PrayPrayPray

To my family and friends,

For five days the tragedies in New York and Washington I tried to ignore what happened. But denial didn't work, and finally reality struck. Life changing events happen in life occassionally both bad and good. But the idiocy of what hate can do to the world hit me broadside. The heartbreaking events experienced by the people in Manhattan and at the Pentagon make me heartsick.

Since I retired in 1997, my life has been relatively simple. For the first time in my life I have been able to read and write as much as I like. American history has always been one of my chief interests. Since retirement I have read several books about many outstanding Americans. As a hobby while I was riding in a car or riding my exercise bycicle, I memorized all the Presidents and Vice Presidents. Then I read some books trying to learn something about each one of them. I used a method devised by Jerry Lucas, the famous basketball player. Then I memorized all the states, their capitals, the Presidents when each state entered the union, and what year they entered the nation. I have tried to read a little about the history of each state. I have read complete biographies about Ben Franklin and U.S. Grant. Other books I read are The Walls of Jericho, dealing with Lyndon Johnson, Hubert Humphery, Richard Russell, and the struggle for civil rights. Also, I read Gateway to Empire. The Frountiersmen,The Counquors and that Black and Bloody River by Alan W. Eckert. These books dealt with colonists driving into the new frontier west of Pittsburgh. In these books there were stories by men like Simon Kenton, Daniel Boone and others as they struggled to settle Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and eventually the whole west. I read biographies about Pontiac, Tecumseh, his brother, the Prophet, and Sitting Bull. I have read Undaunted Courage, the story of Lewis and Clark's expedition to the Pacific. I read Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and Raintree County by ----- Lockridge about the Civil War.

There are four reasons why I memorized the Presidents and read the above books:

One: I enjoyed doing it.

Two: I am a slow thinker and I have slow recalls. If I use my mind as much as possible maybe I can develop quicker thinking.

Three: I wanted to learn more about American History.

Four: Unintentionally, I gained a new respect for our form of government.

The early documents developed by our forefathers came about after great thought and struggle. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights make our government one that strives to guarantee freedom and justice in our country. With their human weaknesses and fralities men like Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, James Monroe were able to form a government that is superior to all other forms of government. So with our human frailties we to can make our country and our world a better place with rational thinking and action.

Slavery, the brutal way the colonists stole the land from the native Americans, the prejudice that many of the American citizens have displayed against people of other races are some of our past sins. Prejudice is not just a past sin, but it continues today. Even though this country has a great constitution and a form of government of growth toward freedom and equality for everyone we must be aware of our past sins and our present sins.

With my brother's encouragement and help, Caroline and I took a trip to Europe last summer. It opened up our eyes to what life is like in some other parts of the world. Before we went over to David's temporary home in Vienna, Austria to visit with him and his wife, Shelia, he encouraged us to read the book Poland by James Michener. That book helped us understand the history of that part of Europe. After we arrived they took us on two or three day short trips into Italy, Slovenia, and Germany. Going to Mexico and Canada for two or three days had been our only experiences out of this country to that point. So Caroline and I experienced some other cultures for a while. There are cultural differences but people eat, sleep, work, play, cry, laugh and feel hurt just the way we do. Following that my son Scott, and my daughter-in-law, Krisann, took us with them to Guatelama where they adopted their baby son, Steven. This trip really opened my mind to the severe poverty experienced by many people in the world. Working for head-start, when it began in Clinton County, Ohio, back in the 1960's and working in West Dayton I have seen some poverty. In Clinton County there were people living in shacks on farms that rich farmers owned. The people in those shacks were hungry and deprived, but that poverty and the poverty that I saw in West Dayton does not compare to what I saw in Guatelama.