Dave Richards for September 5th…………
--As far as society is concerned, “summertime”, as differentiated from the astronomical season, is now over. Schools are back in session, Labor Day has come and gone, and it won’t be long before the Christmas Gift Shopping ads start to pop up on TV.
It invariably happens at this time of year that organizations which didn’t want to have their events during the summertime for one reason or another all plan their events on the same two weekends. This weekend and the following one will see so many events taking place I doubt there will be anyone home anywhere in the area at one time or another. I myself will be tied up all this weekend and will miss all other events like the daytime French Heritage Festival at River Island Park, though I’ll try to get free for the Soiree Saturday evening at OLQM to have some Beer and Dynamites with Romeo and the gang.
The following weekend we have two concerts on Friday and Saturday nights with the cast of the Up With People Show in Cumberland, and sandwiched in between them is the Great PumpkinFest on the grounds of the North Smithfield High and Middle Schools during the day Saturday.
So here we go into what for me is “the busy season”, which begins just before Labor Day and ends about Valentine’s Day. Everybody pick an event and go to the one you like best, but nobody should be staying home doing nothing. Doing nothing is for the lazy days of summertime!
--From our “It-Could-Always-Be-Worse” Department………….. Sixty-thousand people have been evacuated from their homes and businesses near Frankfort, Germany because they found another unexploded bomb dropped by the Allies during World War Two. This one is a ‘biggie’, with an estimated ability to level and entire city block, if exploded. This is the largest evacuation there since the end of WWII and includes two hospitals, all their patients and staffs, and a bank which is home to Seventy-Billion dollars-worth of gold reserves, just to make it interesting. I think we can all be thankful that we don’t face this sort of problem in the U.S.A.
--I did receive the expected criticism from a few readers after my comments last week indicating my opinion that last weekend was too early to start sending massive assistance to Texas because the storm hadn’t ended and the real needs had not even been identified with clarity at that point. I was asked by one reader where I “got off” telling people not to give. Well, here’s what I was using for logic and information. I have several friends in Texas. One of them lives and works in Houston. I was in contact with all of them during the time Hurricane Harvey was affecting southeast Texas. My information was not gained through social media or 24-hour pay-cable TV news. When the unsolicited public declarations of donations began, the man in Houston’s reaction was, “here come the show-boaters……….never let a good disaster go un-exploited.”
So you see, my rather unpopular opinion stems from the reaction of someone who was trapped amid the destruction while it continued. His emotion resonated with me, because in my life I was taught to always assist others who need it to the point you can do so without injury to yourself or your family. But I was also taught to do so quietly, without drawing attention to myself. THAT is the most meaningful way to help your fellow creatures. I was taught that drawing attention to oneself is the wrong way and expecting praise is the wrong reason to help. Oh, it’s okay if someone singles you out afterward for a “thank you”, because it is their decision to do that. But accepting gratitude graciously is far from what was going on at that point.
Now, you may agree with me or you may not, that’s fine with me. But that is the way I was raised and it is the way I raised my family. And it is my opinion that now, as you are reading these words, is a good and reasoned time to seek out the way you want to assist the victims of this natural disaster and to give what you can. The waters are receding. The Interstate Highways are cleared. They’re ready to accept your help now. Do what you can, in the way that makes the most sense to you.
--That’s what I think. What do you think? Comments to: dave@onworldwide.com or postal mail to Dave Richards, WOON Radio, 985 Park Avenue, Woonsocket, RI 02895-6332.
Thanks for reading!
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