Sugar Creek Publishing

Earthquakes continue to plague many parts of the world, but another danger may lurk beneath America’s soil. As our legislators plod along to avoid following the U.S. Constitution, the risk of our Founding Fathers stirring in their graves rises precipitously.

One of my favorite classes was Constitutional Law. Taught by an astute professor whose parents had fled Mainland China days before the Cultural Revolution. He grew up in Taiwan and rose to be one of its top legal officials. He knew the value of the Constitution and pounded that thought into our heads every day we were privileged to sit in his classroom.

The delicate balance of power may be the greatest asset of the instrument. No one branch can overpower either one of both of the others. Legislative, Executive and Judicial work in an odd dance to perfect the system we know as a Republic. Now, to the chagrin of those who revere the Constitution, there are those within the Beltway who seek to do an end run around its protections and push ahead with legislation in a manner that mocks the beauty of those words written by Madison, Jefferson, et.al.

Heed Section 7: (Three of its four paragraphs are pertinent here.)

All bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills.

Every Bill which shall have passed the House of Representatives and the Senate shall, before it becomes a Law, be presented to the President of the United States; if he approve he shall sign it, but if not he shall return it, with his Objections to that House in which it shall have originated, who shall enter the Objections at large on their Journal and proceed to reconsider it. If after such Reconsideration two thirds of that House shall agree to pass the Bill, it shall be sent, together with the Objections, to the other House, by which it shall likewise be reconsidered and if approved by two thirds of that House, it shall become a Law. But in all such Cases yeas and Nays shall determine the Votes of both Houses, and the Names of the Persons voting for and against the Bill shall be entered on the Journal of each House respectively.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have all of our representatives stand and face the camera to vote on this? The audience might even top the numbers for the upcoming Super Bowl.

Note that the words “shall have passed” are paramount in the first sentence. The tactic to end run around the Constitution to move to reconcile a bill that will not have passed in its final form is not only troubling, it is illegal. Telling us that they will take a bill that has gone through both houses and “tweak” it before using it is not encouraging. If it’s not in proper form, defeat it.

I weary of the childish tantrums and petty tactics of those who deem cheating the preferable way to achieve success. And what of the vote count? It is the most important tally imaginable, yet the mindset of the leadership that continues to twist arms and bribe for votes flies in the face of its social reflection that urges youth sports teams not to keep score.

Oh, so they only keep score when it suits them? Give me oxygen. When will we finally, as voters, come to the sad realization that the majority of those serving in Congress serve themselves? There are exceptions. Mike Pence comes to mind immediately. I chuckle when he responds to a reporter’s question that attempts to force him to say something unkind about the opposing party. In characteristic fashion, he smiles and takes the high road and disagrees with policy — not personality.

It is clear that the majority of Americans did not want the pending health care bill and over three-fourths of them are satisfied with their own health care, we witnessed a vote that instituted a system hell bent on spiraling our children and grandchildren into debt to cover the portion of society without insurance. To that, many of us said, “Stop!” All for naught….

Some claim that “The American Dream” has disappeared in the wake of that pathetic legislation now dubbed “Obama Care”. Are we ready to accept that our children and grandchildren live as equals with those who have no ambition or work ethic? I hope not.

Don’t wait for the next sound bite or the next campaign. Sadly, that may have already begun…. Call those legislators who teeter on the edge and might fall in line with bully tactics.

In the end, it should be your call. Your legislators should be voting as you wish, not as their cohorts wish. Ronald Reagan coined the phrase, “Trust, but verify.” Oh, we hear various voices urging us to trust them to do the right thing. Right. They echo the woman who said (paraphrasing), “Pass the bill and then find out what’s in it.”

Would you consider signing a contract that you had not read? The die has not been permanently cast. In order to implement laws, they must be judged in line with the US Constitution and they must be funded. Thank goodness, some of the newcomers to the House of Representatives say that they are bent on doing both — seeing that this horrendous piece of legislation is put into the trash bin as not being constitutional and defunding programs that are useless.

Could you run your household indefinitely in a parallel fashion to the US government? I doubt it. Hold the proverbial feet to the fire. Demand that those of us in the 90% who were satisfied with our health care do not have our lives wrecked and our grandchildren bankrupted to fund care for the 10% who want it. Whenever a good or service is readily available without real effort, its popularity skyrockets. Try putting out a “for free” sign and see what happens.

Such is the case with welfare and its peers. Pair an accelerating Social Security minimum age with a deadly serious, really thorough assessment of just who deserves help and just who is able to go to work and earn and you might have a good first step. In fact, a study might be very cost effective.

Entitlement? More like enablement. Think about it.

Education, always the hot topic among parents, continues to dominate a good segment of the news these days. It is proven that simply throwing money at schools yields paltry results, yet government continues to beat this dead horse.

Somehow, it escapes the current technology-bound set that we managed to build this nation without a computer. Envisage, if you will, hardy souls scraping out a bare existence with little more than their bare hands and dogged determination. Problems were identified, pondered and solved with that amazing device that lies between a human’s ears: the brain.

As primitive rafts plied the eastern waters, striving to meet in St. Louis and camber onto rough-riding wagons to make their way west, people set their eyes on a goal and set out to achieve it. If a wagon wheel broke, pioneers used their ingenuity and fixed it. Natural barriers fueled even more zeal in those bound for a better life.

As the nation grew in physical size, so did the impetus of its people to succeed. Railroads opened the west as no other means of conveyance had done in the past, and the die was cast: a burgeoning nation was coming together and would cast a shadow across the world. Free people are doers.

In the wake of “The War to End All Wars”, Americans went about their lives and endured the Great Depression. With World War II came a deeper challenge, defending friends abroad and retribution on Japan for a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.

When veterans returned to the states after VE Day and VJ Day, their lives changed markedly. Many used the GI Bill to attend college; others founded their own businesses and settled down to wives, homes and families. Women, badly needed in the defense plants, realized that work outside the home held a viable career path. (The arguments for and against women in the workforce would constitute another column entirely.)

However, there was more to these men than met the eye. They stood as prime examples of two very critical words that begin with a capital E. For now, I’ll table them. First, a bit of background.

If you talk with someone over 50 and ask for a contrast between the childhoods of their generation against that of today, you’ll hear glaring differences. For one thing, their parents didn’t insulate them from hard work. Chores were as common as the next breath, and for kids on the farm, they were not only difficult and time-consuming, but they were also non-gender specific. Girls worked as hard as boys in those days. These children were far more exposed than kids today — and I don’t refer to poor fashion taste but to life experiences that transcend formal schooling.

Let’s take one example, home maintenance. When I grew up, fathers could fix just about anything. It was rare for most families to call a repairman. If your Dad couldn’t fix, a neighbor could. Lending a hand formed a critical piece of everyday life.

When a father performed a chore, it was likely that he had a child at his side. Nothing is more important than observation. Sure, you can learn a lot of things by reading, but watching a job in progress is priceless.

And so, we have the first of the two E words: exposure. If you’ve never seen anything done, you won’t have a clue as how to do it. What of the second E? It positions itself as a prime motivator.

You’ve probably heard the Mantra; there is no substitute for experience. What an understatement! If you learn to solve a problem or fix something, that information is filed away for future reference. We begin to build experience with the first touch on a crib blanket and continue the pattern for a lifetime.

When you combine exposure with experience, the product is the assessment of US held worldwide for decades: exceptionalism. If you don’t think that Americans are exceptional, go overseas and look around. You’ll feel like bowing and kissing the ground upon your return.

Unless and until we begin to educate our children in the skills to survive, we face an unfathomable risk. Imagine if the technology we all take for granted disappeared overnight. Who among us would have the knowledge to eke out an existence in the absence of conveniences?

It’s one thing to be the best at moving information, but if you cannot produce something, figure out how something works, or fix it, you’re toast. Over the past few decades, we have seen our manufacturing jobs leave. It’s not surprising that foreign plants are more modern. They are newer. Our steel plants and rolling mills hit their zenith and were never updated. Profits were put elsewhere than retooling. The result is a rust belt that insults the American psyche.

The picture is bleak if war comes home and we must negotiate with enemies for military parts. When I hear the reports that major US companies are selling high tech products and systems to China, I wonder if we haven’t been feeding the tiger that will feed us.

Learn to do something with your hands beside computer work. Writing by hand requires more deep thinking than hitting the keyboard. Hand-written materials are rare these days. So are men and women who can tackle routine home maintenance with confidence. How prepared are you to really take care of yourself?

Exposure. Experience. Exceptionalism. Do these words describe you? Think about it.

Wood. Truly amazing. No matter how long you work with wood, you never lose your appreciation for its composition or versatility. Maybe that’s why I derive such pleasure in woodworking as a hobby. There must be hundreds of adages regarding woodworking, but the most famous is likely “measure twice, cut once”. While in this instance it refers to a pleasant pastime, it is just as germane when applied to finances.

What if someone coined the term “save twice, spend once”? My, that would be novel, wouldn’t it? What if it was put in place within Congress? Dare I forecast drama and panic?

In the past, I’ve written about what I deem “OPM” — fiscal irresponsibility’s equal to opium. Spending OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY is too easy. What crunches the family budget fails to daunt a determined committee chair with a personal, ideology-inspired agenda. We have seen this no matter the administration or party. It must stop.

Nobody can spend indefinitely without paying the piper. In this case, the government piper doesn’t play the piccolo. The piper plays a tuba. Try holding a tuba up in a piccolo’s position and see how long you last!

The weight of public debt is no joke or turn of phrase. It will come to rest on the shoulders of children yet unborn, and they will have had no say in the matter. How would you like to work hard and pay for someone else’s bad behavior? Well, that’s what we push onto the backs of today’s children.

Usually a “lame duck” Congress accomplishes very little. This year, however, the Congress and the Senate had better get busy and dismantle regulations that maintain a stranglehold on American producers — at least those who are still making something! Those in the know estimate that business sits on over $14 trillion. Both investment and hiring are inactive because the future is so uncertain.

Look out! Your health care costs are scaling up. And this, despite all the promises that the costs would decrease! It defies common sense that you can expand the pool of persons covered with the same number of caregivers (doctors and nurses) and not see costs skyrocket. So what else is new? Aren’t we accustomed to hollow promises by now?

Looking back over the past two years, we’ve witnessed a real contrast. We, the people, employ those whom we elect — especially to federal office. We expect them to serve the government and take on tasks much too large for the average person, county, city or state. We expect the federal government to protect us, secure our borders, provide safe routes of transportation and regulate economic sectors that could easily fall prey to corrupt actors. In exchange, we pledge to finance its work. If a broker mirrored the federal government, nobody would invest a dime!

So far, we’ve made a bad investment if we expect real results. Perhaps, the incoming Representatives and Senators who vow to put a stop to the spending foolishness can get some traction and we will see progress.

Just like a piece of wood, if you measure once before cutting and you’re wrong, you’re toast. Well, I smell the toast burning. Let’s insist that budgetary decisions be sound, based on fact and not assume facts not in evidence. You can’t base your future solely on dreams. You need real ingredients to spawn success.

Pray for America to restore her work ethic, her national pride, and her world position as defender of freedom for all people. Pray that someone in Washington, D.C. wakes up and lines the borders with our soldiers. If America is worth defending overseas, why isn’t she worth defending at home? I’m tired of a Swiss cheese border. I want more than that.

What about YOU — yes, you personally? Are YOU ready to demand fiscal responsibility and a sense of resolve when it comes to really critical national security decisions? I am. Phone calls, letters and emails count. If you don’t know how to reach your Congressman or Senator, pick up the phone book, or check with any newspaper or radio/TV station. Keep in touch. If you don’t hold elected officials’ feet to the fire, you have nobody to blame but yourself. Don’t forget about the toast. If you do, you may BE toast. Think about it.

Wood it were…

Wood. Truly amazing. No matter how long you work with wood, you never lose your appreciation for its composition or versatility. Maybe that’s why I derive such pleasure in woodworking as a hobby. There must be hundreds of adages regarding woodworking, but the most famous is likely “measure twice, cut once”. While in this instance it refers to a pleasant pastime, it is just as germane when applied to finances.

What if someone coined the term “save twice, spend once”? My, that would be novel, wouldn’t it? And if it was put in place within Congress? Dare I forecast drama and panic?

In the past, I’ve written about what I deem “OPM” — spending’s equal to opium. Spending OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY is too easy. What crunches the family budget fails to daunt a committee chair with an agenda. We have seen this no matter the administration or party and it must stop.

Nobody can spend indefinitely without paying the piper. In this case, the government piper doesn’t play the piccolo. The piper plays a tuba. Try holding a tuba up in a piccolo’s position and see how long you last!

The weight of public debt is no joke or turn of phrase. It will come to rest on the shoulders of children yet unborn, and they will have had no say in the matter. How would you like to work hard and pay for someone else’s bad behavior? Well, that’s what we push onto the backs of future workers.

Usually a “lame duck” Congress accomplishes very little. This year, however, the Congress and the Senate had better get busy and extend the tax cuts. Those in the know estimate that business is sitting on over $14 trillion. They aren’t investing or hiring because the future is so uncertain.

Already, health care costs are scaling up. And this, despite all the promises that the costs would decrease! It defies common sense that you can expand the pool of persons covered and not see costs skyrocket. So what else is new? Aren’t we accustomed to hollow promises by now?

Looking back over the past twenty months, we’ve witnessed a real contrast. We, the people, are the employers of those whom we elect to federal office. We expect them to serve the government and take on tasks much too large for the average person, county, city or state. We expect the federal government to protect us, secure our borders, provide safe routes of transportation and regulate economic sectors that could easily fall prey to corrupt actors. In exchange, we pledge to finance their work. If a broker performed like the federal government, nobody would invest a dime.

So far, we’ve made a bad investment if we expect real results. Perhaps, if incoming Representatives and Senators who vow to put a stop to the spending foolishness can get some traction, we will see progress.

Just like a piece of wood, if you measure once and cut and you’re wrong, you’re toast. Well, I smell the toast burning. Let’s insist that budgetary decisions be sound, based on fact and not assume facts not in evidence. You can’t base your future solely on dreams. You need the ingredients to spawn success.

Pray for America to restore her work ethic, her national pride, and her world position as defender of freedom for all peoples. Pray that someone in Washington, D.C. wakes up and lines the borders with our soldiers. If America is worth defending overseas, why isn’t she worth defending at home? I’m tired of a Swiss cheese border. I want more than that.

What about you? Are you ready to demand fiscal responsibility and a sense of resolve when it comes to really critical national security decisions? I am. Phone calls, letters and emails do count. If you don’t know how to reach your Congressman or Senator, check with any newspaper or radio/TV station. Keep in touch. If you don’t hold elected officials’ feet to the fire, you have nobody to blame but yourself. Think about it.

We’ve all heard about Rand Paul’s upset victory in Kentucky, but there is another Rand — one whose work portends an ominous scenario that we witness today.

When Ayn Rand published Atlas Shrugged in 1957, it is unlikely that she ever envisioned its longevity to generations of readers. I was thirteen years old in 1957, but I was in my twenties before I first read this amazing work. To this day, I pick up the book and read it every year purely to ingest is wisdom and try to fathom how people cannot see the warning signs it clearly illustrates.

The novel paints a vivid picture of the dangers of an expansionist government who systematically takes control of the economy, all the while crushing private business — the engine that fueled the rise of America.

If you have not read the book, you need to get a copy. To give you any idea of its popularity, it sold over 600,000 copies in 2010, greatly outstripping the works of many mainline authors. Its devotees are of all ages, ranging from very young people to those who have read the work over and over throughout their lives.

Not only does Atlas Shrugged is as much cautionary as instructive. It gives the reader an inside view of how hard work is stifled when government sticks its nose under the tent. Do the initials GM hint at the prospect of what is going on right now?

Just this past week, a panel of 18 people began to decide precisely what health care procedures should be “essential” to your life. How nice. Remember the animal allegedly created by a committee? The camel is not exactly the beauty pageant winner of the animal world.

Although these folks have medical backgrounds, it rankles me that the planning mirrors what happened in the wake of the oil problem in the Gulf of Mexico. Not one of the people deciding on the future of offshore drilling had any experience in the oil industry. That’s like appointing a group of illiterate people to plan school curricula. Go figure…

Atlas Shrugged is timeless. Its warnings are as applicable today as they were in the 1950s. What’s more, it holds the reader’s interest. It is not a short book. It takes time to digest its content, but every moment is worthwhile.

Don’t just consider reading this novel. Do it. Turn off the tube, power down the cell phone and the computer. Curl up in a cozy place and immerse yourself in what may be the last best statement of what it means to have hard work rewarded and the dangers of unbridled government.

Delve into what may be the most important book you ever read. Get a copy of Atlas Shrugged. You’ll be glad that you did.

There’s something comforting about sitting indoors watching the snow falling gently in the woods. Perhaps that is one perk that maintenance workers do not — of necessity — appreciate.

Every season has its strong points, and winter offers many of us the opportunity to linger over morning coffee, immerse ourselves in a good book, or wrap up on the sofa and take a nap.

Sadly, for those charged with safety, there is no such escape from Mother Nature’s bitter temperatures and biting winds. Venturing forth on drifting country roads or icy city street, we take it for granted that the pavement will be as safe as possible.

For all of our hopes, often the weather puts an inordinate strain on street departments and highway workers — not to mention the utility crews who must struggle with restoring power to homes cut off when lines go down.

I cannot remember a day set aside to honor those who take their own lives in their hands to keep our roads and streets passable. Perhaps we should. Oddly enough — and true to human nature — the only response that these hardy souls get is when things go wrong. Nobody bothers to thank them when things go well. It figures.

Daily responsibilities weigh heavily on each of us, and we shouldn’t have to worry about driving conditions. What a shallow attitude.

Public safety on the roads is paramount for every driver. Truckers earn their living on the road, emergency crews including fire fighters, EMTs and policemen put us first every day. If terrorists interrupt the power grid and compromise the life afforded us by electricity, we will find our society plunged backward to the 1800s.

This kind of threat eclipses what snow and ice portend for us. We go about our daily activities oblivious to what could be around the corner, and I’m as guilty as anyone else in that department. There are things we can do — easy things, but they take prioritizing and discipline, two character traits that many of us lack in spades.

Many urge us to stockpile a year’s supply of food. Bottled water, powdered milk, canned meats and vegetables, bread mixes, powdered eggs could determine basic survival. The grocery stores emptied, their automatic doors inoperable, coolers thawed, and deliveries stopped, we will be at a threshold of life or death. Gardens will be important, so I cannot fathom why nobody urges us to stockpile seeds. Growing your own food isn’t that difficult and can be done in pots as well as in outdoor plots. Dim as this scenario is, it might not be all that far-fetched.

The next time you consider spending money on entertainment, hit the grocery store and start accumulating necessities. I began this a few months ago, but I must admit that I haven’t done as much as I should.

If you are in the same boat, take a hard look at the prospects of going without food after two or three days. It’s sobering. Think about it.

Most people make a quick association with Christmas that includes gaily-wrapped gifts, Santa in his bright red suit, reindeer, sugarplums and the wonderful movies that spark memories and raise spirits.

However, the core of Christmas is a gift, but one from God Himself. Who among us would send a child to save a people knowing that the child would die in the process?

This Christmas, abbreviate the colors of the season, table the bounty of the family dinner and take time to remember the gift that changed our lives forever. True, some do not believe, but for those of us who do, nothing eclipses that first clear night in Bethlehem when an innkeeper took pity on two young people about to become parents and gave them shelter in a stable. Thanks be to God.

Merry Christmas!

Johnny Mercer contributes mightily to the musical genre of America. According to his website, he was born Nov. 18, 1909 in Savannah, Georgia. He died June 25, 1976 in Bel Air, California. After moving to New York City in the late 1920s, Mercer began to write lyrics while supporting himself as an actor. He later joined Paul Whiteman’s orchestra as singer and master of ceremonies. In 1939 he joined Benny Goodman’s Camel Caravan radio show. In 1942 Mercer co-founded Capitol Records. On Broadway, he collaborated with Harold Arlen on St. Louis Woman (1946) and Saratoga (1959) and also provided lyrics for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), Li’l Abner (1956), and Foxy (1964). His songs for films won four Academy Awards. He collaborated with composers such as Hoagy Carmichael, Henry Mancini, Jerome Kern, and Jimmy Van Heusen and is credited with more than 1,000 lyrics.
One of his songs inspires this column and speaks to the dastardly acts of Julian Assange, recently arrested in The UK for alleged sex crimes committed in Sweden. He is, by any reasonable measure, a web mercenary.
There is no way to assess the damage done by the Wiki Leaks releases of sensitive documents directly impacting our national security. We can only hope that the outrage felt by all those countries and diplomats cited will be so widespread that they can calm the waters and allow diplomacy to begin anew. Sadly, that is a hope may only be a pipedream at this point.
That the leak came from a 25-year-old PFC should come as no surprise to any American over the age of 50. When, in the last forty years, has American education consistently and enthusiastically taught patriotism, love of country, loyalty and respect for the most revered bastion of freedom that the world has ever known?
The first songs I learned were the service hymns. It took my breath away when I heard President Obama explain to his daughters that every branch of the service has its own song. As they watched the assembled band below the balcony on the White House, they didn’t recognize the music at all. Neither do countless American youngsters.
Perhaps schools were more intent on love of country in the 1940s and 1950s because the wounds of both World War I and World War II were still so fresh. Perhaps teachers took it upon themselves to integrate real history into the curricula because they knew — first-hand — the ravages of ignoring despots and dictators such as Hitler and Mussolini.
In any event, my generation learned to love our country, respect anyone in uniform and recognized the value of our Armed Services. Sadly, that is not the case today.
Just in case you disagree, search out a textbook from the ‘40s or ‘50s and reading will confirm my claims.
I’m not sure when I heard one particular phrase, but it was a part of the general vocabulary when I was growing up and underscored how dangerous idle talk can be.
“Loose lips sink ships” dates to WWII and was coined as part of the US Office of War Information’s attempt to limit the possibility of people inadvertently giving useful information to enemy spies. We probably will never know how many spies were among us during World War II, but the possibility was very real. Actual wording was ‘Loose Lips Might Sink Ships and was one of several similar slogans under the campaigns basic message – ‘Careless Talk Costs Lives’.
It was well used in 1942, as this example from the Maryland paper The News, May 1942 shows: (paraphrased)
As attendees at the local county school registered in the high school lobby before the opening of the meeting, they were surrounded on all sides by placards bearing such admonitions as “Loose Lips Might Sink Ships”, “Defense On The Sea Begins On The Shore”, “Defense In The Field Begins In The Factory” and patriotic creeds and slogans.
Just where have we failed? It’s hard to say, but when education becomes more a tool of change than one of learning, we are in trouble folks. There has been a lot of talk about the “Progressive” movement in the United States, and I can link it directly to educators. As an adult student at several institutions of higher education in both Indiana and Michigan, I sat in classes where young minds were bombarded with ideals that flew in the face of those with which I was reared. I knew how to sort out the trash, but my classmates did not. Unaware of real history, they accepted the redacted stories from the professors without question. I can tell you that I was not a welcome student in many of these classes, because I countered the instructor with facts in hand. Holding a near 4-point average and able to hold my own in a discussion, they knew better than to hold a grade hostage with me. That would have incurred a direct appeal to the dean.
Unless and until we instill in our children the wonderful inspiration of America, the concept of what many now deem “American Exceptionalism”, we are doomed to fail as many other civilizations before us.
My question about Wiki Leaks is simple and to the point. If we search airline passengers for a few ounces of liquid and scan them like items scooting across the bar code reader at a grocery store, how then can any branch of our Armed Services allow an employee to carry in a Lady Gaga CD to workplace with high security clearance.
To my knowledge, when you are on the job, you work. You play at home in off hours. Maybe we need to scan our federal and military security personnel like we do the grandmother or small child flying commercially today.
Rules are rules, or at least they were. Among Johnny Mercer’s lyrics is a favorite of mine, one linking directly to the discussion of leaks, moles, and — yes — traitors.
“You’ve got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
And latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mister In-Between.”
Accentuate the positive aspects of America. They are many. Eliminate the negative. Don’t apologize for the one nation on earth that espouses freedom and sacrifices her sons and daughters so others may breathe free. Latch on the affirmative. Say “yes” to truth. Don’t tolerate lies. Don’t mess with those who want to pick and choose what history has to teach us. Mr. In-Between is dangerous. His lips sink ships — and in Assange’s case, it just might be the ship of state.

Senses forge into memory over years. No matter your age, some experiential impressions last for a lifetime. When it comes to the older set — of which I am a proud member — such reminiscences are just that. Memories. Their sources are rare at best, and more often absent from modern life.

More often than not, sights and smells rule when it comes to memory, giving sounds short shrift. Yet, for me — and many of you — sounds are as important to our childhood and young adult years as the other sense that are imbedded in our brains.

The first of November renewed my love for a particular sound. As I walked into a local paint store accompanied by my Newfoundland dog, I paused for a moment and basked in the plaintive whistle of a passing train.

From the 40s to the 60s, train whistles were a part of daily life in this county. Since the “big four” cut diagonally across the landscape going from Cincinnati to Chicago, my generation witnessed countless trains on the gleaming tracks. Those we didn’t glimpse we heard.

Often, you could recognize an engineer by his whistle. Some engineers whistled once at a crossing, while others seem to have fashioned their own little codes. I recall hearing one short and two long, three long, and two shorts. Undoubtedly, there were many others, but those stick in my mind and I can close my eyes and hear them easily as a mental traveler.

Other unique sounds also come to mind… a screen door as it hit the doorframe… a hand pump at the kitchen sink… the ice block sliding from the truck to be caught up in black iron tongs… the click of the old-fashioned ice box (I seldom use the term refrigerator.)….

What sounds bring back memories for you? Shifting gears in the family car or truck? The slap of wipers racing to reach the metal strip that divided the windshield? The whoosh of coal as it slid down into the basement? The clink of glass bottles as the milkman made his rounds? The whirring of the neighborhood grocery meat grinder as a butcher ground beef?

While those days may have lacked a lot in terms of convenience, they offered volumes in terms of endearment. How many of you know the meat department personnel by first name? Still call in a grocery list for delivery or pick up later in the day? I doubt it.

I, for one, can still hear Fred Heckman’s voice on flagship station WIBC in Indianapolis. A legend in his field, he imparted much more than news. His little feature, “My Town Indy” fueled our imaginations and inspired us to explore our state capital with zest.

As you go about your day, take a moment to notice the sounds of today? The chime of a computer as it comes to life at the touch of a key… the beep of a vehicle as a remote key locks the doors… the music of a cell phone with an incoming call… the beep as your Mac or PC alerts you to a new email….

And so it goes… what was commonplace for us is novel to younger folks. Some day, when a magazine article is unearthed by a future generation, I wonder if they will know that deeming something “cool” has nothing to do with temperature? Time will tell. In the meantime, take heart in memory. Musing about the past is not only be instructive, but also comforting. Think about it.

We stop our daily grinds a bit to divert to family and lots of good food to commemorate the gathering of the Pilgrims as they partook of a meal after a devastating existence in a strange land.

Our daily problems pale in comparison to what the Pilgrims faced, yet we all sit down to a table laden with food and peppered with friendship and love to take a moment to give thanks.

There are too many things for which we are truly thankful, but we take most of them for granted. We live freedom, yet we don’t cherish it as we would have had we lived under a political system that deprived people of freedom.

We enjoy so many things in the course of a day that it is embarrassing to think that we would not take a moment — now and then — to remember that we are a unique people with varied backgrounds, talents, and motivations. Nonetheless, we operate as a well-oiled machine, depending on the equanimity of our basic freedoms and relying on the expertise of our fellows when we are ill or in danger.

Those who work on Thanksgiving Day labor in many areas. Hospitals still hum along on the holiday. Firehouses and police stations echo with laughter and camaraderie of uniformed “brothers” who willingly take their time to protect us all. Squad cars patrol our cities and state policemen take to the roads in anticipation of increased traffic — and they take it in stride.

Today, as you sit down with family or friends to enjoy the bounty of harvest and celebrate the Pilgrims conquest of a new land, vow to take your freedom less for granted. Don’t assume that freedom will always abound. It is fragile and easily dislodged when leaders seek power for power’s sake and forget that they, too, are servants of the people. Don’t allow Thanksgiving to be relegated to a single day.

Thank God for the United States of America. God bless us all.