After generations of respect, Christian clergy are being downgraded as trustworthy figures in society. This makes sense as a decline in church membership shifts attention to other institutions. I wonder, however, how much recent scandals have affected this depreciation.
People think they know things about their own experience that are actually untrustworthy.
It was becoming obvious in the 1960s that the city of Athens needed a better hospital than Sheltering Arms, only two houses in size.
Many of us do not like living near people we think are stupid or hateful. Some of us would like those people to go to another city, state, or country. We enjoy talking with neighbors and friends who agree with us and do not argue with us too much. Even if they have somewhat different opinion…
Commencements, weddings, patriotic holidays — many occasions recently for people to go from one place to another in a formal way.
It’s inspiring to hear about heroic rescues and courageous acts by strangers that save lives.
Editor’s Note: This is the latest installment of a series of regular columns designed to report to the senior citizens of Athens County items of interest from the Athens County Council on Aging (ACCOA).
WASP doesn’t appear much these days but it used to name the American privileged group, White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. That expanded easily to include northern Europeans, but not Irish because they were Catholic. Italians also did not qualify as white Americans. If they were Sicilian they cou…
My name means “farmer” but I bury seeds, not plant them. I do not cultivate or know fields, farms or forests. I think about vegetation, however, and study how other people think about it. I am amused and appalled by attempts to control it.
You can put a piccolo in a pocket. Pipe organs can weigh tons and need the space of a mansion. They are the biggest musical instruments in the world. Electronic imitations can be much smaller and these days similar in sound, but the old physical pipes last longer and have the prestige of his…
It seems to me that nothing can right the wrongs of the past. Can one really pay for crime? What currency equals human pain and death? How can one pay a debt to society?
On June 6 — the 75th Anniversary of D-Day — we were reminded that in 1944, U.S. soldiers waded ashore to Omaha Beach seeking to free German-occupied France from Nazi control. Thousands of soldiers lost their lives. Their sacrifice, bravery and patriotism should not be forgotten.
Editor’s Note: This is the latest installment of a series of regular columns designed to report to the senior citizens of Athens County items of interest from the Athens County Council on Aging (ACCOA).
Are other towns full of deer the way Athens is? They wander around the city as if they own it, foraging wherever they like. I have seen them hold up traffic as they saunter along the street. They seem to have no fear of humans.
English is fun. It has so many amusing juxtapositions of meaning. The following are not quite jokes but exhibit the material out of which humor and delight can be found.
As a little tyke my hair was curly. Strangers would sometimes touch it unasked when I was in a public place. I did not like that, but somehow understood it was OK or tolerable.
I admire women — they endure so much that men do not. Pregnancy has to be uncomfortable with changes in body function and appearance. Then comes childbirth, described once as being like pushing a grand piano through a transom.
If a law is invalid it has no force. If a person is an invalid (different pronunciation) some powers are limited or reduced. Invalidity in both cases changes a previous assumption from use and application to need and lack.
Easter is sometimes associated with Christianity. But the name and the celebration are much wider. It’s a celebration of new life. Eggs, rabbits, and flowers are about fertility. Resurrection fits in as a kind of new life too. This is a nice coincidence of ideas and nature.
Editor’s Note: William Morosko is an 8th grade student at Athens Middle School with an aptitude in writing movie and music review. He has also directed and written short films that have appeared on Athens Community TV. The Messenger has agreed to publish occasional reviews from William as a …
Even religious people differ on why they regularly turn their attention, together and separately, to ancient rites and texts. Many people do that in moments of danger or despair (tornados, warfare, illness). Others, however, go to temples or churches often. Among many social and psychologica…
