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The primary events and news that I have observed, read and listened to in recent months have to do with the topics of which I’ve termed in this essay.  The media has, in some sense, given attention to issues that certainly engage our thoughts. Often the concern may create misunderstanding, but conversations can bring positive results. The following remarks, are one person’s response — me — to some impressions which follow these three words:

ONE: Trombones are one of the most intriguing instruments in that the slides, the movement of that part of the trombone which produces the proper notes and tones is a fascinating action of the arm. In a recent Sunday worship service, I was pleased at the First United Methodist Church to listen to the artistry of Mike Postma. He not only invests his skills in community service by volunteering, but also by using his talent with the trombone. My comments suggest the vast number of people find comfort and positive feelings through music. It appeals to the mind and emotions when listening to a single instrument, voices, harmonies, piano, bands and orchestras.

I lift up music, and the arts in general, as we are facing a reduction of school budgets for the support of the humanities, which I taught for some years at Riverland Community College. It is of super importance to introduce students to what is necessary to a mind and heart that invigorates reasons for living and healthy emotions! Why, I ask, cut back on the arts, the basis of bringing joy and self-care to the public? Our children need to start early in being exposed to areas of learning that will last a lifetime.

Some of my richest memories follow the sixth grade as a student at McKinley School in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.  The beloved teacher — we knew her as Mrs. Phelps — reimbursed the public schools for a number of her students to have instruments.  This was with the understanding that they would be a part of a band.  For me, it was a discipline that would go on for a number of years.  Was this one reason that I gladly became a member of the board of the Austin Symphony Orchestra?  Early exposure to the arts, to music, to individual crafts have results that last a lifetime!

Two: Guns are all around us and many are used to turn criminal types into savages. My sentiment is that the proper use, and with legally purchased restrictions, needs continued attention. For the reader to sense the balance that I advocate is based on my own experience. “What?” you ask. Parental supervision, guided target practice, and hunting with my own gun while a teenager, was among the teaching and examples that the public needs to embrace.

To comment on the National Rifle Association may be misunderstood, but we must ask for a more legally regulated conversation of how, when, where, age and stability of selling and responsible storage of guns be thoughtfully addressed.

The Friday evening TV program by Bill Maher recently had some film clips from movies of the past decade. For me, shocking footage from about 15 various movies showed violent and extreme use of guns, some weapons of war, utilized in the gruesome action of the movies’ stories. Irresponsible?  The public will have to decide. School shootings, the death and maiming of children, the horror of blood running in our classrooms, and the forever grief of parents and friends is a new day in the abuse that presently leaves us sleepless. I’m just one little voice that is, like the readers who pray, O’ God, when will it stop?

Three: Fathers help make the world come around and turn around! The question that is asked, with concern, is “and where was the father?” To all those dads who hugged their kids, played catch with a baseball with a child or attended the dance recital of a daughter — thank you! And we might add: helped with the laundry, did some cooking, and gave many embraces to a partner. Let’s also add the generous love extended by the one who is a father in a group home or foster care residence. A spiritual question for another day:  “Show us the Father?”  (The Bible, John 14:8)  A promise makes sense: Take one day and make it a year! Churches and service clubs, and places of convalescence and many other locations where people gathered on the important Fathers’ Day, shared memories and gave thanks for fathers, grandfathers, and “father figures.” Those who have made the difference in sons and daughters achieving memorable lives, will not be forgotten!

I recently increased my knowledge of this important day. Are you aware of what some historians identify as the beginning of this day? In a church in West Virginia, people heard the first Father’s Day sermon on July 5, 1908.  A mine explosion left almost 1,000 children fatherless in that area.  Distraught by the thought of all those children growing up without a father’s guidance, a member asked her pastor at the Williams Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church to set aside a special day to commemorate fathers. She chose the Sunday closest to the birthday of her late father, who was also a Methodist preacher. The day, with a small but loving expression, retained its message for all of us.