Puffs

Something to talk about . . .

The weather . . .

This was one of the major things that impressed my sister-in-law who was born and raised in Chicago. On one of her first trips to Nebraska, she was impressed with how people talked about the weather.

She noted that in Chicago, one person might mention receiving an amount of rain during the night. The other person in the conversation would reply his experience and that part of the conversation would be over. (Maybe a minute or two at the most.)

She quickly learned that in Nebraska, any question about the weather might be a 15 or 30 minute conversation, at least.

If I remember correctly last winter saw just one snow storm in this area, but had plenty of “cold” temperatures to remind us of the time of the year. For a number of years before that, a lack of snow seemed to be the hallmark of the winter season.

The winter of 2023-2024 seems to be shaping up to be a different animal.

The phrase: “A good old-fashion” winter has been used by more than one person lately. In fact, that term came to us again last week during a phone call from a brother-in-law from Wisconsin. (We told him we love to share.)

What the remainder of January and February brings remains to be seen. However, I’m counting on an “Old Farmer’s Quote.”

It went something like this: “if you can remain snow-free until the New Year starts, it’s going to be a short winter.”

I’m guessing we can all hope that is true.

A cousin, and Lawrence native, Phyllis Rempe Brockman, was in contact with me this past week and she reminded me of the Blizzard of 1888 when several hundred Nebraskans were killed during that blizzard. She also mention a blizzard of more recent years, during which Lawrence resident, Richard Kohmetscher, was born. She didn’t mention how many years ago that was, so you’ll have to ask Dick when that happened.

A O

Last week I made comments about a book I’ve been reading. Well, I finished it during the snow storms of last week and feel a need to make a few more comments.

The book’s title is “The Universe Behind Barbed Wire.”

Written by Myroslav Marynovych, the book relates the author’s experience of living in Ukraine during the 1970s and 1980s. The majority of the book relates his experiences with the USSR’s penal system for those whom the Soviet government thought were ‘enemies of the state.’

An underlying theme of the book involves the author’s change from being a non-believer in any God to a Christian and the role that belief has in society in general. A number of thoughts impressed me, but one I want to remember as it applies to cultures worldwide and throughout time.

The paragraph was as follows:

“For the longest time I have had the feeling that every person is just one musical note on the heavenly keyboard, and once in a while that note is pressed by the finger of the Divine Pianist. It is a miracle indeed when you are the note that is required in His melody. But God will not hold his finer on your note forever. Inevitably there comes a time for you to humbly acknowledge that other notes are resonating nearby: your fervor declines, various health complaints begin to emerge and then all grandiose plans go topsy-turvy.”

The book tells a lot of stories about the Socialistic (Communism) society Ukraine lived under during this time. There are many examples of how the Socialistic society operated during this time. An example he gave that I’ll probably remember was the story of a prisoner of the state who was in a medical clinic and when the doctor came by he saw a crucifix on the wall. The doctor drew back, pointed to the crucifix and cried: “I refuse to treat you! Let Him treat you.”

Prisoners were required to work six days a week, eight hours a day. However, half of their pay was deducted from their account and paid to the government for their upkeep. The other half, after taxes, was deposited to their account. If the prisoner did not meet work quotas, the rest of the money might disappear as well.

A line from the book sort of summarizes the author’s intent of writing the book. He stated: “A society without faith and love loses its ability to differentiate between good and evil.”

Another line a person used in the book to help explain how the socialist society treated the average person went something like this: “You always look like you’re expecting to be punched.”

A O

Those last two lines impressed me because they remind me of what our present government is trying to do.

Rules . . . Regulations . . . Revenge . . . So much of today’s culture is operated because of these three ideas of mine. At times it seems that the government (Federal, State or local) has something in place that a person is bound to breaking a law someplace no matter what they do.

Then, they are just waiting to be punched by the government whenever the government wants to. In the book, the government controlled most everything. For example, here in America we can live wherever we chose or can afford. If we want to change jobs we can do so easily. Under the Soviet system, a person could not move to a new location unless he already had a place to live allotted by the government. Then . . . he could not have a place to live unless he had employment. Then . . . he could not have employment unless he had a place to live.

The government “controlled everything.” The government made the decision on which children attended which school . . . the government decided how ‘health care’ was distributed . . . the author was “suspect” of being anti-government because of where he was born. (That was near the border with Poland.) . . . The government decided which job a person was allowed to work at . . . etc.

Another ‘underlying theme’ of the book was the philosophy that the government can solve any problem. It contended that ‘hardships’ or ‘problems’ may just be good for an individual and the country as a whole.

For example: Some people today think there may be more than two genders in the world. It seems governments (at all levels) think they are helping those people by teaching this crazy idea in schools to young children whose major purpose in school is to wait for recess to start. The government wants bathrooms and showers in schools to be open to either gender. Their solutions fail to solve any problems and in fact, create many new problems. They reject the idea that just maybe counseling and therapy might just help. The process is not easy and without problems, but it would be a hardship an individual might just ‘grow’ by.

Another example: Babies . . . Ya, everyone loves babies and we realize that at times a new baby introduced into someone life might cause problems. The government’s solution (in many cases) was to allow abortions . . . that is to kill the baby . . . and everything would be fine. Throughout our civilized history nations have never allowed the killing of babies like what has happened in the last 50 years or so. The government doesn’t seem to think the average person can solve whatever problems arise from a new baby. Yes, it would involve hardships, but we as a culture we would be better off because of it.

It seems liberals think governments can solve most any problem we have. I certainly don’t promote hardship in anyone’s life, but sometimes it happens. A person can live with it and find a way to benefit from it, or they can let the hardship defeat them.

As a people, we are strong enough to solve our hardships, we don’t need the government to attempt their ill-fated solutions to solve every problem we face.

A O