Little Egypt Heritage Articles Stories of Southern Illinois (c) Bill Oliver 1 August 2004/26 September 2004 Vol 3 Issue: #29 ISBN: pending Osiyo, Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, My Octogenarian Father nearly out lived that distinction. He was asked one time by a person who observed that his birthday was the thirtieth of November, “ ... what year?” His answer: “Every year!” Recently I was interviewed by a reporter from my Alumni Association’s Newsletter. During and as a result of that interview, the reporter and I discussed the concept of animate and inanimate objects being alive vs having spirit. In the mythology of Native American Culture that I’ve been privileged to hear and read, it is believed that the Spirit of the Maker is not given to humans alone, but rather the whole created universe shares in the immortal perfection of the Maker. This included inanimate elements, such as rocks, and the majestic forces of nature, such as wind, water, fire, lightning, etc. .......... Wham .... Bang ..... and at the above moment, the SPIRIT of Lightning struck near my computer and it [the computer] decided to leave this world for more favorable territory ... “south”. Though I am not sure at this time that those who live in the south are appreciative. The new date of today is: 26 September 2004, seven weeks since the great “blow”. So, it has been a while between articles, while I rebuilt a computer, salvage what data I ccould from the old hard-drive, travel, celebrate life with family, and prepare to retire for the [?]th time, ... thus, getting back to the writing I do enjoy. It is always my pleasure to read and I cram as much of it in as I can. My Parents were readers. So were my Grandparents. And, so were my Aunts. Due to our reading habits, our children and grandchildren are also “readers.” One of our granddaughters can write a report on “Star Wars” without going to a library [except her own]. One of my Father’s High School Teachers was a family friend and she did travel a lot. She never failed to bring back at least one book for me. All this was not dependent upon our economic status or the quality of the education in the school districts I attended ... my family saw to it that I had reading material. My Parents, Grandmothers, and several of my Aunts read to me daily before I entered school and though I had difficulty in learning to read, I never developed a dislike of it. During my recent absence, I read James Mooney’s “Myths of the Cherokee” and a couple of related others. This morning, while enjoying my first cup of coffee, I read the Sunday paper. Several things when put together evoked sadness and raucous laughter. The first was a picture of an Iraqi Father carrying his wounded child ... this evoked the thought of how tired I am of seeing such pictures. The laugh that followed, however, came spontaneously when I then read the political cartoon by Rogers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, in today’s paper. It was our President asking Mr Putin where he got some of his ideas about stripping rights from citizens. Mr Putin, with a light bulb over his head, is holding a copy of the USA Patriot Act. Further into today’s newspaper was an article about a new wave of books on the subject of etiquette. Well, I have suffered “road rage” and even “web rage”. A “gentleman” gave out more than his opinion of my driving because I stopped for a red light and he apparently didn’t want this. Some folks in writing e-mails are as rude as I ever experienced. My Folks taught me courtesy and respect. I “yes, sired” and “Yes, Mam’d” all adults. Children did not use the Christian names of adults ... it was always “Mr” or “Mrs”, and sometimes “Miss”. If I forgot, my ears became red as beets, but not from embarrassment. <BG> Not so long ago, ediquette books were ridiculed as relics ... antiques. There has been a grand informality which has increased to the point where rudeness became the new norm and was to be overlooked. People wear shorts to cocktail parties, denims to Church, spam their friends with e-mail [pass-it-ons]. They gossip about their friends in chat rooms and use the foulest of language in all walks of their lives. Well, what goes ‘round, comes ‘round, I guess. One might think that some folks are becoming a bit tired of this behavior. Emily Post is no longer lonely on the Bookstore and Library shelves. Her book, now updated by a great granddaughter is in its 16th edition. There are possibly more than 100 titles keeping her book company on shelves, all published within the last five years. There is “Mr Social Grace”, “Doyenne of Decorum”, “The Fabulous Girls”, and even “The Edequette Girls” on their shelves. E-mail correspondence has evolved without any greetings or salutations, and absolutely no signature; and, few, if any thank you’s. Our technology has evolved so rapidly, and so has our desire for guides in how to respond to various situations. So, along with matching our fast paced living we have also made fast paced changes in our dealings with people, some for the better and some for the worse. Well, these books are telling folks how they should act, and inject a bit of common coutesy and “decent” dress into their lives. For me, I like to visit Kentucky ... there I’m always “Sir’d” and Barb is always “Mam’d”. e-la-di-e-das-di ha-wi nv-wa-do-hi-ya nv-wa-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) Wado, Bill -=- PostScript: = = = = http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/SOIL http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/ILMASSAC http://www.usgennet.org/usa/ne/state/BillsArticles/LittleEgypt/intro.html