Can we have a happy Thanksgiving in this kind of world?

We have some excellent writers on the weekly paper in our town. Even the guy who owns the place writes well. He has an excellent Thanksgiving Day message in this week's paper. Here's just a little bit of it:

"We can’t do much about beheadings, massacres and racial strife half a world away, but wouldn’t it be nice if we could have peace on earth on our little piece of Earth. Just about now some folks have quit reading this column – no controversy, no crime, no new store opening, no tale of a coach who is paid $26,301 a day for eight years to hit the road – and, most likely they are the ones who need to heed the lyrics of the great 1969 Beatles’ tune, 'All You Need is Love.'

"When you think about it, that really is all you need to fix a lot of what’s broken. Need a higher authority than the Beatles? The New Living Translation of the Bible includes the word love 645 times. “'Love thy neighbor,' is one of my personal favorites.

"If love were truly in play, we would not have human trafficking in our backyard. We would not have homeless people, period, so we would not have to fight about what to do with them. With love, a man and woman would not have starved a 10-year-old girl to death in her padlocked bedroom. We’d love the drag queens as much as the drag racers.

"In case you didn’t read between the lines in the previous paragraph, take note that every heartbreaking story, every battle, doesn’t happen half a world away."

Yes, even here in our little niche of the beautiful Ozarks, our small city is not immune to human trafficking, homelessness, child abuse or sexual confusion. I don't know how love is going to fix any of that, aside from the fact that Jesus said, "God is love," so we'll all have to get together and figure out how we can turn it all over to Him and how He can use us to share His love and tenderness.

I encourage you to go read the entire essay by Donald Dodd, the publisher of the Phelps County Focus. Do that by clicking here: Happy Thanksgiving -- Here's to love and tenderness.   

Christmas times a-coming--since mid-September

Speaking of snow (as I was yesterday morning) has put thoughts of Christmas and merriment in my mind, so I thought I'd share this photo. I was in Lowe's the other day (actually, I am pretty sure it was about Halloween) and this is what greeted me the first thing when I walked in.

Yes, yes, yes! I remember now! It was right before Halloween, because I recall now when I saw this display, I wondered if Lowe's was trying to sell Santa costumes for Halloween trick-or-treating.

I later asked a friend who works there how long those two Santas had been up, and he said they put out all the Christmas selling items in mid-September or thereabouts.

Goodness, gracious, sakes alive, as grandma used to say. That means Lowe’s had Christmas decorations and Halloween decorations out about the same time. That's almost like a good vs. evil battle right there in the heart of Lowe's! Almost, but not quite, for I don't think Lowe's does recognizes Christmas as a religious holiday.

Do they say "Merry Christmas!" in their advertising now--or is it just a generic "Happy Holidays"? I don't know.

A year ago, we had snow on the ground

Our local paper  the other day on its weather page made  note that about this time last year we had a couple inches of snow on the ground. The local weather writer acknowledged that he or she (it is unclear, for the weather writer only refers to itself as The Insider) does not remember that snow.

I have to admit that I, The Ozarks Boy (if it's good enough for the paper, it's good enough for me, although my nickname indicates truthfully that I am indeed a male; no transgenderism on this homestead) do not recall it, either.

It's a dadgum shame to get old and feeble in the mind.

Well, nevertheless, there was snow on the ground this time last year, or a day or two ago last year, for it likely fell and melted quickly this time of year.

Unfortunately, I remember nary a bit of it.