Ten Sentences, 272 Words

One hundred fifty years ago today, Abraham Lincoln delivered the greatest speech ever by an American president.  The speech was all of ten sentences and 272 words long.  It took two minutes to deliver.  Here is the text to that speech:

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
 Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.  But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 
Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863

Of course, this is the Gettysburg Address, delivered on November 19, 1863, on the same battlefield that was the sight of one of the decisive battles of the Civil War.  In this short speech, President Lincoln has brought forth every ideal that our nation was founded upon.  Liberty.  All men are created equal.  And representative government "of the people, by the people and for the people that shall not perish from the earth."

That day, the featured speaker was a man named Edward Everett, a former Secretary of State and famous orator of the day.  He delivered a two hour, 13,607 word speech that is not much remembered today.  His speech was to be the "Gettysburg Address."  After Lincoln's remarks, Mr. Everett himself knew he did not convey the full meaning of the day in two hours like the President had in two minutes.  Thank you Mr. Lincoln.

Did He or Didn't He Act Alone?

November 22, 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of President Kennedy's assassination and I am already anticipating a slew of news stories on the conspiracy theories surrounding this murder.  About the only thing these conspiracy theories truly prove is that there a lot of people who had a motive to murder the President.  The most popular of the conspiracy theories is that Vice President Lyndon Johnson did it.  Other theories say it was Fidel Castro, it was the mob, it was the CIA, it was the FBI.  Still others say Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.  Of course, the Warren Commission that investigated the assassination concluded that Oswald acted alone and used the "single bullet" to prove its point.  However, in a recent poll, 59% of Americans still believe there was a conspiracy to kill the President.

To my untrained mind, the conspiracy theory that makes the most sense is that the CIA in conjunction with the mafia were responsible for the killing.  Seems an odd combination.  However, during the Kennedy administration, the CIA had reached out to Sam Giancana, the head of the Chicago Outfit, and enlisted the mobsters help in a plot to assassinate Fidel Castro.  The plot never came about, largely because the FBI, which was doing its own surveillance of Giancana stumbled upon some CIA surveillance equipment at his offices one day.  Normally, the mafia did not do hits on politicians of any kind (they would just buy them), especially national leaders.  But, Giancana's willingness to help out indicated that the mob would be open to the idea.  Further, the Kennedy's had double crossed the mob.  That was usually good for a death sentence, so the idea of the mob wanting to take out the President does not seem far fetched.

Sometime in either 1959 or 1960, Jack Kennedy's father, Joseph Kennedy, approached Giancana and asked the mobster if he could deliver the votes necessary to carry Illinois for Kennedy.  In return, Kennedy promised the mobster that the government would get off his back.  The elder Mr. Kennedy also wanted Giancana to get the New York mob to cancel a contract that it had put out on Joseph Kennedy's life, too.  During the late 1950's, after New York state police exposed the mob as a national crime syndicate (something J Edgar Hoover denied all along until this bust), Congress went after the mob hard.  Giancana was subpoenaed to testify and during this testimony, a young Bobby Kennedy publicly embarrassed the mobster by comparing him to a school girl.  After Jack Kennedy was elected President in 1960, with Giancana doing his part, Robert Kennedy was named Attorney General and his pursuit of the mob intensified.  The mob had been double crossed.  So we can definitely establish a motive for the mob to go after Kennedy.

But what about the CIA?  Why would the CIA have been involved?  It all started with the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961.  The Bay of Pigs invasion was to be conducted by Cuban nationals based out of Miami and trained by the CIA.  They would invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs, and would receive US air support.  The Eisenhower Administration approved it.  My own thought on this was that this invasion was Vice-President Nixon's idea, and he would carry it out after he was elected.  Senator Kennedy was briefed on it - and I believe it was very brief.  Kennedy gave his go ahead, but when the invasion went badly, he pulled the air support.  Afterward, Kennedy was quoted as saying he wanted to splinter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the wind.  The animosity between the CIA and Kennedy was short-lived.  Except in the Miami office.  They never forgave Kennedy for his desertion of the invasion.  And this could be where the plot was hatched.

The most prominent agents in the Miami office were Howard Hunt, the station chief, and Frank Sturgis.  President Kennedy's popularity among Cuban exiles and nationals was practically non-existent and the hate was very high.  Hunt and Sturgis obviously knew this.  And the CIA had worked with the mob before and could have contacted them to see about the viability of all this.

And even here, it starts to break down for me.  First, I believe that in the case of Hunt and Sturgis, their first loyalties were always to Richard Nixon.  Both would go on to work for President Nixon's "Plumbers" unit and Sturgis would actually go on to be one of the Watergate burglars.  How did all of this come about?  Who financed what part of the effort?  Who provided the arms?  Who really directed the cover up?  While I do not believe that Vice President Johnson was ever directly involved in the assassination, he clearly put himself in charge of the investigation.  Normally, the investigation would have been handled by the Attorney General, but with Robert Kennedy as the AG (a man Johnson hated even more than the President), there was no way Johnson was going to put him in charge of it.  Not with a cover-up to direct.  With the assassination occurring in Texas, it was easy for Johnson's people on the ground to do their part.  No autopsy was performed in Texas (going against Texas law), the body was immediately removed from the hospital and flown to DC on Air Force One.  Then Johnson appointed the members of the Warren Commission to investigate and the rest is history. 

In this theory, Richard Nixon would have been some kind of facilitator.  First, Nixon always had close ties to the mob.  Second, Nixon had a long friendship with Kennedy that went ice cold after the 1960 campaign.  Third, I have long thought that Nixon and Johnson were political soul mates.  Both ruthless, highly corrupt, power hungry.  I believe that Nixon could have brought the parties together and it was likely Nixon who informed Johnson of what was going on and it was Nixon who got Johnson's buy-in to the whole idea.  Nixon's team would do the job, and Johnson would direct the cover-up.  I have long thought that after he became President himself, Nixon referred to this assassination way too much, and he spoke way too authoritatively about it.  One place where this breaks down for me is the placement of Texas Governor John Connally in the same car as the President.  I'm sure Nixon assured Johnson that nothing was going to happen to him that day.  But Connally was in a dangerous position.  Connally was a very good friend of both Johnson and Nixon (especially Johnson).  In fact, Connally would go on to serve as Treasury Secretary for President Nixon.

Certainly, this theory has holes in it.  Yet it is the most plausible of all conspiracy theories to me.  I'm not sure I believe it.  Then again, I am not sure I believe that Oswald acted alone either.

Thoughts & (Hopefully) Some Perspective on Government Shutdown

Whew!  We made it through the first week of the US government shutdown and the world did not end.  However, I could not help but notice lots of talk about this on my Facebook page, particularly from my liberal/Democrat friends.  Certainly, there was plenty of commentary about how this shutdown was entirely the Republican's fault.  It simply isn't that easy.

 

A problem this big was not caused by one party alone.  Both sides share equally in the blame for this shutdown and both sides share equally in the failure to date to come to an agreement.  Neither side will talk to the other, which makes any kind of agreement impossible.  The tactics employed by both sides are disgraceful.  Find me one adult, find me one leader in this whole mess.  There are none.  The Republican strategy of defunding the portions of the budget that include the Affordable Care Act are simply delusional.  Whether you like it or not, it is the law of the land and should receive appropriate funding.  For the Democrats to blame Republicans for the shutdown while they refuse to even bring one continuing resolution to a vote to keep the government operating is equally reprehensible.  And the President's failure to talk with congressional leaders of either party is an utter lack of leadership, which has been a recurring theme in his Presidency.  There is plenty of blame for all parties, not just one. 

 

Regarding the Affordable Care Act, the Republicans are right to argue about it.  Why should they embrace this law?  This law was passed on a strictly partisan basis, with bought votes in the middle of the night in back rooms, and through legislative sleight of hand by the Senate Majority Leader.  They are right to question whether or not this will truly lead to higher quality, more affordable health care.  They are right to question all the law's selling points in light of American businesses, particularly small businesses, conducting their affairs in perverse and sometimes strange ways to keep themselves operating in light of this law.  To watch small businesses doing handstands and cart wheels to avoid this law's mandates is sad, and for this country's leaders to sit back, watch it happen and do nothing is inexcusable.  Remember when it used to be a milestone for a company to hire its 50th employee?  Now, it is a millstone to be avoided at all costs.  Company's big and small should not have to cut benefits, especially to spouses and children, cut employee hours or fire workers to avoid the high costs associated with this law.  But, that is what's happening, whether at the community bank or at companies as large as Walgreen's and UPS.  It is not a "settled" law as the President says, and my best guess is that it will not be settled and accepted for at least another 2 to 3 generations, largely because of the manner in which this bill was passed into law.

 

Republicans need to accept that this is the law of the land and allow it to be funded.  Democrats need to understand that this is a deeply flawed law that is hurting American business and is damaging the economy.  And maybe...a big maybe...both sides can be grown up adults, talk to each other and see if a solution can be reached.  I need to pause so that I can stop laughing at that last statement.  This is going to take leadership, something that is utterly lacking in Washington these days, and maybe a miracle or two.

 

What this means for 2014 Elections

Unfortunately for Democrats, the Republicans hold all the cards in the 2014 mid term elections.  Never underestimate the Republicans ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.  But as of now, they are in a clear position of strength.  First, the party that does not hold the White House usually gains congressional seats in the mid-term elections.  They usually have the more fired up voting base.  Next, the Republicans are trying to do away with an unpopular law.  Every opinion poll over the past 3 1/2 years shows that over 50% of the people surveyed disapprove of this law.  The latest polls from CNN and the New York Times show a roughly 3-2 edge for those who disapprove of the law.  The strategy the Republicans are employing is numbingly stupid, but polling data shows they are on the right side of this issue.  Finally, the Republicans in the house are largely in very safe districts while the Democrats are quite vulnerable in the Senate.  Currently, the Republicans hold 234 House seats while the Democrats hold 201.  In a recent article, Sean Trende of Real Clear Politics noted that Republican incumbents only hold 17 House seats in which that district voted for Obama in 2012. In other words, lots of safe Republican seats.  The Democrats would have to win all 17 of these seats while losing none themselves to Republicans to regain a majority.  Not likely to happen, and I would be amazed if the Democrats gain as many as 5 seats.  Meanwhile, Democrats must defend 22 of the 33 Senate seats up for election in 2014, including 8 in states won by Mitt Romney in 2012 (7 of those states Romney won by a double digit margin). 

 

 

 

 

Pay Heed All Who Enter - A Tribute to Phog Allen



Dr. Forrest C. "Phog" Allen
 

Thirty nine years ago today, September 16, 1974, legendary Kansas basketball coach, Phog Allen, passed away at the age of 88 in Lawrence, Ks.  While Dr. Allen was most known for his legendary coaching tenure at KU, and for the building at KU named in his honor, he was a most extraordinary man in many other ways.

To say that Phog Allen was perhaps the most influential and extraordinary person in basketball history would be an understatement.  Forrest Clare Allen was born in November, 1885 in Jamesport, Missouri, a community most notable today as an Amish community in north, central Missouri.  At an early age, he moved with his family to Independence, Missouri, where he grew up.  Allen graduated from William Chrisman High School (then Independence High) in Independence, Mo and as he pondered his college decision, he narrowed his choices to two schools:  the University of Missouri in Columbia and the University of Kansas in Lawrence.  Allen chose KU because at that time the city of Lawrence had paved roads and Columbia did not.  He took this as a sign that Lawrence was a more progressive, forward-looking city, and that KU would be a better place for him.

Allen lettered in basketball for 3 years and baseball for two years at KU.  It was also at KU that he launched his coaching career, first coaching at Baker University  in Baldwin, Kansas, about 10 miles south of Lawrence.  He coached Baker for 3 seasons (yes, while he was a student at KU and lettering in basketball at KU), and compiled a 45-9 record.  During the fall of 1907, he began coaching KU after Dr. James Naismith, the founder of the game, left KU.  Phog would coach both KU and Baker that year (this would be his third and final season at Baker), compiling a combined 31-12 record.  His record at KU was 18-6, and he coached the Jayhawks to a 6-0 conference record in the newly formed Missouri Valley conference.  KU would win the conference again in the 1908-1909 season, with a 25-3 record and an 8-2 conference record.  During the 1908-1909 season, Phog coached the Haskell Indian Institute basketball team, located in Lawrence, to a 27-5 record, in his only season as their coach.

After the 1908-1909 season, Phog left his positions in basketball to return to school and study Osteopathy at the Kansas College of Osteopathy.  Osteopathy is the study of manipulating bones and joints to treat injuries, particularly to the back, knees and ankles.  At that time, it was still considered a controversial form of treatment, but Dr. Allen would go on to have a successful medical practice as an osteopath after he retired from coaching. 

Dr. Allen resumed his coaching career after he completed his medical degree, coaching both football and basketball at Warrensburg Teachers College (today known as the University of Central Missouri), in Warrensburg, Mo.  He coached the football team for six seasons, compiling a 29-17 record, and in seven seasons as the basketball coach, compiled an 84-31 record.  After the completion of the 1918-1919 school years, Dr. Allen returned to Kansas.

Dr. Allen came back to KU in 1919 as the school’s first Athletic Director, a position he would hold until 1937.  Doc also coached the KU football team in 1920, compiling a 5-2-1 record.  But his greatest glory would come in basketball, where he would coach KU for the next 37 seasons.  In the end, Doc Allen would coach 50 seasons (39 at KU) and would compile a 746-264 record overall and a 590-219 record at KU.  The Jayhawks won 24 conference titles under Dr. Allen, as they played at various times in the Missouri Valley, Big Six and Big Seven conferences.  Phog would also win 3 national championships at KU, including the 1952 NCAA Tournament.

Contributions to Basketball Outside KU

A young Phog Allen with Dr. James Naismith

For reasons that are at best incomprehensible, the dribble was outlawed in basketball back in 1927.  This was a move that so infuriated Dr. Allen that he called a meeting of various coaches in Des Moines, Iowa after the Drake Relays.  He stirred up so much dissension with his protests that the dribble was re-instated, and out of that protest the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) was formed.  Dr. Allen served as the organization’s first president.  Today, the NABC has over 5,000 members, primarily high school and college basketball coaches.  The organization still serves as a “guardian of the game”.  Several years later, the NABC would dream up the idea of having a national championship tournament, sponsored by the NCAA.  Theirs would gather all the major conference champions, plus a few select independents.  Their first tournament was held in 1939 in Evanston, Illinois.  Oregon won the tournament, but it was a financial disaster, and the NCAA wanted to scrap it.  It was Phog Allen who stepped in and lobbied the NCAA to give this tournament another chance.  He requested that the NCAA move the tournament to Kansas City, and move their headquarters there as well.  He assured the NCAA that he could make the 1940 tournament profitable and he did just that.  The 1940 tournament was won by Indiana, beating Phog Allen’s Kansas team 60-42 in the championship game.  More importantly, the tournament was a financial success.  Today, the NCAA Tournament is one of the nation’s biggest sporting events.  For those of you who enjoy “March Madness” today, you can thank Phog Allen’s desperate lobby for a second chance.

Dr. Allen’s proudest professional contribution to basketball involved his efforts to make basketball an Olympic sport.  He was the leading voice in making basketball an Olympic sport and basketball debuted in the Olympics in the Berlin games of 1936.  All the medals were presented by Dr. James Naismith, the game’s inventor.  The United States dominated the Olympics, winning all gold medals between 1936 and 1968, and not losing a game.   As he neared death, Dr. Allen requested that he be buried in his “USA Basketball” outfit, signifying the prominence that he gave to this accomplishment in his life.



Doc and Dean Smith

Dr. Allen also coached many players at KU who would go on to contribute to the game of basketball at other schools.  At KU, he coached Hall of Fame coaches Adolph Rupp, Dutch Longborg, Ralph Miller, and Dean Smith.  At one time, Allen had coached 3 of the 10 winningest coaches in NCAA history (and Doc himself was a fourth in that top 10 list).  Both Rupp and Smith would retire from their respective jobs as college basketball’s all time winningest coach.  I think it is fair to ask where would the Kentucky and North Carolina (two of the three all-time winningest programs in history, with KU being the third) programs be today without Phog Allen.  And he would coach Hall of Fame players Paul Endacott, Bill Johnson and Clyde Lovellette.  He would coach KU to the 1952 NCAA Championship and to two runner-up finishes in 1940 and 1953.  He would also successfully recruit to KU the most dominant player in the history of the game to that point, Wilt Chamberlain.  In what has to be a tribute to the reach he had on the game of basketball, Miami Heat General Manager Pat Riley, a 5 time NBA Championship coach, once said that he was in a sense, “of Kansas.”  Significant because Riley never played at Kansas, never coached at Kansas, never played against Kansas, never coached against Kansas.  Riley did play at Kentucky for Adolph Rupp, who played for Phog Allen at Kansas.  And to this, Riley traces his basketball heritage.

Allen Fieldhouse



Phog Allen in Allen Fieldhouse

For most of Dr. Allen’s career at KU, the Jayhawks played their games in a theater, Hoch (pronounced hoke) Auditorium.  There was even a place where the baseline intersected with one of the theater’s walls.  In the late 1940’s, Kansas State University Athletic Director Michael Ahern successfully lobbied the Kansas Legislature for funds to build a new basketball facility on the Wildcats’ campus.  Completed in 1951, Ahern Fieldhouse seated 11,220 fans and was certainly a sparkling addition to the K-State campus.  Doc decided that KU needed something even bigger and better and he lobbied the Kansas Legislature for funds to build a new basketball facility for the Jayhawks.  His only request of the Legislature was that the KU facility be bigger than K-State’s.  What he got was not only bigger than K-State’s, but bigger than almost anybody else’s at the time.  Doc always maintained that the fieldhouse held 17,000 fans (though the official capacity was more like 16,000.  The building was named in his honor, and the Jayhawks debuted it March 1, 1955 against Kansas State with a 77-67 Jayhawk victory.  Doc would also get to coach the Jayhawks for one full season in its new facility before he was forced to retire by law (Kansas required state employees to retire by age 70, which Allen reached in November 1955).  K-State’s Ahern Fieldhouse was retired in 1988 as a basketball facility.  KU still plays in Allen Fieldhouse, nearly 60 years after it was built.  And it remains one of the best college basketball venues in the nation.

Pay Heed All Who Enter – Beware of the Phog

The Original "Pay Heed" Banner

Allen earned the nickname “Phog” early in life because of his voice, which people said sounded like a foghorn.  He never really cared for the nickname, and much preferred “Doc” reflecting his profession.  Although quite a colorful character himself he did not tolerate nonsense from his players.  If he heard that you were carousing in Lawrence late on a Saturday night, he would roust you out of bed at the crack of dawn Sunday morning and make you play handball with him (Doc was quite a handball player).  Many a player got his butt whipped at the game by the coach, who also used the opportunity to lecture his player on the evils of late nights.  One of his former players, Otto Schnellbacher, also recalled the time he took a girl out for a Coke date in Lawrence, and was soon summoned to Dr. Allen’s office.  He was told thttp://www.rockchalk.com/john/john/banner.htmlhat he could do 3 things at KU:  go to class, play ball, and chase girls.  Doc told Otto that he could do 2 of those things very well.  But not all 3.  And Otto was there to go to class and play ball.  Message was received.

Today, a very familiar banner hangs in Allen Fieldhouse advising all visitors to “Pay Heed All Who Enter – Beware of The Phog”.  This banner was first unfurled in Allen Fieldhouse in February 1988 when KU hosted Duke University.  It proved to be popular that day, so the creators brought it back for the Senior Night game against Oklahoma State a couple of weeks later.  Somewhere in there, Doc Allen’s granddaughter saw this banner and demanded of the KU Athletic Department that this banner be made a permanent fixture.  If you want the full story of the banner, the creator of the banner tells it much better than me (http://www.rockchalk.com/john/john/banner.html).  The original was replaced sometime in the late 1990’s (it had grown quite old and was falling apart).

Unfortunate Incident

Doc Allen was also at the center of one of the most embarrassing and unfortunate incidents in KU history.  After Allen’s successor, Dick Harp, retired in 1964, a banquet was held in his honor and Dr. Allen was invited to make some remarks.  Well, the 77-year-old Doc got up and told the audience that he thought Ralph Miller (one of Allen’s former players at KU, and a Hall of Fame Coach) should have succeeded him at KU.  He may have been trying to say that he thought Miller (coaching at Wichita State at the time – he would lead the Shockers to the 1965 Final Four) should have succeeded Harp.  Instead, Harp’s assistant, Ted Owens, was promoted in 1964 and would coach the Jayhawks through the 1983 season.  Harp never commented on the incident and remained the epitome of a first class gentleman throughout.

Postscript

Statue of Phog Allen Outside Allen Fieldhouse
 

Doc Allen was credited with being the father of basketball coaching.  When he sought out Dr. Naismith’s advice on being a coach (way back when he was a student at KU), Naismith told him, “Forrest, you don’t coach basketball, you just play it”.  After watching Allen’s KU teams for many years, Naismith became a convert and presented Allen a plaque that said “From the Father of Basketball to the Father of Basketball Coaching.”  Today, this is stuff of KU legend. 

Dr. Allen married the love of his life, Bessie, way back in the early 20^th century and they enjoyed over 60 years of marriage until her death in 1970.  Dr. Allen was also inducted into numerous halls of fame, including the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959, and a Charter Inductee into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame in 1961.  He is also a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame and the College Basketball Hall of Fame.  He also served as a President of the Lawrence Country Club and was a long-time Sunday School teacher.  Truly an extraordinary life.

Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence and the Rise of the Jayhawks

One hundred fifty years ago yesterday (August 21, 1863), William Quantrill and "Bloody" Bill Anderson led their Missouri Bushwhackers (or Ruffians) on a raid of Lawrence, Kansas, which to this day remains one of the most defining events of this region.  At dawn that morning, the Missourians swooped down into town from Mount Oread (pronounced OR ee ad), murdered 183 boys and men (they killed no women or children), robbed the banks and taverns, and left the town in flames then beat a hasty retreat back to Missouri.  All this was done by 9am. 

 

During the Civil War, Lawrence was known as the base of operations for a group of anti-slavery guerillas known as Jayhawkers.  The Jayhawkers instigated some of the fiercest fighting along the Kansas-Missouri border, most notably the burning of the town of Osceola, Missouri.  The Jayhawkers were notably led by Senator Charles Lane, who was very vocal in his anti-slavery sentiments.  It was Lane who ordered relatives of "Bloody" Bill Anderson to be jailed in 1863.  On August 14, 1863, the jail in Kansas City, Missouri that housed three of Anderson's relatives collapsed, killing one of his sisters and permanently paralyzing another.  Many believe this is what led the raid on Lawrence.  There was no doubt that Senator Lane was the primary target of the Missouri raiders.  Lane escaped, wearing his nightshirt, into the cornfields that surrounded Lawrence at the time.  As a result of the raid on Lawrence, General Ewing issued an edict ordering a depopulation of three and a half counties in Missouri, along the Kansas border.  Once the citizens had been removed from their homes, Union troops came through and torched their houses and cornfields and shot the livestock. 

 

The legacy that came through this raid, and the general fighting along the Kansas-Missouri border remains very much a part of the landscape today, particularly in Kansas City.  People in Missouri still regard Quantrill as a hero while those in Kansas still regard him as nothing more than a bloodthirsty murderer.  As the saying goes, one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.  Anderson was ultimately killed a year later while Quantrill died in June 1865 in Kentucky.  Even former Missouri Tiger basketball coach Norm Stewart once quipped that Quantrill "did good work" in Lawrence.  Three years after this raid, a small college was founded on Mount Oread in Lawrence, which we now know as the University of Kansas.  Appropriately enough, they took on the nickname, "Jayhawks". 

A Dad's Horrifying Realization

I do not know when exactly that moment arrives when your son is no longer a boy and is now all man.  Not sure that we ever truly lose the little boy inside us, we just play with bigger toys.  For me, as a Dad, I realized about three years ago that I was at one of those points of no return with my son.  As he was headed into high school, the school held a pep rally just for the freshman in which the incoming freshman are taught the school song and the fight song along with some information about the first day of school.  Parents are encouraged to attend, so I attended the pep rally that night myself.  Just for the record I did not sit with my son, as he deemed this to be a major inconvenience for him. 

 

So, the pep rally starts, and they bring out the varsity cheerleaders to teach these impressionable freshman the school song.  And that's when it hits me:  Brent is now going to a school, for the first time in his life, where all the girls have boobs!  Yikes!  While I am sure this is quite a little thrill for a teenage boy, it is horrifying to his Dad.  And not necessarily for the reason(s) you might think.  I am not sure why I even had that thought, but it sure hit me like a ton of bricks.  I do not know what the "Mom perspective" would be to her (especially her oldest) son going to school with that in mind, but I know what the "Dad perspective" is.  This thought made me realize that my son was now "all in" on his stupid years.  Somehow, I was going to have to keep his mind full of common sense and focus in an era where he was going to now be using his "second brain" to do his thinking for him.  For now, this was the era where racing from one stop light to the next would now be considered a good idea without any thought to any negative consequences.  Yep, my son would now become bulletproof and realize that he knew more about life than his stuck in the mud Dad.  I know, just how many teenage boys have ever had that thought, right?

 

Well, I saw a Facebook post from one of my neighbors that the Lancer Launch was tonight, so another class of freshman will be taught the school song and fight song.  And another group of boys goes past that point of no return and officially enters their "stupid years."  Yet in spite of all that, my son has turned out well and for a teenage boy, has used a surprising amount of common sense.  He has made mistakes, but then again the only people who never make mistakes are the ones that do not try.  I am proud of the young man he has become.  Even though we have still have plenty of stupid years to deal with.  But my son is not the only to go through this phase (or is it the parents who go through a phase?) and yet they somehow turn out alright.  I just need to continue to bang some common sense and life's wisdom into him, pray for God to watch over my son, and leave it to the Good Lord to know that it will all turn out ok.  And it usually does.

What Greater Gift Than Love?

"Love is what you've been through with somebody"  James Thurber

Who knows where these thoughts come from.  My mind must think too much, to look past my own troubles and see a better place.  A better place full of harmony and full of love.  This morning, I was thinking of an elderly couple that used to live across the street from (both have passed away).  The incident that I have on my mind occurred in the Fall 2002.  I was walking both my boys to school on a beautiful September morning; Brent was in second grade and Jeff was in kindergarten, and we were walking up our street on our way to Somerset Elementary School.  As we were walking, we saw our neighbors, Joe and Ellen Falk, coming towards us and they were doing a most unusual thing.  They were kicking a rock back and forth between themselves.  They were laughing and giggling and having a most wonderful time.  It all looked so innocent and yet a bit out of place for a couple that had been married for more than fifty years.  And yet what a glorious sight it was!  Here we are nearly eleven years later, and I have never forgotten it.  In my mind, I am sure they had been through fights galore, had there share of hell in raising three children, stressed over money and wondered just how were we going to pay for that car repair and still pay the power bill?  But what I saw that morning were two people who had been through all those wars and battles.  And they had emerged, more than 50 years later, with an unbreakable bond.  They were committed to each other, and to their marriage.  And they could still laugh and giggle like innocent children, and do something so simple as kick a rock back and forth down the street.  And it occurs to me, that is what love looks like, and it is an absolutely beautiful thing when done right.

For those of you that have a marriage like that...where you can still giggle and laugh and remember why you fell in love with your spouse in the first place, I congratulate you.  Never lose that.  What you have is truly special and not to be taken for granted.  I always thought that the best short essay on love was in the Bible, I Corinthians, chapter 13.  What that chapter tells us is that love is everything and that without love, everything else is nothing.  And I look back on Mr and Mrs Falk and I saw the face of love.  Yes it was old and wrinkled.  And it was a bit goofy and not the least bit ashamed of any of it.  And it was truly unbreakable.  What they went through together was love.

In the end Mr. Falk passed away in early 2004, and Mrs Falk passed away about a year later.  She was lost without him and probably died of a broken heart.  And as Edgar Allen Poe wrote in his poem, Annabel Lee, "but we loved with a love that was more than love..." (thank you Mrs. Willingham - my 7th grade English teacher).  That is the most extraordinary life of all..