I love to laugh…even when in pain. You? Well, I am always looking for fun stories to relate either when talking to others or in my writing. We often pass up the chance to pass on a joke or a story that just might lift our hearers or readers hearts. Did ya hear the one about?…often is the preface…or I heard this on….and then you name the televangelist or night show host who told it first.
We wonder sometimes if there’s any humor in the Bible or if Jesus laughed. WelInl, yes to both. The Book of Jonah is considered by scholars to be a cartoon in the best sense of that word. Not that some of its contents might not point to a bigger story to get the reader moving, but that the Bible chose several different styles and approaches so that readers and hearers might pay attention.
One of my favorite characters who doled out great wit and humor was St. John XXIII, who was Pope in the 1960s. Closer to home, however, is the humor of Abraham Lincoln. He was quick and hit many nails on their heads especially among his rather lazy or presumptuous Congress people. No different from our own day, Lincoln was clever to listen and then see how he might lighten the very tense or worrisome situation. He was also careful while in the White House to simply converse and answer the questions put to him. For example:
“A New-Yorker at the White House said to the President that it seemed strange that the President of the United States and the President of the Confederate States should have been born in the same state.
‘Oh, I don’t know about that,’ laughed Mr. Lincoln. ‘those Kentucky people will tell you that they raise ‘most anything in their State and I reckon they’re mighty near right.’ “
Here follows a frequently repeated story:
“…Lincoln dreamed he was in some great assembly, and the people drew back to let him pass, whereupon he heard someone say, ‘he’s a common looking fellow.’ In his dream, Lincoln turned to the man and said, ‘Friend, the Lord prefers common-looking people; that is the reason why He made so many of them!’ “
Let us salt and pepper our conversations and share our insights so that our hearers are full of joy. It’s still Easter season…enjoy the unfolding.
EASTER BLESSINGS.
It’s Been a Long Time
Lisa Harris
I guess we have some catching up to do. I looked back to see when I last sent in a column and it was around August and October of 2017. I suppose I have slacked off. That doesn’t mean that I don’t write at all. I wrote a play around Christmas for school and a Black History play around February. Other than that I have only written posts on Facebook. Guess writer’s block is a real thing.
Since my last column, my middle child has gone to Fort Bliss to train for deployment in June. He sent me a picture recently where he was “sporting” a mustache. He looked manly yet somewhat eerily like his dad. I think I prefer a baby face boy look. He drives a tank mainly, but I’m sure he has other duties. He had me convinced that he was on rattlesnake detail and his job was to relocate them. I need to learn not to believe him due to his story telling bordering on pathological. I guess whatever passes them time faster!
The young one recently won a state competition for carpentry. I plan to go watch him participate in the national competition in June. It has become evident to me that if he is asked to do a task for others, he gets the job done in a timely manner. However, he is less inclined to finish tasks for me. You will notice a small deck without completed rails when you drive by my abode. I also replaced two boards on my front porch that were rotten. Then I painted primer on the wood and finished up with paint. It looks good enough for an amateur, but it doesn’t represent perfection like the home of the state champion carpenter should!
The young one also sold his truck for a Mustang. He loves it dearly. I think he may wash the paint off if he scrubs it anymore. He wants to know if I will buy him some device that cranks it before he gets in . That’ll probably be a no. It can get cranked from inside like the rest of us have to. He also wants taillights that blink in three consecutive blinks. Again, that’ll be a big no. A blinker is a blinker. If the ones that are already in the car stop working, he can use his forearm outstretched or bent upward at a right angle. I already bought a tag to place on the front with the word PONY on it. I think that was enough. My eldest moved to the country. I went to visit him the other day but he had my meds, my bait traps, and a check left on the porch. Something told me that he did not want me to come in, so I just knocked harder. I should remind him that he lived in my house for 23 years then lived in my present “single’s pad” house for a while after he was in between houses! Su casa me casa! I’m just wondering which one is going to hook me up with a mother in law house on his property when I’m elderly and decrepit.
The BFF and I took a road trip back in March I believe. We stayed at the Tallahatchie Flats. They were quaint little sharecropper shacks that the public can rent out. They border the Tallahatchie River and take you back in time. We toured the area and saw some film locations from the movie The Help. We also saw the store in Money, MS where Emmitt Till allegedly whistled at a white woman. He was later found beaten and murdered in the Tallahatchie River. It was a sad reminder of a dark time in history. We of course had to check out the culinary arts and had lunch at the Delta Bistro in Greenwood one day and the Warehouse in Cleveland on the following day. We also paid a visit to the Grammy Museum in Cleveland located next door to Delta State University.
I suppose we are caught up now. I can’t promise to write weekly, but I will try to not stay away so long. My upcoming events include attending Skills USA nationals and the baby boy’s graduation from CCHS! I will have to squeeze in a workshop on conservation to earn my continuing education units to keep teaching, so I can continue to live in the lap of luxury or at least off of the streets.
