Thinking Out Loud, Volume DXXI

Every. Single. Day. I don't get a break. My land line rings off the wall all the time. I don't answer it. Both my email inbox and my snail mail box are loaded every day with notices like, "Preston, you've got a birthday coming and it's only a couple months away. You will have some big decisions to make, and we can help you!" If truth in advertising laws were fully enforced, the notices I receive would sound more like this, "Preston, what little bit of money you have, we want it!" You see, I'm less than two months away from birthday number sixty-five, and it's time for Medicare and Medicare Supplements. Here's the truth. I know how old I am, and I don't like being reminded about it non-stop. Yes, I know I have to face reality and sign up for Medicare, and I need to get a supplement policy. I'm taking care of all that. But really, I don't feel sixty-five, and to be honest, I really don't think I'm your typical sixty-five year old man. I'm still working and I have no plans, or even a desire, to retire any time soon. I still get up early about four mornings a week to go running, although I have changed to more of a run/walk routine, and it's still common for me to get in eight or nine miles at a time. I have no plans to stop doing that either. I like most all of the new songs we sing at church, and I still sing along with every one of them. And speaking of church, Angie and I are still very active and have leadership roles at church. Most of my friends are significantly younger than I am. One of my good friends is a pharmacist who jokingly acts frustrated with me sometimes because I so rarely ever need a prescription filled. I'm often asked just what is it that keeps me so active at my age, and I have given some thought to that question. I think it may just simply be a sense of duty, or maybe it's that I still have a purpose. I'm of the opinion that I taught my kids well, and a big part of that teaching was how to make it on their own, yet I choose to believe they and their families still need me. On those really cold mornings, or on the days when the weather may be questionable, if any other person in our running group decides to get out of bed and go for a run, I want to be someone they can depend on to be there to join them, even if they're faster than me. At church I want to be seen as a person who is dependable, faithful, and enthusiastic about my duties, a person who WANTS to be there. At work, I want those I work with to rest assured that I'm still out there making the calls, and I'm always looking to increase sales by opening new accounts. If I ever get to the point to where I'm no longer useful, I hope no one tells me, because it's that sense of duty and purpose that keeps me chugging along. I'll try to remember to update you in about ten years and let you know how it's going. Preston

Thinking Out Loud, Volume DXX

Imagine this scenario: You applied for a job, and you have been called in for an interview. Since you've done this before, you have a good idea what to expect, and what kind of questions you'll be asked. When you walk in to the waiting room to await your appointment, you see other applicants for the same position also awaiting their turns, so you make a quick assessment as to just what your competition looks like. Since there's still a little time before you will be summoned, you step outside to call a friend, and you tell him who your competitors are going to be. Then you give him his instructions, "See what kind of dirt you can dig up on each one of them and get back to me ASAP." When your name is called for your interview, you go back loaded for bear. You're ready for that inevitable question when it's asked, "Tell us a little bit about yourself. Why should we hire YOU for this job?" This is how you respond: "Well, I'm not like all those other candidates you are interviewing. Melissa Wescott, the one you just interviewed, was known to have experimented with marijuana when she first started college. The guy coming in after me, Skip Flintman, is too religious for this job and will likely let his beliefs affect the decisions he makes. And Cal Evans, the one who just left about an hour ago, would rather climb a tree to tell a lie when he could stand on the ground and tell the truth." Can you imagine how likely you would be to get the job when you tried to build yourself up by tearing everyone else down? Actually, I had something like that happen to me a few years ago. I told a "friend" about a job I was going after, so he went and applied for the same job, and told them what a mistake it would be to hire me. I was the one who got the job. All my life I've been taught that it shows a lack of character when a person tries to make himself look good by making everyone else look bad. It leads me to believe there must not be all that much good he can say about himself. Who would hire someone who did that in his interview? Actually, I know a couple people who would: You and me, because every single candidate seeking the job of President of the United States is doing just that, and we have to decide on one of them. To be honest, all the mudslinging and false accusations are not new to politics....I've heard it all my life, but it seems to me we've reached a new low, and it's not just the candidates. It's also many of the supporters of each of these candidates. Have we as a nation reached the point to where we only feed off of negativity and hate? I wonder what Jesus would do if he was walking the streets of America today. Would he be involved in all the character assassination that we are hearing every single day? Would he give up on his call for us to "love our neighbors as ourselves?" What if he was running for office? Could he get elected? I'm not here to push for any particular candidate. When Election Day comes around, I will vote and I urge you to do the same. I guess it doesn't hurt to dream, though, about a day when the people decide to reject all the name calling and slander, and instead will support candidates because of their character, ability, and honesty. I would love to see that day, but I'm not sure if I will. I'm getting kinda old. Preston

Thinking Out Loud, Volume DXIX

While browsing through a book fair more than twenty years ago, I stumbled across a novel I had never heard of, but for some reason, it grabbed my attention, so I bought it. It just so happened that it was the first of a series about pre-historic people written by Jean Auel, called "The Clan of the Cave Bear." As I began to talk about it to friends, I was amazed at just how many of them had read it. Among many of the tribes or "clans" depicted in this book, there were no spoken languages, but there was a universal sign language used by the people as their way of communicating. Many years later, there were numerous tribes of people living in what is now known as America, who had spoken languages, but the language of each tribe was different. Therefore, when it became necessary for different tribes to communicate with each other, they once again utilized that universal sign language. Over time, as The United States came into being, English became the national language, and many people also became fluent in multiple tongues, so that sign language I was speaking of was no longer taught. Today there is a small percentage of the population who is able to communicate with signs, and they are primarily either the hearing impaired or those trained to communicate with them, when just a few centuries before, everyone knew how to speak by signing. Over the millenniums, as spoken languages began to be perfected, systems began to be developed to put the spoken languages on paper, resulting in even fewer people needing to use sign language. Technology then began to explode, resulting in telephones, radio, and television, all of which utilized the spoken language. Then came email and text. How could any of us have foreseen the magnitude of which those two forms of dialogue would revolutionize the ways we communicate? So our point to ponder today is this, "Is written language beginning to replace the spoken word?" I honestly can't imagine our spoken language completely dying, but I CAN visualize individuals losing the art of verbal conversation. May that prediction never come true! Those of you who know me well are aware of the fact that I'm a regular patron of the Corner Coffee House, where I meet my "coffee buddies" to just sit and talk while sipping on our favorite types of coffee. It's a place where friendships are born that will hopefully last through eternity. We laugh together, we cry together, we discuss life, we dream together, we can name each others' spouses and kids, and we owe it all to the art of verbal conversation. I saw a cartoon a few days ago showing an invitation to a party that said, "You are invited to come to my place this Saturday night so we can all sit and stare at our phones together." I grew up without ever viewing conversation as an art, because I thought it just came naturally, but I've come to realize that it requires a skill that has to be practiced and fine tuned on a regular basis. I feel quite sure I won't live long enough to see it die, and though I pray for long, healthy lives for my grandchildren, it is also my prayer they never witness the death of spoken conversation. I prefer hearing your voice over just reading what you type. Preston NOTE: I actually wrote this article on April 27, 2016. Since then, on May 10, I saw a news story saying that school systems are reporting that elementary school children are lacking in conversational skills as compared to previous generations.

Thinking Out Loud, Volume DXVIII

If a hill has a name, respect that hill. I encountered such a hill recently on Monte Sano Mountain in Huntsville, Alabama. Its name is Heartbreak Hill, and it is encountered at about the 2.5 mile mark of a big 10K race they have every year in Huntsville. When I had to climb it, I was just out for an early morning walk with my son in law, but let me tell you, getting up that hill had my heart beating out of my chest, and my breathing sounded like a horse that had just finished The Preakness. The pavement on that street has deep grooves designed to help cars get enough traction to keep them from sliding down. It was a tough hill, I tell you. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely not!! Well, maybe there's just one part about it I've enjoyed.....telling people about it, which I couldn't do had I not first experienced it. Back in late spring and early summer of 1986, my dad was down to his last few weeks of life. He knew it, and I knew it. Dad was a WWII veteran, and I was aware of the fact that he saw a lot of action during his days in the war, but I had heard none of the stories of his experiences. One day during that period of his final days, I was visiting him, and we were the only ones there, so I asked him to fill me in on some of the details of what he saw and experienced in Europe and Northern Africa. As he began to talk, my mouth was open in horror as it began to sink in just what all my own dad had witnessed. Then it dawned on me just why he had never spoken to us of these events that were still so vivid in his mind. Today, however, I'm so glad I asked about it and for the fact that he shared it with me. It's a part of my heritage and it would've been a shame if I had gone through my entire life without knowing the stories. Ladies and gentlemen, every one of us has experienced very trying, unpleasant circumstances; some of which were just hard trials, like Heartbreak Hill, while others, such as my dad's war experiences, may have left deep scars. While we were going through those difficult trials and tribulations, we may have even talked to others who had experienced almost identical situations in their lives, and it was good for us to know that we had friends who knew what we were dealing with. That was only possible because someone was willing to share what they had been through, even though it may have been painful to bring it up. Trust me, no matter how horrific your experiences may have been, there are others who either have gone through the same thing before, or may even be going through it now. People you don't even suspect. I'm not suggesting that we should broadcast the details of those events to the world, I'm just saying we should not withhold that information from those who would benefit from hearing our stories. There have been times while writing this blog when I've cringed as I relayed events of my life that previously I thought no one else would ever know about, and trust me, it wasn't done simply as an effort to air my dirty laundry; it's just that I knew there were others who could identify with my stories, if only for the comfort of knowing they weren't alone in their struggles. We all have stories, and as hard as it may seem, there are those out there who need to hear them. Preston