I first heard of Studs Terkel driving back from Purdue University in the late 1970s. Always an insomniac I had stopped by to visit friends on one of my regular trips northward from Indianapolis to my home in East Gary, Indiana (okay Lake Station). I was listening to this very late night talk show on one of the Chicago AM radio stations, some guy named Larry King. Studs was on talking about his book Working. I was struck by his eloquence, his admiration for the common man, his focus on historical context. When I started working in Chicago in the mid-1980's, having thrown in the towel on the conservative Indianapolis, many of my sensibilities were informed by those of Studs. A show man. An intellect. He would share his outrage at the many injustices he saw around him in the city that he loved. He attributed years later to his ego, but he would not put his activism or his beliefs aside in the 1950's only to find himself black listed during the McCarthy period. He wore this as a badge of honor.
Some of the negligible few that read this will know that I was largely raised by my maternal grandparents, Willard and Bessie Silverthorn. They were FDR Democrats through and through. In many ways I was raised in a bit of a time warp - the stories I grew up with were the stories from the 1930's and 40's. So it was then that I read with great attention Stud's book from 1970, Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression. Studs as was his master craft selected a careful cross section of eye witnesses to the Great Depression, from a farmer in Iowa, to a member of FDR's cabinet, and to a Pullman railroad worker that went on to encourage Martin Luther King Jr's activism and would hire as his secretary. Rosa Parks, while working at the NAACP.
Studs was far from one of those dour harbingers of despair and disappointment. His sense of humor and his spirit were indefatigable surpassed only by his creativity. Not so many years ago, Sonia and I were driving home from Chicago listening to WBEZ FM radio and they were replaying one of Stud's radio programs from the 1960's which was a satire on modern culture - where the author, played by one of his assistants, was describing her work. Hillarious, inventive, delightful, even though it made an important point, the entertainment value was what shined through.
Studs stayed on in Chicago and contined to be a voice of justice and reason, never taking himself too seriously and never missing an opportunity for some grand display of his wisdom and understanding of the human condition, nor missing an opportunity to lampoon our collective sillyness and irrationality. Studs was Chicago. And Chicago was better for it. We were all blessed that he was afforded such a long and productive life. God rest ye merry gentleman. You live on in your words and your spirit.
Friday, November 07, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
William F. Buckley Jr. February 27, 2008
I grew up in Northwest Indiana raised by FDR democrat grandparents. My grandfather was a local politician. I remember as a tike Indiana Senator Vance Hartke coming to our house. Throughout the 60's and the early 70's, I was socialized to the oft said phrase, "when are they (the government) going to do something about this or that". I remember my grandfather disapproving of Nixon.
So in the late 70's, not unlike today, with energy issues, seemingly insurmountable foreign conflicts, the decline of US power, and an abysmal economy embroiled in stagflation, I started to go through a transformation. From my liberal upbringing, I began to believe the big business (such as the steel mills and GM) and the government weren't going to take care of you, nor should they be expected to do so. Reagan was elected. I started reading books by the conservative thought leaders of the time. One of them was William F. Buckley Jr. Our backgrounds could not have been more different. WFB was from an east coast family of privilege. My midwestern steelworker family was at times poor and when we weren't we weren't far from it due to my grandfather's failing health. The ideas, the reasoning, the ease and humor. The vocabulary. Firing Line became a favorite show. From being a charter subscriber to Mother Jones magazine while in High School, I subscribed to the National Review in college. My grandmother stayed very involved in local democratic politics in Lake County, Indiana and never accepted my Republicanism.
Of course in many ways the conservatives of that time seem like moderates now and even though I am now an independent voter and a moderate I still wear the mantle of a Reagan Republican. And of course I try not to look to close at the actual performance of the Reagan Administration, preferring to remember it as a time that transformed America and returned us to greatness. I can forgive them for growing government more than their liberal counterparts did. I still struggle with our treatment of Latin America, especially its leaders immediately following the power transfer from the human rights and sovereignty honoring, but incompetent, Carter administration. But for a brief time there was a political movement that believed in individualism, in minimizing government, keeping a strong defense, and in promoting free markets.
As Dick Cavett said in his column, We are Bill's children, all.
Quotes from the man himself
So in the late 70's, not unlike today, with energy issues, seemingly insurmountable foreign conflicts, the decline of US power, and an abysmal economy embroiled in stagflation, I started to go through a transformation. From my liberal upbringing, I began to believe the big business (such as the steel mills and GM) and the government weren't going to take care of you, nor should they be expected to do so. Reagan was elected. I started reading books by the conservative thought leaders of the time. One of them was William F. Buckley Jr. Our backgrounds could not have been more different. WFB was from an east coast family of privilege. My midwestern steelworker family was at times poor and when we weren't we weren't far from it due to my grandfather's failing health. The ideas, the reasoning, the ease and humor. The vocabulary. Firing Line became a favorite show. From being a charter subscriber to Mother Jones magazine while in High School, I subscribed to the National Review in college. My grandmother stayed very involved in local democratic politics in Lake County, Indiana and never accepted my Republicanism.
Of course in many ways the conservatives of that time seem like moderates now and even though I am now an independent voter and a moderate I still wear the mantle of a Reagan Republican. And of course I try not to look to close at the actual performance of the Reagan Administration, preferring to remember it as a time that transformed America and returned us to greatness. I can forgive them for growing government more than their liberal counterparts did. I still struggle with our treatment of Latin America, especially its leaders immediately following the power transfer from the human rights and sovereignty honoring, but incompetent, Carter administration. But for a brief time there was a political movement that believed in individualism, in minimizing government, keeping a strong defense, and in promoting free markets.
As Dick Cavett said in his column, We are Bill's children, all.
Quotes from the man himself
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Norman Mailer November 10, 2007
Norman Mailer - like Hemingway became a larger than life character. Mailer more so than Hemingway at times overshadowed his own works. He did not sit on the sidelines - a pioneer in participative journalism, he laid the groundwork for Hunter S. Thompson. Starting out as a novelist, he helped create the genre of creative non-fiction. He was a life long activist, often choosing the unpopular side of controversial issues. He seemed to revel in evoking animosity. No matter how you felt about Mailer and his opinions, he definitely helped shape the discussions and confronted America with issues that they would have otherwise wanted to avoid or sweep under the carpet.
So a folk song to Norman Mailer:
Look around me and what do you see, Norman Mailer looking down on me
Could it be his right hand, acting like he was a boxing man
A poor soldier who would go onto fight a bruising ego with all of his might
He saw himself so clearly, in novels obscured by reality
Scorned you once in the seventies view you now with empathy
Look around you what do you see Norman Mailer looking down on thee.
So a folk song to Norman Mailer:
Look around me and what do you see, Norman Mailer looking down on me
Could it be his right hand, acting like he was a boxing man
A poor soldier who would go onto fight a bruising ego with all of his might
He saw himself so clearly, in novels obscured by reality
Scorned you once in the seventies view you now with empathy
Look around you what do you see Norman Mailer looking down on thee.
Saturday, September 01, 2007
John Morris - Steelworker, family man, thinker
When I finally decided to try and not be a wild animal - it was my dad and my Uncle John's intelligence and friendship that helped me transition into a what has been a wonderful and colorful life. For this I am blessed.
When my Uncle John heard that I wanted my Dad's cement mixer, he took the time to rebuild it - installing a new motor, belt, and even a new coat of paint.
I don't use the term polymath lightly. The common definition is:
pol·y·math (pŏl'ē-māth') Pronunciation Key
n. A person of great or varied learning.
This term can be applied to both my father and my Uncle John. Though neither were educated much beyond high school, they both were very learned men. In any area of technology, in finance, in life they both used their extreme intelligence to better themselves and those around them.
Well, I didn't get that cement mixer picked up from Uncle John's house until after the funeral. I will just have to put it to use putting in the floor in the stable.
When my Uncle John heard that I wanted my Dad's cement mixer, he took the time to rebuild it - installing a new motor, belt, and even a new coat of paint.
I don't use the term polymath lightly. The common definition is:
pol·y·math (pŏl'ē-māth') Pronunciation Key
n. A person of great or varied learning.
This term can be applied to both my father and my Uncle John. Though neither were educated much beyond high school, they both were very learned men. In any area of technology, in finance, in life they both used their extreme intelligence to better themselves and those around them.
Well, I didn't get that cement mixer picked up from Uncle John's house until after the funeral. I will just have to put it to use putting in the floor in the stable.
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Jean-Francois Revel - Lover of freedom; Loather of the modern academic
Jean-Francois Revel passed away April 30, 2006 at the age of 82. A classically educated French philosopher, Revel (give name Ricard) left academia in 1963 to write. During the 1960s he confounded his liberal and left leaning colleagues by becoming a champion of freedom and capitalism during the Cold War. His last major work as a staunch defense of the United States following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
Having a very incomplete education, I only became aware of Revel's work when reading The Monk and the Philosopher, which consists of a dialog between Revel and his son Matthieu Ricard. Matthieu Ricard holds a doctorate in biology and is a Buddhist monk who works closely with the Dalai Lama, acting as an interpreter and a participant in the Dali Lama's work with the science of the mind.
Revel's most popular work is "Without Marx or Jesus" written during the Cold War.
I share Revel's commitment to freedom, but have come to believe as John Kenneth Galbraith espoused, that freedom appeared in the 20th century not because it was "right" or it was "inevitable", but because large scale automation lifted the yokes of the middle class. Freedom seems to now be taken for granted, this we do at our own peril. The adoption of totalitarianism is all too common by those in possession of power, for it is in the near term a much easier approach to the act of governing, to a point.
I am currently enjoying reading a long out of print book, "On Proust" by Revel where in this updated version he takes a not so subtle shot at the current post-modernist literary criticism that is the regime-du-jour in modern academia.
Main website
Wikipedia entry
Having a very incomplete education, I only became aware of Revel's work when reading The Monk and the Philosopher, which consists of a dialog between Revel and his son Matthieu Ricard. Matthieu Ricard holds a doctorate in biology and is a Buddhist monk who works closely with the Dalai Lama, acting as an interpreter and a participant in the Dali Lama's work with the science of the mind.
Revel's most popular work is "Without Marx or Jesus" written during the Cold War.
I share Revel's commitment to freedom, but have come to believe as John Kenneth Galbraith espoused, that freedom appeared in the 20th century not because it was "right" or it was "inevitable", but because large scale automation lifted the yokes of the middle class. Freedom seems to now be taken for granted, this we do at our own peril. The adoption of totalitarianism is all too common by those in possession of power, for it is in the near term a much easier approach to the act of governing, to a point.
I am currently enjoying reading a long out of print book, "On Proust" by Revel where in this updated version he takes a not so subtle shot at the current post-modernist literary criticism that is the regime-du-jour in modern academia.
Main website
Wikipedia entry
Monday, May 01, 2006
John Kenneth Galbraith
b. Oct. 15, 1908 - d.April 30, 2006
I saw this quote by John Kenneth Galbraith and thought it was worth repeating here:
"Under capitalism man exploits man; under communism it's just the opposite."
We got to hear Dr. Galbraith speak way back in the late 1980's when my career in finance first started and my wife was teaching at a private university in Indiana. Well - I have to say that he presented the argument that social and cultural values and the resulting political structures are a result of economic necessity. For instance, slavery was no longer tolerated when it was no longer needed, not before.
When we heard his presentation on politics and social values being a function of economic factors, I agreed with him through his speech up until his conclusion regarding the need for government involvement and his devotion to Keynesian Economics. While I still don't agree with him on this point, I have softened to understand his above quote regarding economic systems consisting of man exploiting man, which makes me appreciative ofa government that will act as a referee and require a certain semblence of fair play and balance. Am I looking for a perfect system? No, just a workable one.
When I look at the current global economy and downward pressure on wages and job security, and the upward pressure on productivity, Galbraith's thesis seems to come full circle and accurately describe what is occuring now in the US and other Western countries.
If you take the argument on immigration regarding hiring people to do jobs American's won't or you use the argument that we need this cheap labor to compete globally, ignoring the myriad of social issues involved: healthcare, living wage issues, standard of living, job safety, job security, you are left with the extension of this argument being the same ones used to justify slavery at one time in our nation's history. This does seem to be economic necessity driving cultural values and political decisions (laws).
There are now work lines for day workers - you show up at a predetermined location - the person needing labor looks over the crowd and picks out the workers for that day. This is reminiscent of what went on at the mills, mines, and factories in this country prior to unionization and the Roosevelt administration.
Organized labor's influence and membership is greatly reduced.
Many Americans find it acceptable to retain undocumented workers - based on the reason that they can't compete otherwise.
Many of us expect our own personal economic conditions to worsen in the future - job security is a simple delusion as is retirement.
A too large percentage of Americans have come to realize that health care is not available to them
Is this what we want for America - a class based society with a permanent underclass of near indentured servants? An America with a reduced unstable middle class that can only move downward - seldom upward socioeconomically? I don't think so. I think the NeoCons behind these ideas need to relocate to one of the Latin America countries where they will feel much more comfortable - instead of building one here.
As a member of the middle class, I feel that there is a concerted attack on my standard of living by businesses run by undeservedly rich CEOs and their minions in congress and their champions in the White House. So, not to get in the way of an oncoming train we personally are downsizing, increasing our skillsets and adaptability, accelerating our work pace when most people our age are slowing down, and we are paying much less attention to the "conventional wisdom". There it is the term attributed to Galbraith - "Conventional Wisdom". He was a contrarian and asked us to think past the first level of thought and to not accept what we were being spoon fed by the government and the press.
How sound an economist was he? I am not qualified to say. It sounds as though pure academic theory and research were not his strengths. But he was there as a voice for decency and responsibility and an educator of the masses. We take for granted now a basic understanding of markets and capitalism. However, this was once not the case - and Galbraith helped the everyman gain some insights and understanding. Surely that will place him in a position of great anomosity from many learned scholars in his field. His loyalty remained to the role of government as a positive and necessary force in economics, even though history appears to have proven otherwise. However, for me, I hold him in high regard as someone who cared about people and this country.
I saw this quote by John Kenneth Galbraith and thought it was worth repeating here:
"Under capitalism man exploits man; under communism it's just the opposite."
We got to hear Dr. Galbraith speak way back in the late 1980's when my career in finance first started and my wife was teaching at a private university in Indiana. Well - I have to say that he presented the argument that social and cultural values and the resulting political structures are a result of economic necessity. For instance, slavery was no longer tolerated when it was no longer needed, not before.
When we heard his presentation on politics and social values being a function of economic factors, I agreed with him through his speech up until his conclusion regarding the need for government involvement and his devotion to Keynesian Economics. While I still don't agree with him on this point, I have softened to understand his above quote regarding economic systems consisting of man exploiting man, which makes me appreciative ofa government that will act as a referee and require a certain semblence of fair play and balance. Am I looking for a perfect system? No, just a workable one.
When I look at the current global economy and downward pressure on wages and job security, and the upward pressure on productivity, Galbraith's thesis seems to come full circle and accurately describe what is occuring now in the US and other Western countries.
If you take the argument on immigration regarding hiring people to do jobs American's won't or you use the argument that we need this cheap labor to compete globally, ignoring the myriad of social issues involved: healthcare, living wage issues, standard of living, job safety, job security, you are left with the extension of this argument being the same ones used to justify slavery at one time in our nation's history. This does seem to be economic necessity driving cultural values and political decisions (laws).
There are now work lines for day workers - you show up at a predetermined location - the person needing labor looks over the crowd and picks out the workers for that day. This is reminiscent of what went on at the mills, mines, and factories in this country prior to unionization and the Roosevelt administration.
Organized labor's influence and membership is greatly reduced.
Many Americans find it acceptable to retain undocumented workers - based on the reason that they can't compete otherwise.
Many of us expect our own personal economic conditions to worsen in the future - job security is a simple delusion as is retirement.
A too large percentage of Americans have come to realize that health care is not available to them
Is this what we want for America - a class based society with a permanent underclass of near indentured servants? An America with a reduced unstable middle class that can only move downward - seldom upward socioeconomically? I don't think so. I think the NeoCons behind these ideas need to relocate to one of the Latin America countries where they will feel much more comfortable - instead of building one here.
As a member of the middle class, I feel that there is a concerted attack on my standard of living by businesses run by undeservedly rich CEOs and their minions in congress and their champions in the White House. So, not to get in the way of an oncoming train we personally are downsizing, increasing our skillsets and adaptability, accelerating our work pace when most people our age are slowing down, and we are paying much less attention to the "conventional wisdom". There it is the term attributed to Galbraith - "Conventional Wisdom". He was a contrarian and asked us to think past the first level of thought and to not accept what we were being spoon fed by the government and the press.
How sound an economist was he? I am not qualified to say. It sounds as though pure academic theory and research were not his strengths. But he was there as a voice for decency and responsibility and an educator of the masses. We take for granted now a basic understanding of markets and capitalism. However, this was once not the case - and Galbraith helped the everyman gain some insights and understanding. Surely that will place him in a position of great anomosity from many learned scholars in his field. His loyalty remained to the role of government as a positive and necessary force in economics, even though history appears to have proven otherwise. However, for me, I hold him in high regard as someone who cared about people and this country.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Caspar Weinberger
b. August 18, 1917 - d.March 28, 2006
BBC News story
More from the BBC
Wikipedia Entry
Had to happen eventually - Caspar Weinberger was 88 - after all only Woody Allen is going to get out of this life alive (Woody said "Some want to achieve immortality through their works, I want to achieve immortality by not dying") - none of the rest of us will escape the inevitable.
Cappy was the real thing - a leader who was responsible, had integrity and intelligence. Those people may exist in leadership positions this day and age but they are rare indeed.
He was a member of that maybe over idealized generation that survived both the great depression and World War II. Being raised by my grandparents and having great respect for them my loyalties and admiration lies with this generation that is sadly passing into the history books. Somehow I don't think I will ever measure up to them. If you want to do yourself a favor pick up a copy of Hard Times by Studs Terkel an incredible book of interviews on the Great Depression. I know everyone can't feel as I do we sometimes forget they were also part of the same generation that brought us Vietnam and the inflation and general abyss that was the post-war 1970s. But I think they need to be measured on balance based upon the state of knowledge and the situations of their own time not ours. Only the post modernist deconstructionists don't have 20/20 vision in hindsight, the rest of see things clearly when looking at the past.
I saw first hand how Caspar Weinberger helped to transform the defense industry while just a pup working at the Allison Gas Turbine Division of GM while in my last four years of college at Indiana Central University in Indianapolis 1980 to 1984. (Hey lots of people go to college for 7 years - Yeah they call them doctors [from the movie Tommy Boy])
Well I think that puts a cap on a really crummy day that I would not want to change in anyway in the least.
Time to put on some Johnny Cash and some Towns Van Zandt and think about the blur that was the past 26 years of working. I started my white collar career just a few days before Ronald Reagan's first inauguration as President...
You could tell the Republicans from the Democrats in those days. Now you can't tell the Republicans and Democrats from the special interests they are paid to represent. Two sides of an unfair coin in probability theory parlance.
Back to Indianapolis
When I first got to Allison's we charged off whatever government military project was convenient. There were lax controls. It felt like the hay days of the 1960s. The place looked like the hay days of the 1960s. Same desks, same ties.
It was not long after the Reagan administration got control of things that if you were working on a military contract you better be working on a military project. There were huge fines levied against defense contractors for overpayment. Things really turned around in a very short amount of time. Much of this I attribute to the leadership of Caspar Weinberger. We went from having our advanced planning groups speak of how it would just be a matter of time before the Soviet Union took over the US because there was no way a free society could stand up to a totalitarian regime to actually productively creating the illusion, if nothing else, that we were a formidable power that the Soviets could not confront. If the Reagan administration spent the Soviet Union out of existence, then it was Caspar Weinberger that made sure Reagan got our money's worth.
Of course no good deed goes unpunished and we drug his name through the mud before he was pardoned by his friend George H. W. Bush (Bush I), but that story can remain for another day.
A postscript that shows we are all too human
After the Beirut barracks were bombed in Lebanon, the US identified Hezbollah as those responsible in 1983. An attack to wipe out the then fledgling Hezbollah terrorist group, consisting of 250 or so members, was approved by Reagan. Caspar Weinberger in his role as Defense Secretary overturned this order because of his fear of upsetting Arab interests in the Mideast. Reagan, ever the loyalist, forgave Weinberger this indiscretion and insubordination. An opportunity was lost, but more importantly, the US began a pattern of behavior that led the Arabs, from Saddam Hussein to Osama Bin Laden, that if you attack the Americans they will in the best case flee (as we did from Lebanon) or in the worse case not respond to attacks.
BBC News story
More from the BBC
Wikipedia Entry
Had to happen eventually - Caspar Weinberger was 88 - after all only Woody Allen is going to get out of this life alive (Woody said "Some want to achieve immortality through their works, I want to achieve immortality by not dying") - none of the rest of us will escape the inevitable.
Cappy was the real thing - a leader who was responsible, had integrity and intelligence. Those people may exist in leadership positions this day and age but they are rare indeed.
He was a member of that maybe over idealized generation that survived both the great depression and World War II. Being raised by my grandparents and having great respect for them my loyalties and admiration lies with this generation that is sadly passing into the history books. Somehow I don't think I will ever measure up to them. If you want to do yourself a favor pick up a copy of Hard Times by Studs Terkel an incredible book of interviews on the Great Depression. I know everyone can't feel as I do we sometimes forget they were also part of the same generation that brought us Vietnam and the inflation and general abyss that was the post-war 1970s. But I think they need to be measured on balance based upon the state of knowledge and the situations of their own time not ours. Only the post modernist deconstructionists don't have 20/20 vision in hindsight, the rest of see things clearly when looking at the past.
I saw first hand how Caspar Weinberger helped to transform the defense industry while just a pup working at the Allison Gas Turbine Division of GM while in my last four years of college at Indiana Central University in Indianapolis 1980 to 1984. (Hey lots of people go to college for 7 years - Yeah they call them doctors [from the movie Tommy Boy])
Well I think that puts a cap on a really crummy day that I would not want to change in anyway in the least.
Time to put on some Johnny Cash and some Towns Van Zandt and think about the blur that was the past 26 years of working. I started my white collar career just a few days before Ronald Reagan's first inauguration as President...
You could tell the Republicans from the Democrats in those days. Now you can't tell the Republicans and Democrats from the special interests they are paid to represent. Two sides of an unfair coin in probability theory parlance.
Back to Indianapolis
When I first got to Allison's we charged off whatever government military project was convenient. There were lax controls. It felt like the hay days of the 1960s. The place looked like the hay days of the 1960s. Same desks, same ties.
It was not long after the Reagan administration got control of things that if you were working on a military contract you better be working on a military project. There were huge fines levied against defense contractors for overpayment. Things really turned around in a very short amount of time. Much of this I attribute to the leadership of Caspar Weinberger. We went from having our advanced planning groups speak of how it would just be a matter of time before the Soviet Union took over the US because there was no way a free society could stand up to a totalitarian regime to actually productively creating the illusion, if nothing else, that we were a formidable power that the Soviets could not confront. If the Reagan administration spent the Soviet Union out of existence, then it was Caspar Weinberger that made sure Reagan got our money's worth.
Of course no good deed goes unpunished and we drug his name through the mud before he was pardoned by his friend George H. W. Bush (Bush I), but that story can remain for another day.
A postscript that shows we are all too human
After the Beirut barracks were bombed in Lebanon, the US identified Hezbollah as those responsible in 1983. An attack to wipe out the then fledgling Hezbollah terrorist group, consisting of 250 or so members, was approved by Reagan. Caspar Weinberger in his role as Defense Secretary overturned this order because of his fear of upsetting Arab interests in the Mideast. Reagan, ever the loyalist, forgave Weinberger this indiscretion and insubordination. An opportunity was lost, but more importantly, the US began a pattern of behavior that led the Arabs, from Saddam Hussein to Osama Bin Laden, that if you attack the Americans they will in the best case flee (as we did from Lebanon) or in the worse case not respond to attacks.
Friday, November 19, 1999
A Eulogy for Uncle Steve
There are many common definitions for greatness. There is the greatness assigned to those of great wealth or ability. There is the greatness assigned to those who have achieved high positions in companies or who have achieved fame. But there is a more important type of greatness that I would like to talk about today. That is the greatness that comes from being a good human being. If someone were to read the biographical facts of Uncle Steve’s life they wouldn’t necessarily conclude that he was a great man. Yet, if you talk to those of us who knew him you would get a very, very different story.
_______________
_______________
The term Christian was derived from a Latin word that means “Christ Like”. When I think of Uncle Steve I see a person who had humility, seemed not to judge others, treated people as he would like to have been treated. He was a loyal and caring father, uncle, and friend. I never heard a credible bad word said about him. He personified a philosophy that I only now have come to understand and appreciate. He truly lived life as if every day above ground was a good day, even through his prolonged illness.
What I want us to think about is - what can we all take from Uncle Steve’s life and apply and use in our own.
How do we treat those around us?
Are we compassionate? Forgiving?
Do we think of their feelings?
Do we address their needs?
Are we loyal and do we stand by each other?
Do we take care of our responsibilities and meet our commitments?
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