole Porter and other songs from the early Twentieth Century.

Midnight in Paris is different from most Woody Allen movies in that, while it is quirky, as his films usually are, it is rated (only) PG-13 — for sexual innuendos and smoking.   No F-bombs or nudity in this cinema.

On a visit to Paris with his fiance’s family, Gil Fender (Owen Wilson) falls in love with the city. He has become an aspiring novelist after achieving success as a Hollywood screenwriter and he senses Paris is the perfect place to write. While walking the streets one midnight, he steps back into the Paris of the Roaring Twenties.  Great writers and painters together, partying, drinking and living their Bohemian lives. Meeting and talking to the literary geniuses of this era changes Gil’s writing and his life.  Who wouldn’t want to flesh out their ideas with Ernest Hemingway, or have Gertrude Stein critique their work? In the end Gil comes to realize that today’s reality can be as exciting and rewarding as the past. It’s up to us to make it that way.

Because Woody Allen is Woody Allen, some of the 1920-era characters are humorously over the top, written rather tongue in cheek. Hemingway talks like he wrote, all about heroism, bravery, war, and deep, true feelings (for women in particular).  The slightly mad personalities of Picasso and Dali are fodder for Allen’s pen.

Woody Allen won the Golden Globe Award for writing the screenplay.  The Golden Globes are given by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

This is really a delightful movie that I recommend.

My 14 year old Dodge Caravan has been seriously ill this week.  Even though she’s getting on in years, she seldom has health issues.  Only a few usually associated with the aging process.

She has lived a full life. She began as a soccer-mom vehicle and when she came to me at age 5 she was healthy and strong.  For the next five years she visited her health care provider only for wellness visits.  We traveled to Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee many times. As well as to Branson, MO and several delightful towns in Arkansas – Hot Springs, Heber Springs, Eureka Springs to name a few.  If necessary she could find the Cabot Walmart on auto-pilot.

A few problems arose around her tenth birthday and over the last few years there have been transplants and prostheses – water pump, timing belt, power steering gizmo.  Eighteen months ago there was major surgery for a transmission issue.

Last Tuesday she suffered some sort of attack, became incontinent and lost a large amount of body fluid. She moaned and wailed pitifully as I gently brought her home from the Family Dollar, where she had become ill.

I was devastated. Surely this must be the end. No car could recover from a trauma like that. “Prognosis negative.”

Her Primary Care Provider made a house call.  He diagnosed the condition as serious but not terminal. There was hope, there was a treatment for this affliction.

She is currently home bound on total rest until the procedure, which is scheduled for Monday morning.  At this time we don’t know if it will be out-patient or will require an overnight stay.

She should then be able to resume her normal activities, curtailed only by certain limitations due to her advanced age.

My thanks to Bill Nick of Bill Nick’s Garage, and to my sis, Betty Liddle, for loaning me her car. Also to my son, Phillip, for holding my hand and patting my shoulder.  And to Carla Barnwell and Rhonda Roberts for letting me hitch a ride.

Since I’ve had this blog, each January I have listed the books I read the previous year.   Here are 2011’s books with one-sentence synopses.

1. Unlocked by Karen Kingsbury – Christian Fiction. A teenage girl, sensitive to the needs of an autistic classmate, takes a stand against her popular friends to look for a miracle.

2. Witness by Karen Hesse – Young Adult Fiction. Written in blank verse, this is the story of the Ku Klux Klan’s attempt to move into a small town in Vermont. I reviewed this book in January.

3. Blue Like Jazz -  Christian Non-Fiction.  Donald Miller tells of his faith walk and the people he meets along the way.

4. Critic’s Choice by Ira Levin – Play.  The wife of a literary critic for a large New York City newspaper write a mediocre play and manages to get it produced.

5. The Outlander by Gil Adamson – Fiction. A woman running from an abusive husband finds help, comfort and love with a reclusive mountain man in the far reaches of Canada.

6. Wedding Belles by Alan Bailey – Play. Delightful tale about three spinsters who volunteer to provide a wedding for a young girl with no family.

7. True Grit by Charles Portis – Fiction. The classic story of Mattie Ross’ pursuit of her father’s killer.

8. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller – Christian Non-Fiction. Story of the making of Donald Miller’s book Blue Like Jazz into a movie.

9. Like Dandelion Dust by Karen Kingsbury – Christian Fiction. A couple learn that their five-year-old son’s birth parents plan to sue for custody.

10. The Captain’s Dog by Roland Smith – YA Creative Non-Fiction.  Adventures on the Lewis and Clark Expedition from the point of view of Captain Lewis’ dog.

11. A Short Guide to a Happy Life by Anna Quindlen – Christian Essay. Perspectives on how to lead a life of contentment.

12. The Pilot’s Wife by Anita Shreve – Fiction. When her husband is killed in a plane crash, a widow finds about his secret life, including another family in Europe.

13. Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult – Fiction. A prominent prosecuting attorney kills the priest accused of abusing her child. This book was reviewed here in May.

14. The Trial by Robert Whitlow – Christian Fiction. An attorney with a lot of baggage of his own, takes the case of a young man accused of murdering a young girl. The Trial was reviewed in June.

15. God Came Near by Max Lucado – Christian Motivation. Scripture-based readings about God coming to earth as Jesus.

16. Hotel by Arthur Hailey – Fiction. Plush hotel in New Orleans faces bankruptcy while several sub-plots are taking place.

17. Mosaic by Verna Lee Hinegardner – Poetry. Chapbook by the former Arkansas Poet Laureate.

18. The Helper by Catherine Marshall – Christian Essays. The author shares stories of encounters with the Holy Spirit.

19. Same Kind of Different Than Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore – Christian Non-Fiction. Story of the unexpected friendship between a homeless man and a wealthy art dealer. This Book was reviewed in August.

20. The Water Seeker by Kimberly Willis Holt – YA Fiction. Life along the Northwest Passage is hard and sometimes tragic for a young boy and his family.

21. Just Like Jesus – Christian Motivation.  Max Lucado writes about Jesus’ attributes and how we can immulate them in our lives.

22. An Uncommon Crusade by Caron Guillo – Christian Fiction. Story of three youth involved in the Children’s Crusade during the 12th Century. This book was reviewed in October.

23. Like a Rock by Steve May – Christian Motivation. Studies on character building from 1 Thessalonians.

24. The Devil in Pew Number Seven by Rebecca Nichols Alonzo – Biography. Minister’s family is persecuted and beset by problems created by an angry church member.

25. A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck – YA Fiction.  Two pre-teens travel from Chicago to visit their grandmother in rural Illinois with resulting culture shock.

26. House Rules by Jodi Picoult – Fiction. Teen age boy with Asberger’s Syndrome is accused of murdering his social skills mentor.

27. Near to the Heart of God by Robert J. Morgan – Christian Devotional. Daily readings based on a connection with favorite Christian hymns.

It’s been said that no one greets New Year’s Day with indifference. They are either eager and excited about what opportunities lie ahead or they are down and depressed that the future holds no such promise. Some think, “Is this as good as it gets? What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it’s all about?”  But wait, listen to the words of the song. Maybe turning yourself around is what it’s all about.

Well, I’m not going to expound philosophically about a children’s game. I’m just going to say I’m in the first group. I love January 1! I spend the day organizing my new day planner, making lists of things I want to accomplish in the coming year. I set comfortable, do-able goals (i.e. nothing to do with weight loss). I also look over the achievements of the past year, giving practically zero attention to my failures. (I am aware that sounds shallow but what I mean is that I don’t count how many contests I entered, only how many I won.)

This sort of puts unmet goals in perspective. For instance, I planned to finish my current writing project during 2011 and yet I am only half-way through. But when I look at what happened instead I can’t feel too bad about it. That was a very ambitious goal anyway.

So, that’s my view of our brand new year. May yours be blessed beyond anything you can hope or imagine.