You probably think that this old teacher has gone into his dotage, writing about our Judeo-Christian Civilization, and of Jesus Christ as the great changer of that civilization.  Well, now hear this!  In the Syosset Class of ’21, there are thirteen Merit Scholars—eleven of them are Chinese and two are Indian.  Scientists who classify intelligence by race say the Chinese are the smartest.  Why was China not the first to put a man on the moon?  Why was Western Civilization the foremost in technological invention?  What civilization invented the electric light?  The telephone?

The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind—the Judeo-Christian morality that Jesus taught changed our civilization so that we’d help one another.  We’d put less emphasis on worldly success and reach for heaven.  Even the Russian astronauts tried to say heaven is not up there.  They didn’t know, but it starts within us.  Thank you, Jesus Christ.

We all have our own construction of reality, and when my son came to help me winterize the patio furniture, he asked, “Why did you get a 20×20 tarp?”

“That’s my estimate to cover the furniture,” I replied.  He quickly folded it up into a 10×10 size and covered the piled-up furniture.  I was so grateful and surprised at his estimate of the situation, and thanked him for making short work of my project.

Yes, my younger generation outshone me, and I’m grateful to him and the Creator who arranged things this way.  Praise to the Author of Life.

We were looking to repair damage done to the apartment from an upstairs water leak, and the first estimate was too high.  Putting our trust in the Lord, we answered a newspaper ad for a handyman, and fortunately he was also registered to clean up mold.  Things are proceeding at a regular pace.

We are so dependent on people being honest that we don’t even notice, most people are.  Little do we appreciate the progress we have made in this as a civilization, judging from Dickens’ characters. 

Rocky, the handyman, struck me as a hard working man, who had helped raise his brothers in a large family.  He wasn’t the oldest, but had assumed that responsible position.

Small, well-written articles make for interesting reading.  A teacher retirees’ newsletter recently included a paragraph each from several New York teachers.  The first one was a teacher who started in Prattsburgh at a yearly salary of $3,000, which was considered high in her hometown, but they wanted to match a Long Island offer.  Aha!  The downturn was they gave her forty-four students rather than the State recommended thirty.

That was the year petticoats were in style.  Not for her, because the distance between desks wouldn’t allow that.  The men teachers got the same salary, but had to put up with boys who challenged them to a fight.  (How do you put that down from a racially different boy?)

I say, Lord, vive la différence!

Once you are dead, you are an absolute zero, no longer affecting eternity, no longer able to see and understand the truth.  And the truth is people are made to be happy—forever.

How can you be happy if you are an absolute 0?   You are an absolute 0 in the world you just left (You know, of course, that energy, invisible, can neither be created nor destroyed); you achieve happiness in the new life, known as salvation, from the Latin salva, safe.  The great Russian writer, Dostoevsky, said he saw Truth in a dream, dressed as a beautiful woman, and Truth meant “Love thy neighbor as thyself.”  That is second to love God with your whole heart, so that you may become aware of Truth.

Not that many people read and understand Dostoevsky.  Shame.