The people's voice of reason
The people's voice of reason
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When the Lord selected Moses to lead his people He set down some rules. The first four dealt with ecclesiastical matters about who was the leader of the team, and the rules related thereto. He then got down to laying down temporal rules, and the first of which concerned honoring fathers and mothers. In Exodus 20:12, He told Moses that he and his followers should honor their fathers and their mothers; respect one’s elders. In short: When you’re young do what they say; when you’re older, take...
On June 23, residents at Elmcroft at Halcyon, one of Montgomery's assisted living facilities, learned that one out of three senior citizens falls each year. A troublesome fact that, but one that may be greater than what is on the books. Many seniors who experience falls tend not to bother their family physician, for one reason or another. This, and other facts relative to falling, were shared with the residents by Delane Richardson, one of the Central Alabama Aging Consortium's team of experts...
Pleasing the clientele anywhere can be somewhat of a vexing problem, and none more vexing that at an institution where the bulk of those being served are well into their Golden Years. The chef at your humble scribe's newest abode, Elmcroft of Halcyon, can well endorse this observation as she was confronted with the following experience: As a general rule, Gloria Crews does an admirable job of pleasing the palates of the residents. But one day she found herself facing an insurmountable odd. A...
Many years ago there was a refrain about the pay of a young man in the Army that went: “Twenty one dollars a day; once a month.” Based on the efforts of our illustrious commander-in-chief, this may become the situation once again. President Barrack Obama says he wants to cut the military back to where it was before World War II. Really? Not that long ago your chronicler, after watching Fearless Leader in action, made a suggestion that the wise investor should put his money into white flags and b...
It's been a good eight decades since your humble scribe has enjoyed the company of a dog; and then it was for only a short time. But now, canine company once more brightens this humble life, albeit its once every fortnight, and then for only an hour. But, one makes the best of what one is allowed. This time its many dogs, but they belong to someone else. At any rate their company is enjoyed even though its only twice in a month. And it is enjoyed with a vigor, as may be witnessed by the way the...
Out there in a world best describer as “Geriatrica” exist a group of old folks one might best be described as the Geriatric class. These folks were best described by author Tom Brokaw as “The Greatest Generation.” Their “greatness” has now faded somewhat. Their offspring have left the nest. Usually one of the pair has now gone to his or her reward; and living in the old homestead just ain't what it used to be. So, now many have found haven in an institution called “Independent Living Facili...
February is the shortest month of the year, but for us old timers it's a month that produced a lot of the folks who entertained us through our years of the “Greatest Generation.” For example, Actor Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901. Who can forget his memorable portrayal in Gone With the Wind? On the second day of February, 1937, Tommy Smothers of the famous “Smothers Brothers,” came into the world. Comedian Joey Bishop was born on February 3, 1918; and a year and a day later, Red But...
As children old timers were taught to be courteous, especially to their elders. From around the 12th or 13th Century comes the French word courtesy. The noun courtesy refers to an act that is performed as an expression of respect. If a person respects someone it follows that they are courteous to that person in return. Polite behavior is an expression of courtesy. It is a display of excellent manners in dealing with another person. So it follows that as seniors enter into their twilight years...
Your writer grew up surrounded by books; the place where toys were stored was adjacent to a voluminous family library, and reading books was a fascination which continued until age diminished the capacity to read. Biographies were a staple, and one that had a lasting impact was a 1922 book entitled Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics, and at Home; in which Emily Post dealt extensively with behaving properly. For some reason this publication intrigued this young reader, and her words...
While most of the months of the year derive their names from some sort of significant or romantic root, three months of the year have no special meaning other than numerical. September gets its name from the Latin word septem, seven, October for the Latin octo, eight, and novem in Latin means nine. That's how the months of the year lined up numerically in times gone by. Unlike July, which was named for Julius Caesar, or August, which got its name from Augustus, the word November just means that...
As we prepare to celebrate Christmas 2015, it might serve us well to recall a previous Christmas, one that occurred in 1777, at Valley Forge, Pa. The men who were seeking to break free of the British Crown and form their own--free--nation huddled in the snow there fearing that their Valliant effort might be for naught. The general who was desperately trying to lead our shivering, rag-tag band of patriots to freedom from the tyranny of King George III, George Washington, went on to lead them,...
A new publication most senors would be wise to get their hands on is the 2015 Dementia Resource Guide that was put out by the Alabama Department of Senior Services, and was recently the subject of one of Eastdale Estates' weekly Who's Lookin' Out for You? Series held each Tuesday morning there. Mrs. Susan Segrest, Executive Director of the Central Alabama Aging Consortium, spent a Tuesday morning last month at the senior retirement facility explaining the various sections of the publication,...
Most “senior citizens” who populate various types of government-supported living facilities are beginning to spend a major part of their time contemplating on their future—however long that may be. Eighty five years ago most of them were toddlers; Mahatma Gandhi was making his Salt March, and the Planet Pluto had just been discovered. Most of them, your writer included, weren't aware that we were entering into what became known as “The Great Depression,” because the news focused more on Gangst...
They landed at Normandy, were shot at by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor, endured the Inchon landing, sweated it out in the jungles of Vietnam, lived day after day in the expectation of a Russian invasion of Western Germany, or fought in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern theaters--in defense of their country. Most of them endured the Great Depression, where the minimum wage for those who were lucky enough to have jobs was 25 cents an hour; only to see their country morph into a wartime environme...
Each year our colleges and universities spew forth an avalanche of graduates, many with their heads packed with new information; but few with any regard to knowledge that emerged in centuries past. The world might be better served today if more students of every nation were to have been brought to their attention four century-old literary advice from the pen of William Shakespeare, for example: In Act 1 of Scene 3, Hamlet's chief counselor advises his son Laertes some pearls of wisdom that...
Emily Post passed away before cell phones became popular; but she was the ultimate expert on etiquette. She would most likely have been mortified had she been alive to witness today's epitome of bad manners: cell phone usage. Marching under her banner, modern day experts on good manners have posted a list of ten rules for good cell phone manners, a list that has apparently been kept under wraps, for there's little evidence of it having ever been read by the multitude of cell phone users....
The word is unique, in that it has two spellings—both of which are correct—and both express the same feeling. Whether the last syllable begins with an a or an e, is relatively immaterial, since the meaning is the same: a special atmosphere, mood, or feeling that is created by a particular entity. After a dozen years of searching for a place in which to live out the remaining years of existence on this planet, the realization emerges that what was being sought was: “A special atmosphere or mood...
Travel with me into an imaginary world of the future. Imagine if you will the Bizarro world of “Obamaball.” Come with me as we arrive at a fictional ball game in Fantasyland. We're in the top of the ninth inning and the score is tied. A relatively unknown batter strides to the plate. A hush descends over the field; the batter nervously adjusts his ill-fitting cap, smiles at the crowd and notices that the umpire is frantically trying to inform him that he's facing in the wrong direction. Und...
Over the years most of us have had to endure more than one windy speaker. Unfortunately, what most speakers don't realize was that a good speech doesn't have to be a long speech. Fifteen minutes should be the limit for an effective speech. Beyond that we get into boredom. A two minute speech can accomplish as much or more than a two-hour presentation. A case in point is the two-minute presentation given by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863, at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Mr....
What should Santa Claus have brought us for Christmas this year? How about a healthy dose of Laissez-faire? And just what is Laisssez-faire, you may ask? One could say that it was one of the founding principles of our nation. Many residents of the colonies, as this country was commonly referred to back then, grew tired of bowing to the crown, and letting the King of England tell them how to live their lives. Some of the stalwarts of the idea had read the works of 18th Century Scottish...
Over the last nearly three and a half centuries, we learn from searching the Internet, that 10 significant events have taken place on Christmas day, beginning with the birth of Isaac Newton, the British scientist who first put his finger on just what gravity was. He was born on Christmas Day in 1642. The next significant Christmas Day event occurred 134 years later, when George Washington crossed the Delaware River in 1776. Nothing significant happened again on Christmas Day for another 142 year...
Alabama's senior legislators concluded their three-day session on October 22, in the old House of Representatives Chamber in the Alabama Capitol building. During their session they studied 58 resolutions submitted by the various members and selected 10 to submit to the Governor and the Legislature for their consideration and possible action. The ten resolutions that had a direct impact on the State's senior population, in order of popularity, were: Legislation to provide funding formobile...
When Alabama's senior legislature begins its three-day session on October 20, it will have the unique opportunity to convene in the old House of Representatives Chamber in the Alabama Capitol building. Normally the ASHL meets in the House Chamber located in the State Office Building, but that venue is temporarily closed. For some of the delegates this will be like a homecoming, since a good many of them had close relationships of a variety of sorts with this venue. For you humble scribe, it...
Speaking of the U.S. as being a “Nation of Laws,” is good, so long as these laws are designed for our benefit, and we know them and that we fully understand them; such is the case with the fledgling Elder Abuse Law. Barely two years old, the new piece of legislation concerns itself with the fact that there are in the neighborhood of 700,000 Alabamians age 65 and older, whose wellbeing is a major concern of the Alabama Department of Senior Services. Also, many of those covered exist on a lim...
On the third Monday of most months a group of proud Americans meet at the Crump Center in Montgomery, stand and face our nation's banner and pledge their allegiance to a nation that many of them defended, but now can hardly recognize. “I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands,” they proudly proclaim, “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” And so begins the monthly AARP meeting. As youngsters they re...
