Straight From The Hart

Column published today in LDR: Have you seen the latest credit card commercial which has the tag line “what if people really said what they meant?” It is a good illustration of the term hypocrisy, which seems to be a growing trend in our culture today. Hypocrisy is an interesting word.  In its most simple form, it refers to an actor.  In our modern day use and understanding it is the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform. We have all seen the theatrical masks representing comedy and tragedy.  Masks such as these were used by actors in Greek and Roman plays so the audience would know what part the actor was playing.  Hypocrisy is just wearing a mask to conceal one’s true identity, which is what is happening today in government. Getting back to the credit card commercial, and the hypocrisy which has become the very essence of current politics, let’s examine the “what if people really said  what th...

The Class of 61 We started out early that morning in ’49; Twas our first day of school, we were feeling so fine. Leaving parents and siblings for an adventure so new; Who could have guessed where it would lead us in 2002? Country schools now long gone, names like Detherage and Bolles At High Prairie and Bacon, we answered the rolls. Phillipsburg and Washington, we walked down gravel lanes There was Dry and Dusty, what was it called when it rained? Some started out at Adams, Oh, the memories we share; Gathered in lines up the staircase, for our day to prepare. Harry Truman was President, most cars were still black; TVs? – we didn’t have them, didn’t know there was a lack Of things we would soon find we couldn’t live without; Life was simpler and slower, of this there’s no doubt. First strangers, then best friends, we soon made our way To our groups and our cliques, though some changed day by day. There were teachers we loved, and I fear some ...

This column was published in Lebanon newspaper 10.05.16. Monday of this week marked an important anniversary in the history of the U.S.  What were you doing 59 years ago on October 4?  I was a freshman in the Lebanon Junior High building and I remember so well sitting at my desk as our teacher told us that Russia had put a satellite in space.  I was only 14, and science was never my strong subject,  so I didn’t understand at the time the historical significance of this event.  I only knew my teacher was very concerned that day. The Soviets called the satellite “Sputnik” which is the Russian word for satellite and it was launched at 10:29 p.m. Moscow time on October 4, 1957. According to NASA’s history website it was about the size of a beach ball and weighed 184 lbs and took about 98 minutes to orbit the earth on its elliptical path. It traveled at 18,000 miles per hour.  At its farthest point from earth it was 584 miles away and at its closest point...

Very few of us make it through life without some kind of “Triumph Over Tragedy” story.  I talked to Lebanon’s Gail Anderson this week about her family’s experience with surviving tragedy. It was in 1948 that William and Clarise Splan with their two young children were taking a vacation in the Bennett Spring area.  Many times people return from vacation saying they wished they could have just stayed in their vacation spot forever.  William Splan actually  thought he had made his family’s dream come true when he discovered the Bennett family were wanting to sell the old Bennett Hotel and decided to purchase it for his family.  Even before the movie, he had often said he wanted to live on land where “the river runs through it”. He sold their house in St. Louis and moved his young family to what is unarguably one of the most beautiful nature spots in Missouri.  But just a year later in 1949 tragedy struck the family.  His two children, Gail and Bi...

September is National Food Safety Month.  It was created in 1994 to heighten the awareness about the importance of food safety education.  But since 1994, the issue of our food safety has been expanded to include much more than handling, preparation and storage.  Now we find that politics has been introduced into the equation with Congress having to write legislation and provide regulations, especially with regard to how our food is labeled and shipped  before it ever reaches the supermarket and ultimately our table. As recently as January of this year, CNN had an article on their website about the issue of foreign food imports which  have exploded in recent years.  According to the USDA, those imports totalled $119 billion in 2014 which is the most recent information we have. While the U.S. has had several instances of food grown or processed domestically becoming contaminated with ecoli, or listeria or a host of other dangerous bacteria, even...

September is National Food Safety Month.  It was created in 1994 to heighten the awareness about the importance of food safety education.  But since 1994, the issue of our food safety has been expanded to include much more than handling, preparation and storage.  Now we find that politics has been introduced into the equation with Congress having to write legislation and provide regulations, especially with regard to how our food is labeled and shipped  before it ever reaches the supermarket and ultimately our table. As recently as January of this year, CNN had an article on their website about the issue of foreign food imports which  have exploded in recent years.  According to the USDA, those imports totalled $119 billion in 2014 which is the most recent information we have. While the U.S. has had several instances of food grown or processed domestically becoming contaminated with ecoli, or listeria or a host of other dangerous bacteria, even...