JULY 4TH & JUNETEENTH

July 4Th, 1776, is celebrated here and across the country as Independence Day.

Last week, the headline in The St. Louis American, the weekly African American newspaper, called for a resurgence of a holiday called Juneteenth. The holiday commemorates June 19, 1865, when the Union Army arrived in Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation, signed nearly a hundred years after the Revolutionary War, to end slavery.

Both dates celebrate men, women and children who fought to gain representation in a government they could call their own. They came from farms and towns, some with the heavy yoke of slavery, some defying brothers to join an army which would prevail through squalid conditions, underground railroads, and economic barons of the time.

The importance of one holiday need not obliterate the other. We can celebrate our national heritage and remember that justice came late for many, even as we acknowledge injustice still exists for many more.

SMILING AT LIFE

I've often wondered what is it that makes people respond to small happenings with a smile, while others seem oblivious to so much around them. The sweet scent of newly mowed grass, lovers holding hands in the street, watching a Robin stand perfectly still while cocking its head listening intently for its meal, any one of these things can provoke a smile for me.

Recently, I passed three burly, serious minded workers clearing a lawn. We were not in an open field, or on a farm but in the middle of an urban area. Suddenly, all of us spotted a rabbit hopping across the front of the house. "One of the workers yelled out, "Now where did you come from?" We all started to laugh and smile as the rabbit scampered away.

Did we react this way because of a sense of relief from our mundane lives or were we simply startled? Whatever the reason, I know the workers and I began our day feeling good about the world because of a stray rabbit on a city street.

SERENDIPITY AND ADVENTURE

The word serendipity conjures images of unexpected delights. I had such a day recently when I picked up my grandson from his summer class.

Before I picked up Hoben, there was time for me to stop at a restaurant for coffee. I was waiting in a long line when my grandson popped up in front of me. He was on a class break with his teacher. He asked me to join them at their table. Before they left, I was invited to visit the class to see his lovely glass paintings. Then we spent the afternoon doing unpredictable things.

One thing Hoben wanted to do was to get rid of a bundle of clothes he had outgrown. We took them to a store that buys, trades, and sells used merchandise. The store was fascinating and reminded me of old trading posts. The operation is run by hip, young women. As they went through each item, they used different colored clothespins to price each one. There was a two hour wait so we went to lunch and came back. We learned that the clothes were worth less than expected and most were returned to him which he gave to Goodwill.

After a few more stops and much conversation, we wound up at Barnes and Noble. When I dropped Hoben off at his house, I realized that I had experienced a day that began serendipitously and was filled with adventure and the fun of being with my grandson.

MUSSOLINI AND MARK TWAIN

I discovered that "Il Duce", Benito Mussolini, the Italian Premiere was an admirer of Mark Twain. I learned about it in front of a bust of Mark Twain in the Central Library of St. Louis.

In 1935 Mussolini expressed his admiration for the American writer in a letter to The International Mark Twain Society along with a $200 donation toward the erection of a Mark Twain Memorial. The Society named Mussolini Honorary Chairman for his generosity during the year-long nation-wide celebration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Mark Twain.

According to the New York Times, Mussolini said, "Twain has been and remains one of my preferred authors." It seems odd to me that one of the notorious dictators of World War II should so admire the author from Missouri who chronicled human nature and the open, simple American life so well.

"THE PARAGON OF ANIMALS?"

In two weeks in February, The Human Society of Missouri rescued 301 small and large animals, along with an underweight Bengal Tiger from two substandard breeding facilities. The animals had been kept outside in small, stacked cages in freezing weather. I found out about this when my grandchildren took me for a visit to the Society's St. Louis headquarters where they found their dog Max more than five years ago. They are devoted to him and he to them.

The Center here is the largest in Missouri and may be one of the largest in the country. In addition to small animals, it rescues and cares for larger animals who are neglected at its Long Meadow Ranch. The Society is funded by private donations and fee for service programs and workshops. The facility is light and airy. The animals appealing and shy.

As we walked up and down the aisles I read the description of what each animal endured. I wondered, is man really, as Shakespeare declared in Hamlet, "the paragon of animals.?"

PRIVATE POLICE PATROLS?

Sunday's St. Louis Dispatch revealed that a privately owned company was being reimbursed by residents and businesses in certain sections of the City for extra security and street patrols. The Paper called it a "shadow police force."

This reminded me of the trouble we get into when we contract out public services. Yet, it is an easier way to deal with problems of crime and property damage than to raise taxes. As a result we allow a lot of "shadow police" operations thrive in war and in peace.

We contracted out to the Blackwater Company in Iraq. We look the other way when the Boy Scout's Explorers program teaches 33,000 young people how to deal with enemy agents. We allow elected officials to tell us to carry concealed weapons into public places to protect us from random killings rather than appropriate funds for programs and personnel.

"Shadow" anything is deceptive, costs dearly and keeps us from dealing with reality.

CHESS A PEACEFUL SOLUTION?

Even though I lose in a simple game of checkers more times than not, I was intrigued by the week long series of events which were held to kick off the United States 2009 Chess Championship games held in the St. Louis Chess Club and Scholarship Center in May.

The Center was established in 2007. It displays an assortment of handsome boards and chess pieces along with books about the game and a members lounge on two floors. At one event, the book, "Marcel Duchamp: The Art of Chess" was introduced by its author Francis Naumann before a crowd of Chess enthusiasts and artists. In the book, Duchamp gives up the art world for chess so that he would be mentally challenged and not be considered a "dumb artist."

The game itself has been in existence since 1500 and is often described as a way to conduct a peaceful war without killings. Though I don't play chess, I like the idea of substituting elegant boards and pieces for lives to settle disputes between nations and ideology.

EIGHTY EIGHT AND STILL KILLING?

I thought I heard wrong when I heard that the shooter at the National Memorial Museum of the Holocaust was 88 years old. Surely he must have been years younger. It is difficult to accept that one could live so long with such hatred.

And then I thought of all people of all ages in this country and around the world who live lives demented by hatred.

I wondered, is hatred fueled by ignorance? Ideology? Is it some sort of illness each one of us is susceptible to if we allow an other's life to be devalued?

Eighty-eight years of hating. Individuals killing at random. Generations, nations killing for territory and power. Each of us need to ask why?

RELIGIOUS PAGEANTRY

Tomorrow, Robert Carlson will be installed as the ninth Arch Bishop of St. Louis. Tonight, he was serenaded by a choral society in the Cathedral of St. Louis amid the color of priestly vestments and the red and black capes of his white plumed honor guards with swords drawn.

The hope here is that he will be a unifying force between the more than half a million Catholics he leads, and other representatives of different faiths in the community. As I watched the elegant pageantry, I thought of the awesome responsibility now before this man.

I remembered too the poetic words in the Torah's ancient Psalms of David read this morning in class. I wondered, as so often I do, at the ability of religious teaching to inspire us with words and pageantry as well as to incite us with bigotry.

"MARTHA MITCHELL CALLING"

When I first moved to St. Louis, I took a season's subscription to The Gaslight Theater, a small 100 seat theater which is home to the Actors Studio. The productions have been good and the sets quite creative for the small stage.

A few weeks ago,I went to see "Martha Mitchell Calling" by Jodi Rothe. The One Act play and the actress Glynis Bell,were wonderful. They captured the lady who so unnerved Washington in the 70s that Richard Nixon said, "If it wasn't for Martha, there'd be no Watergate."

The play's program carried an excerpt from Helen Thomas', "Front Row At the White House, My Life and Times." In it Thomas says about Martha,"She should be remembered as the woman who tried to blow the whistle on what was going on, but sometimes her stories seemed so out there, it was close to impossible to get anyone to listen. However I listened and I wrote and I'll let history decide."

At the end of Scene 3. the lights go down and come back up. A funeral wreath stands in the center of the stage. It says "Martha was right!" Then the house goes dark.