Dear Grandchildren,
Allow my friend, Marcus Aurelius, to guide you today … and everyday.
All you need are these: certainty of judgment in the present moment; action for the common good in the present moment; and an attitude of gratitude in the present moment for anything that comes your way.
Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 9.6
Love,
Grandfather
Dear Grandchildren,
As I wander through the boxes of old photographs and other stuff it becomes evident that family life was not always as I had known it.
I’ve found pictures of my paternal grandfather.
Seated: Roger Funk (Frank Leroy Funk’s son); Grandpa Frank Funk; Ronnie Funk (Frank Leroy Funk’s son); Randy Woods (Dorothea Mae Woods’s son).
Standing: Barbara Sue Woods (Dorothea Mae Woods’s daughter) and me
After Grandma Funk died in 1957, father tolerated Grandpa Funk. The story I always heard involved father’s farm in McComb. Apparently, father was afraid of being drafted into military service during World War II and losing his farm. Father claimed that he transferred the farm to Grandpa Funk for the duration of the war. However, as I explore the family genealogy, I’ve discovered that this doesn’t make sense. According to the deed records, father didn’t buy the farm until October 1945, two months after World War II was over. I guess I’ll never know.
I’ve even discovered pictures that suggest that my parents were happy with each other.
I seldom recall witnessing displays of affection that were offered and accepted growing up. An underlying tension existed within the family. When I got my driver’s license and was mobile on my own, the marriage ended.
I wonder what other surprises lurk in these boxes.
Love,
Grandfather
Dear Grandchildren,
Children mimic what they see.
If they see it on the field, court, pitch, wherever today; it will be seen on the playground tomorrow.
Momma and Daddy play games on their phones, online, and on the XBox; therefore, it’s permissible for you to play games instead of interacting with others.
Whenever I traveled with father I was to keep quiet and listen for I would be called upon to verify the truthfulness of father’s statements. I still have difficulty making small talk today.
Mother would expound about a neighbor in McComb who was a chronic gossip. When I attend the monthly breakfast of my graduating class, it makes me uncomfortable to hear my classmates talking about where people live, what they do, who they’re married to or dating or both. I tend to just shut up and ignore them. I have come to abhor people with long noses, wagging tongues, and small minds who talk about me.
I’ve noticed when you’re asked a question someone else leaps in to answer. Consequently you defer to others. Use your voice. I remember when Momma was in Providence Hospital in Detroit, a doctor came in the room to check on a patient who was about seven. Every question that the doctor asked, the patient’s mother answered. The doctor gave up. At 3 o’clock in the morning, the doctor showed up and talked to the patient without the mother being present.
Children do mimic what they see. Perhaps that’s why I love this poem.
Love,
Grandfather
Dear Grandchildren,
I discovered this poem on the Internet.
I wish I had been a better father … and grandfather.
Love,
Grandfather
Dear Grandchildren,
In times past, chickens roamed free. Usually they would return to their nest to lay their eggs but not necessarily. (When I lived on the farm in Upper Sandusky, I had a pea hen come to visit. She laid an egg in the bed of my pickup.)
Read “The Lost Opportunity” by Leo Tolstoy.
An egg was discovered in a neighbor’s garden. This egg became the source of a perceived rebuke that lead to a feud between the neighbors, that grew into a number of criminal complaints and civil lawsuits and escalated into arson that destroyed the neighbor’s home, barns, and property as well as half their village.
When chickens are free to roam, isn’t it ridiculous to confront a neighbor and ask, “Did my chicken lay an egg in your garden?”
Perceptions are our own. The problem arises when others are expected to have their thoughts, perceptions, and actions conform to ours. By doing we deny other the Creator’s given rights we proudly exercise ourselves.
Tolstoy takes a perceived rebuke to its unimagined conclusion.
Sadly, incidents such as these continue to occur today.
Love,
Grandfather
Dear Grandchildren,
I caught part of a program on PBS. Judy Woodruff was investigating the political divide in the United States. The program included two “focus” groups. The Republican “focus” group parroted the views of the Trump fringe of the Republican Party. I immediately became suspect. If the “focus” group was to represent a cross-section of the party, I would not have expected complete conformity with the positions of the Trump fringe. I turned the program off — more propaganda, more misinformation.
The problem with party politics is a very simple one. Republicans and Democrats alike have surrendered their reasoned choice and no longer vote their values. They have become sheep and follow whatever their shepherd says:
They choose their poison. They choose whom they wish to believe. They choose what dogma they want to blindly follow.
Want to see what’s wrong with American politics? Look in the mirror!
Don’t vote red. Don’t vote blue. Vote your values!
I hope you will be guided by the cardinal virtues — wisdom, justice, courage, and moderation — whenever you cast your ballot.
Follow those and vote your conscience. It’s better than being a puppet for someone that doesn’t have your values.
Love,
Grandfather
Dear Grandchildren,
I watched the “Samaritan Snare” (Season 2, Episode 17) of Star Trek: The Next Generation that originally aired on May 15, 1989, One storyline involves the Enterprise providing assistance to a ship in distress, the Mondor, a Pakled ship. (The law of the sea requires rendering assistance to vessels in distress.) After assistance had been provided, the Pakleds kidnap Chief Engineer Geordi LaForge. The Pakleds want to acquire more advanced technology. Instead of developing their own technology the Pakleds prefer to extort it through the ploy of being helpless.
I have encountered too many people who use the same ruse. They don’t understand. They don’t have time. They don’t want to try. They must always be successful; they must never fail. They are lazy. They don’t want to apply themselves. It’s easier if they can get someone else to do the work so that they can take the credit.
Be vigilant.
Be helpful, but that doesn’t mean doing it for them.
There are many Pakleds in society. Don’t be one of them.
Love,
Grandfather
Dear Grandchildren,
Let me introduce the grandchildren of my maternal grandparents: Estella (Champion) and C. Earl Smith.
From left to right —
The only cousin missing is Barbara (Ewing) Ferryman, daughter of Aunt Georgia.
As best I can determine, this photograph was probably taken in 1981 after Grandma Smith’s funeral. We probably all assembled at the Deweyville Church of God.
Love,
Grandfather
Dear Grandchildren,
I suffer from white man’s bias. I hated native Americans. It had to be true. Native Americans were depicted as the villain in Northwest Passage (1940), They Died with Their Boots On (1941), and countless other movies and television programs as well as books like James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales (The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneers, and The Prairie) and tales of George Armstrong Custer.
The more I study history and read I realize how misplaced my bias is.
Books such as Woman Walking Ahead: In Search of Catherine Weldon and Sitting Bull by Eileen Pollack, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, A Sorrow in Our Heart: The Life of Tecumseh by Allan W. Eckert have expanded my horizons and challenged my biases.
I happened across “The Humble Warrior” by Pekka Hamalainen in Smithsonian, November-December 2022. It provided a different picture of Crazy Horse or Tasunke Witko.
Never stop learning.
Keep reading.
Continue to question and seek answers for yourself.
Use our Creator’s greatest gift — our reasoned choice.
It’s a good thing to question, challenge, research, and explore the basis for our beliefs and biases. It means that we’re not stuck in a rut and we’re continuing to explore.
Too many don’t do that. They’ve died. Their bodies haven’t realized it … yet. Avoid this at all costs!
Love,
Grandfather
Dear Grandchildren,
Cultivate friendships.
Before you eat or drink anything, carefully consider with whom you eat or drink rather than what you eat or drink, because eating without a friend is the life of a lion or a wolf.
Epicurus
I have many acquaintances, but few friends. I regret that.
Cultivate friendships. Someone to share thoughts, dreams, aspirations, troubles, concerns. Someone to eat and drink with. Someone to have adventures with. Someone to call when you need help in the middle of the night. Someone to sit and watch the sunset in silence with.
Love,
Grandfather
jcfunk 