We need to communicate with each other -- and beyond the family too sometimes, but what's there to say? Naturally one has to define the subject but as a matter of fact, there is a lot to say about nearly anything that goes on. In the house. In the neighborhood. In the church. At the school meeting. In the city. In the county. In the state. In the nation. Well, I guess, since you put it that way, there is a lot to say, isn't there?

You are a writer too -- oh, you may not consider yourself one, but whenever you have an opportunity to express yourself, e.g., by writing to the newspaper Letters to the Editor, you are a writer. You are an author, as well, so when you have something to say, write it down (better re-read it though, maybe a couple times) and mail it to the person or persons involved. An added suggestion -- if the subject is controversial and you wrote it right away, sometimes it is better to write it, then allow yourself time to cool off (24 hours will usually do it), then pick it up the next day, read it again and if you still like it, mail it!

So, the next time any subject comes up, why not prepare yourself ahead of time to say something, you have just as much right to speak up, to talk, to comment on anything that any so-called: anchor person says on any TV network -- believe it. You are important, so don't sell yourself short.

You have the necessary tools at your fingertips -- you're using a computer to see this, so unless you do not have word processing program, you are on your way -- so get to it. If your Mom and Dad are still around, communication is always in order. If you're the Mom or Dad, the same thing applies with the kid(s). Computers and the Internet have been a great enabling factor with e-mail - so. "What's there to say?" Just think about it -- you will probably come up with a lot to say. The family is always in need of communication, that cross word or old sore of a family dispute that is old enough to be settled, or that word of encouragement or love left unexpressed, grab a Kleenex and think about it -- then do it! WRITE!

THE WORDWRIGHT

Posted by Bill Venrick at 7:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Eliminating much of the background of becoming a bugler in the scouts might make a shorter story, but I won't guarantee anything. In short, when I became a Boy Scout (after being a Cub Scout through all the appropriate and required levels) it was probably a given that I become the Bugler of our Scout Troop - maybe I was the only trumpet (or coronet) player but I wouldn't swear to that.

The story, as I remember it, was during one of the outings we scouts often experienced, the day had been long and I was "all tuckered out" and crawled into our mountain tent. I must have really been beat because, with the pre-arranged plan my brother was supposed to wake me up to blow taps and when he tried his best, I simply could not be awakened. There is a faint recollection of remembering all the cookie crumbs left over from the cookies my brother had apparently given me in hopes of sufficiently awakening me long enough for me to blow taps and then go back to bed. Taps was not played that night.

My scouting days were a little messed up on different occasions but that "taps-less" night must have been indicative of those messed up moments.

My dad was probably the most supportive father among my scouting buddies because he had made our sleeping bags. Instead of buying a factory made bag, for whatever reason, dad spent some tedious hours cutting up strips of brown awning material, some old cotton blankets and scrounging up a couple long closures to enable the Venrick kids possess the most unique sleeping bags. (Maybe my mother got involved with the sewing but nothing is real clear about the actual making of those sleeping bags - but I know they were not factory-made.)

Apparently I also whined for something similar to air mattresses and dad suggested I use a couple inner tubes (how auto & bicycle tires used to be--with an inner tube). The night I decided to use my inner-tube lined home-made sleeping bag was a near disaster. Being the slightest of build or frame probably had a lot to do with my problems that night but I recall a near physical fight when some of the kids tried to pull the inner tubes away from me and me, barely being able to hang onto the sleeping bag the inner tubes were soon gone and (like my bugle blowing duty) apparently zonked out in a deep sleep. Whatever the reason, when I woke up the next morning I was staring into the eyes of a Guinea hen on a pile of eggs - those nice Boy Scouts had raised the lid of a Guinea hen house and lowered me into that hen house beside a setting hen.

My, wasn't scouting fun! I suppose today's victims might have chosen legal routes to sue those scouts for messing with my mind. My solution was simpler, I quit the Boy Scouts at the Life Scout level and let my brother claim all the glory of being the only Eagle Scout in the Venrick Family.

My musical ability of playing the coronet in school obviously was the main reason I became the Scout Bugler (for a while). I played in about every group I could find an empty chair in the coronet section. I even got to play in a small band that worked a circus - I think that was just once, but it was fun. A symphonic orchestra needed a Third Part Coronet chair filled. Another small band welcomed me for a while - its bald leader was famous for triple-tonguing his trumpet in spite of not having any teeth! I was involved with a church orchestra and the main thing I remember about that was once forgetting my coronet after practice one week and left my horn there at the church building. Being a very serious student of music I went to get my coronet one day to practice (a little). My horn was no where to be found. I even called the police who came out to the house to make a report and check the doors to see if they had been jimmied. Later I got a call from the church reminding me that I had left my horn at the church building last week.

The other main event I recall in my career of playing in the Lancaster High School marching band was the time I was riding my bicycle home one night and ran into a parked car (after gawking at a neon sign in a yard). I was carrying one of those 90 degree-angled flashlights but that didn't prevent me from running into a parked car causing the door handle to poke a hole in my hand between my thumb and forefinger of my right hand. Several clamps were required to close the wound and my hand was immobilized for a while and got stiff while it was healing. But I still had to "play in the band" -- the music director needed me to be in the specific position for the precise formations at half-time during the football games. It didn't matter if I couldn't play - I learned teamwork and numbers count even if you can't perform completely. I guess the absence of sound from a single (third part) coronet was not a serious issue considering there were 124 other band members properly doing their job.

### THE WORDWRIGHT

Posted by Bill Venrick at 8:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

PICTURE YOURSELF facing your spouse about to draw their last breath after 57 years, the only one you ever lived with, sharing thousands of meals, tears of pain, tears of joy and now you just might recall hearing those words uttered as rings were exchanged, "...for better or worse..." Yes, those words were honest because you lived to see the day when that pledge of love was fulfilled in the most difficult way, the last shallow breath and then silence.

I think I can honestly say this is the only time when we can safely say, BELIEF has been proved between two people. Of course there were obviously times when such dedication was there but for the sake of principles and actuality, being at the threshold of death and knowing you were the other half of that promise "for better, for worse, to love and to cherish until death do us part..."

"Why such a gloomy assortment of words today, Bill?" Well, my wife and I traveled two hundred miles to be with the widow of a friend who passed away in the manner mentioned above...that last shallow breath and then silence. His wife experienced the identical moment as hundreds, thousands, millions of spouses have for centuries.

WHO, OR WHAT DO WE BELIEVE? Both of the people in the brief cameo above believed in the other. They worked out problems through nearly sixty years of life together. They shared a common ground of belief, trust and faith in God and each other because they knew this trio of virtues was the muscle and sinew of their marriage. Their lives were the evidence of what was deeply ingrained in them.

BELIEF, TRUST, FAITH are, I am afraid, becoming as uncommon as common sense today.

Our country or nation is going through "another rough time" as the likes of other rough times have actually happened before. (We tend to forget history.) People have "believed" in some thing: a bank, a system, whatever, and that thin thread of belief, trust and faith (like the three woven strands of rope) began to unravel, weaken and finally snap because the other party, the bank[s], the system, or whatever, did not share the common strands of belief, trust and faith. There may have been a board of directors screaming for more profits. Perhaps a CEO had more greed than was proper for a business man. Perhaps the system was being run during the past decades by cutting too many corners and fudging figures to suit jaded concepts of business ethics.

Looking back 80 years to the Great Depression we have admittedly gone through times likes this . And, to hear annotated comments recently, the "terrible shape" we're in "is not as bad as the l960's [or whatever time window is called to mind]. "Do you mean things have been as bad as they are now?" Yes, and maybe worse than they are right now. (It all depends on who is telling the history.)

When a war came along, in our country, for example, World War II. it was an era when patriotism was still in vogue (from the Revolutionary War mainly) and the aim of most citizens, and the direction of our nation, was to STAY TOGETHER, or perhaps more accurately, to STICK TOGETHER. During the duration of World War II, housewives learned how to do without or use less sugar, silk hose, save grease in cans to take to the store (for the cause), plan meals around rationed foods. Men not involved in the war, due to age or physical disqualifications, found the A, B and C gasoline ration stamps on their windshields of the family car limited the use of fuel they could buy. The kids were even involved as they were encouraged to save paper, and any other scrap that might be utilized in recycling to meet the demands of a nation in war. We believed there was a need. We were even willing to sacrifice to meet those needs as long as necessary.

Today, what is so different? We are at war. In fact, several wars -- almost on the tail of the other. We are in a constant alert for warring terrorists. We have seen a war of greed drive our nation to its knees. We have seen giants in the auto industry come begging assembled leaders of our nation for loans that staggered the minds of "normal or average citizens". We have seen, and continue to see, citizens lose their homes because the banks (we were told, were the problem) loaned money to people whose income or credit simply would have disqualified them loans a few decades ago. I am sure the "sides" involved will never truthfully admit to guilt but the wife of a banker told me it was the government's fault that such loans were allowed to be made. Personally I believe this because it is the government who has made it their business to CONTROL much of the economy and anything else it can gets its fingers onto. The elusive "fine print" of loans enticed people to borrow more than they could afford, and somehow when the mortgage blossomed out, it doubled in some instances and an $800 mortgage payment became $1,600! "For better or worse" relationships (marriages, in fact) were drastically affected.

We have a president, who, along with his compatriots, have simply created some issues that makes old-timers wonder how in the world can we spend so much money and expect to straighten out the economy. I wonder sometimes who to believe. I am convinced that there are sincere Democrats and Republicans who love our country. I am also convinced that there are extremists and "Looneys" on both ends of the political spectrum. WHO DO WE BELIEVE? WHAT DO WE BELIEVE?

Hardly a day passes but I receive another e-mail that says this or that to upset or strain relationships or belief, trust or faith in our esteemed leaders. It matters not that they are Democrats or Republicans. There are good people on both sides but let's face it, they are PEOPLE. And most everyone knows that all people are not good people. People makes mistakes and bad people make worse mistakes.
Good people like to think their good friends would not send them untruthful e-mails, for example, and therefor MILLIONS of e-mails zoom through the Internet only later to find that some of the facts are "not entirely correct".

The problem, we are now told is mis-information. And the word ISSUE is used a lot to take the place of the more honest word: PROBLEM. Yes, there are PROBLEMS, folks and ISSUES just don't tell the complete story.

We have left the chicken house door ajar and further allowed the wrong kind of people "in charge" for far too many decades while we thought all was in good hands. We, not the elected leaders, were asleep at the switch. We were not watching the wall for invaders. We have been wronged and we have wronged others. Why is it that our nation cannot see that when we think less of loyalty that such disloyalty can and has ruined our nation? Why have we set income goals so high and then cry "FOUL" when the industries of America "go offshore" to get their products manufactured? Why is it we have killed millions of babies and think we can wash their blood off our hands with the detergent we call "convenience" and not have our minds altered by such actions? Why should we be surprised to find we have thrown out God from our schools and wonder why some are now wanting us to take God's name off our currency? Godliness is not just found in Christianity because we have seen a quite workable "marriage" of Christians and Jews during the past hundred years and more. Tolerance is a different ball game today. We have tried to find value and worth in hyphenating our origins and essentially rubbing out the image of AMERICAN completely. What was once something to be proud to claim, is now something strangely inadequate or unacceptable.

Back to my original plea - WHAT CAN WE BELIEVE? WHO CAN WE BELIEVE? Can we expect most, or all or our nation's leaders to be able to look us directly in our eyes when their last breath is taken, "I have been completely honest with you..." And also, folks, let up on sending all those stories about leaders, heroes, or columnists who say this or that UNTIL YOU KNOW for a fact that they are true.

Personally I think since the advent of C-Span, thirty years ago, we have been able to be more informed than we ever were. Brian Lamb, the founder and CEO of C-span was interviewed and according to the comments in Wikipedia Free Encyclopedia, the following comment serves as enlightenment:

He has been to the grave site of every United States president and vice-president. Lamb is not registered as a Democrat or Republican, he has voted for candidates in both parties during presidential elections. In July 2008, John McCain jokingly described [Lamb's] political affiliation as, "I think he's a vegetarian." In an interview Lamb stated he has "been listening to both sides so long that I don't know what I think anymore".

That is just about where I am - I cannot honestly believe every Democrat or Republican is an idiot, stupid, a liar or any other accusation. I think there is too much glut to sort through and only when that is reduced will we know what we can believe. ####

THE WORDWRIGHT

Posted by Bill Venrick at 11:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)