Teachers

Bill Walker

wildbill6807@yahoo.com

You have taught me a lot... for real and I hope you will always be able to be online so I can share with you.

I received this from a real nice lady.  She is a Missourian, those are for the most part  are nice people,  they kick out the bad apples,  some move to Nebraska.  Anyways her remarks made me do a lot of thinking.

Now this lady is schooled and knows how to do lots of things.  One I think she was a teacher.  So how could an unschooled person teach?  I am always getting in trouble with the proper and the nit pickers.  I have even come to the place where I really do work at getting something out of wack, so as the proper and nit pickers has something to look for.  I get down in the dumps if someone don't tell me I said it wrong.

I have heard it said, book learning is a start. But learning should not stop with just the books. One learns more by the doing.  I have lots of stories I can take off on here. I think I have told about the lady doctor.  For those that never read, or got the story, here goes.

This old sis was a rich one. She also was Doctor so and so M.D. You know what M.D. stands for?  More Dope!!!.   She knew the books well enough to be able to say that, Doctor so and so M.D.  That was it, never doctored that I every heard of.  So what was the real good of the book learning?  She took up space in class rooms and such to be able to say doctor so and so M.D.  Sure wasn't no Dr.Mary Walker M.D. of Civil War days and holder of the Congressional Medal of Honor.

I always figured, well somewhere in my life time, there is no such a thing as pure dumb.  Even real smart people pull bone head deals now and then. We elected them to government offices.  Do that every 2 and 4 years.  I think it was Will Rogers that said, "The best jokes are in Washington."  I think I can be safe in saying the best crooks also are in Washington.

We all can be teachers at times, also studiers of others.  I think we all study the other person.  I once read about a General, well a few of them that was good at being a General.  They would study the other General.  Knew what he would maybe be likely to do in a given. This one was of World War Two fame.  General George Patton.  One cold winter day In Dec 1944, he knew the Germans was up to something.  I think it was Dec the 16th.  Patton said, the Germans had never made a major attack in dead of winter since so and so.  Why not now?  They did, General Patton and all the other wheels was at a meeting as to what to do.  All were in favor of pulling back.   Patton said hell no, he had a plan, and was ready to put it to work.  Thank God for Patton. He diverted a major part of his army onto the attack.  In days, that part rolled in to push the Germans back in major defeat.  You see he studied the enemy,   He know what they had,  what they had done in the past. What better timing then to attack in the dead of winter?  When word came what the American General said to the German

General.  Patton said we must save that man and his unit.   The word was simple. "NUTS."  He had been told his cause was hopeless by the Germans.

Maybe I got off of the path,  but the thing is you can learn from about anyone something, somewhere, sometime.  I once knew a man that built a house to live in.  He was not a builder of such,  just had a few ideas of what he and his family needed, a house.  He bought a lot to build on.  I think he did get someone to start it, that is the foundation. He knew a little bit about what came next.  He would go at it till he got stumped.   Get in the car, and drive over to where a house was being put up.  Watch how something was done.  If  it took a few trips so be it,  he would learn how it was done.  It took him a while, but soon he had a house. About all he had to hire out was the foundation, wiring and plumbing.

I have learned a lot  in the last few years.  Didn't have to go to school either.   Now maybe school would have been the thing,  but I did much like the man building the house.  You see I was one of those with the thinking of what, why, and so on of the needs of a computer.  I  thought  anyone that had one of those things must really have a great use for one.  You know they must be in the high smart class. I really was at a total loss of the use of one.  Just why would a person need one for?  Well I got to watching people that used them.  All at once I figured old Willie might like one to play with.  PLAY WITH, that was the total thought.  Now old Willie hates to tell others he is total dumb. So I started to watching more.  I also started to wonder into places where these things was sold.  I acted like I knew what I was looking at.   Really had no clue.  I would stand off to the side watch some one prance up and try one out.  Maybe even say a word to them.  Get them to say something.  After a bit I would move to another one.  Watch the action there.  It was fun in a way.  Every time I made a move I had picked up something.  All at once I had one in the car going home with this I got, I got no clue.  I got it set up and at last running.  I started to learn I had the whole world at my finger tips.  I may never have a paper that says I know a thing, but here is if I'm smart enough I can find out millions of things I never dreamed about.  I think one can learn by watching, but you have to grab the bull by the horns and try it out.

I have made a lot of nice friends on this thing,  Putter friends.  Dollies, a Witch or two, and even brought a Dollie home, got her off of the computer.  She is Blondie and Beautiful.  She talks a lot. She barks. I think she even loves me.  She seems pretty smart,  maybe I will learn something from her.

About Me:

Well I??™m a story teller, not a writer. Never learned the art of fancy English. I

happen to live in Nebraska, but I??™m still Missouri. Never married, all the Dollies I

ever took a second look at was too smart. Now at 74, just turned that other day, I

figure they all home safe. I love Doggies and Dollies in that order. Lost my two

true friends this year, that be Tinker and Poo. So I found me a new one. This

time a little girlie Peke. She is a normal female. Got a mouth, talks all the time.

She will never be a great writers of stories like Tinker and Poo. They have

about 50 stories on HWS. And now writing back from Rainbow Bridge.

I just try to write about people, places and things best I remember. Have something

over 250 stories on HWS. under three names.   

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Fast Food Frenzy

Pamela R. Blaine

There are a lot of things that we didn??™t have when I was a child and one of them was fast food; all we ever had was slow food.  Perhaps if we still had more slow food, people would learn how to wait and there wouldn??™t be such a thing as road rage because at least half of the people on the highway would be at home or in ordinary restaurants patiently waiting for their slow food. 

The fast food chains have captivated the children with their slogans and special meals designed just for kids with a toy thrown in for further enticement. It would be nice if children today could recite the golden rule, ???Do unto others as you would have others do unto you???, as quickly as they can pick out the golden arches from a mile away. 

Just the other day I was in a hurry so I pulled my car through the drive through lane of a fast food restaurant.  I was simply thinking about just getting a quick sandwich.  I pushed the button on the menu board, and ???the voice??? began speaking.  I tried hard to decipher what was being said from the rapid spiel of obviously memorized words but it was very difficult to interpret. 

Finally, I did manage to place my order when suddenly ???the voice???, sounding something like a hysterical chipmunk, frantically exclaimed, ???Woonyulakfriswittat???? After asking for a repeat three or four times, I finally understood that she was saying, ???Would you like fries with that????   At this point, after I replied in the negative, I thought I would get my food and leave, but no, she wasn??™t finished with me yet. 

Next, she wanted to know if I wanted my meal ???super sized???, which seemed to mean that I would get larger portions (for a price) and a soft drink in a gallon bucket. I wondered if the super sized food came with a warning label stating, ???The surgeon general has determined that super sizing may super size your body and cause your arteries to slam shut.???  I explained that I didn??™t want anything super sized unless they could do something about my bank account.   At this point, I just wanted to scream, ???Please, can I just have my chicken nuggets so I can go home!??? 

 By the way, take it from me; do not mention the word, ???diet???.  If you do, you will be offered the latest low-carb, low-fat meal that consists of a wilted lettuce leaf with a paper-thin slice of something that vaguely resembles meat.  Upon receiving this wrapped concoction, you realize that you could have made your own diet fast food at home in five seconds at a total cost of twenty cents instead of $3.60. 

Also, parents today drive away with the kids fighting over the toys in their ???Happy Meals??? and dumping sticky soft drinks all over the car.  The children only consume two bites of food because they are only interested in their free toy.  In addition, they manage to get most of the food all over themselves and the car, which in turn causes parents to lose their cool as they scarf down their own food that has quickly evolved into a ???Cranky Meal.???   A few minutes later, parents end up hunting for the Tums.

Fast food is not just assigned to the drive-through restaurant.  If you want to have fast food and just stay home for the evening, never fear, just check out the frozen food section of the grocery store.  You can bring home and thaw out or nuke a complete meal and you won??™t have to worry about the kids fighting over the toys from the fast food restaurants.  Instead, they can fight over who gets to open the pudding six pack and you can hear them whine to eat it now because the frozen lasagna hasn't finished heating up yet.

It is interesting that these days most people have a kitchen full of the latest appliances, yet they are only used on rare occasions such as Thanksgiving because the rest of the time everyone is eating fast food. 

There are a variety of appliances in the average kitchen these days from bread machines to pizza bakers.  It seems like we could surely come up with an ???all in one??? appliance.  Perhaps that is what our grandmothers possessed in that antiquated appliance known as ???the cook stove.???  It seems I remember Grandma making coffee, tea, bread, grilled meat, and a variety of other things on that one appliance without the need of a separate machine for each item.  Grandma??™s trash compactor consisted of smashing cans with the feet, dishwashers were you and your siblings, and garbage disposals were found barking outside the door or in the barn lot. 

In some ways life is a lot easier now but in other ways we??™ve lost something in not gathering around the kitchen table together with prayer and thanksgiving as often as we should.  This is where children learn to help and memories are made even if the food isn??™t made entirely from scratch.

It is nice to share a meal without drive through windows or the interruptions of the world around us, so I think I??™ll give it a try and trudge over to the microwave and nuke a couple of hotdogs.  Hey, it??™s got to be easier to wipe off the kitchen table than to dig French fries out of that little space between the car door??™s window ledge and the window. 

By

Pamela R. Blaine

Copyright, December, 2004

My husband and I live in Missouri.  We have 4 children and 5 grandchildren.  I enjoy writing, music, and country living.  I write "Pam's Corner" for the local newspaper and many stories have been published on the internet as well as in several books. I have loved music and writing ever since I can remember. I play piano at church and I'm an avid reader. One of my goals is to be able to write for my children and grandchildren so special memories will not be forgotten.  We have recently made a new CD entitled "I'll Walk You Home".  If you would like one, they are available by freewill donation.  More information as well as a clip from the CD is on the website at:  http://blaines.us/PamyPlace.htm

 ~**~**~