Tag: Baptist

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The Unintended Lesson – Revisited

I wrote the article below a little over 20 years, and I wanted to re-share this story today. 

In all of our lives there are hopefully a few individuals that have made a big impact.  My Uncle Dutch and Aunt Peggy were two such people.  When, as a teenager, I was having a lot of problems at home, they took me in for a while.  They helped firm up my rudder that was wobbling terribly.  My uncle passed away today at the age of 92 after living what I would call a good and meaningful  life.  God bless you, Uncle, and godspeed on your new journey. 

dsc_0001aMy Uncle Dutch is not a tall man, and he has what we affectionately call a Buddha belly. I know that he was skinny once upon a time. I have seen pictures of him when he was young and in the Navy, but that is not the Harry Dodd I know. He is elderly now, with white hair, and it is hard for me to not think of him in a suit and tie. The first thing that you will probably notice about my Uncle is his smile. While he doesn’t smile all the time, it is certainly there more than it isn’t. And it is the type of smile that just lights up his whole face.

He is married to my mother’s sister. Now that I am older, I recognize her as kind, gentle, woman. Continue reading “The Unintended Lesson – Revisited”

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Madder Than a Baptist Finding His Favorite Liquor Store Closed

GUNI really surprised myself as how quickly I went from wandering around REI Christmas shopping to madder than a Baptist finding his favorite liquor store closed.

The REI here is St. Louis is in one of the richest parts of town. The parking lot is full of Beamers, Mercedes and Teslas in addition to the expected Subabrus, Toyotas and Hondas. We were walking towards the front of the store to check out. Robin never noticed him, but there was a young man, perhaps in his late twenties, walking around with a 45 strapped to his waist. He was obviously not store security. He did not look like a plains clothes police office in his Australian outback hat. I had to turn around and walk towards the back of the store as my impulse was to walk up to him and say, “Unless you are carrying a badge, you are one stupid mother f***er.

I do not want to live in a society where people can walk around with lethal weapons strapped to their bodies. I consider concealed carry laws an atrocity beyond words. I have lived 63 years and I can think of only one situation where I might have wanted a gun. Instead I turned around and confronted the man verbally which was enough. It is insane to have to worry about accidentally triggering some mental case with a gun tucked away somewhere on their body. If I verbally abuse you, flip you off, or cut you off in traffic it is more insanity to have to worry about a weapon.

My personal opinion is that anyone that is willing to carry a weapon, openly or otherwise, in a situation where the need for it approaches an infinitesimal small percentage is not sane enough to carry a weapon.

 

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The Cookie Bowl

cookiejar Once upon a time, back in the day, when my kidrens were still knee-high to the proverbial grasshopper, my arm could still be twisted to get me to attend Sunday church services. My son, David, must have been around 4 which would have put my daughter, Keely, at 8.  We were living in Oklahoma City and we attended a Baptist church fairly regularly.   Sporadically before the main sermon the preacher would have a children’s story.  In the front of the church was a low stage with steps leading up to the pulpit.  He would sit at the front of this stage and ask the children of the congregation to gather around him.

This particular Sunday he did that, made his invitation to the children, and off rushed our two kids.  I do not remember exactly what the story was about, but it did involve a cookie jar and partaking of the contents unauthorized.

The preacher looked at Keely and asked her, “Do y’all have a cookie jar at your house?”

To which she replied, “No.”  Then she brightly added, “No, but we have a cookie bowl and Daddy gets into it all the time.”

The whole church burst out into laughter and turned to see me slinking down in my pew.

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For Whom the Law Tolls

For while this year it may be a Catholic against whom the finger of suspicion is pointed, in other years it has been, and may someday be again, a Jew- or a Quaker or a Unitarian or a Baptist. It was Virginia’s harassment of Baptist preachers, for example, that helped lead to Jefferson’s statute of religious freedom. Today I may be the victim, but tomorrow it may be you – until the whole fabric of our harmonious society is ripped at a time of great national peril.

-Presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1960

The local Jewish community newspaper in  St. Louis ran the following editorial.  It was triggered by Oklahoma passing a constitutional amendment banning judges from considering Sharia (and international laws) in their judicial opinions.  The editoralist does not see a lot of legal danger from this amendment, but finds the attitude behind the passing of the amendment very dangerous.

The link: For Whom the Law Tolls

I’m just so proud to be an Okie…not.