Leave the stick on the ground.

Dear Blog Reader.

I hope this finds you doing well. It leaves my computer doing just fine. I am in the middle of a beer and Oreos weekend as the lovely Miss Beverly has traveled to Austin, Texas to further hone her superhuman teaching skills. What is a beer and Oreos weekend? A previous post in this blog provided a complete treatise of the topic a few years ago. Look through the archives; March 31, 2012 to be exact. It does give you pause to think that you have been entertaining yourselves by reading these missives for more that 5 years.

The lovely Miss Beverly’s absence marks a perfect storm. A political event has happened this past week that makes me want to explode and low and behold there is no moderating influence from Bev.

So be forewarned. I am getting ready to let it rip about a political topic. If this is not your cup of tea, or you are tired about the constant political polarization, you may want to tune out.

While the rest of the world was worried about Trump’s vulgar characterization of many 3rd world countries, our fellow Americans in the 50th state were running for their lives after a hapless employee of the state of Hawaii was pushing the “Kiss your a#@ goodbye” button multiple times.

When did we become a failed superpower? Whether or not N. Korea has the missile and nuclear technology to reach Hawaii or even California, we believe that they can. The state government of Hawaii believed that they could. By definition, if you have an early warning system, you believe that it is a probability. You could argue that they were monitoring the Russians or the Chinese. However, everyone I know thought that those missiles had the N. Korean flag stenciled on their side.

Sure, there is outrage over the mistake that was made. The lovely Miss Beverly and I were retreating to an inn on the shores of Lake Indiana (very romantic). We were watching a Sunday morning news show. The talking head told us that the idiot felt “terrible” because of his actions. The written word cannot do justice to the inflection given to the word terrible. It was the same inflection that I used early in our marriage when I felt “terrible” about forgetting the lovely Miss Beverly’s birthday. But really is feeling “terrible” adequate, when you have sent 1.5 million people heading for the exits. Once again government providing evidence that they have no aptitude for competence.

A brief aside here. I know that I have been temped from time to time to think that Israel overreacts just a bit. Her enemies would never want to use a nuclear device against her. Right? We know now that we believe our enemies would use one against us. The Israelis wouldn’t have to wait 30 minutes for the warning to be withdrawn. In 30 minutes, their shooting war would be over. New policy; if Israel doesn’t want to allow her enemies to have nuclear weapons, more power to them.

If we would have had the same policy, North Korea would not have menaced our population on a January Saturday morning. It is clear that we let them have nuclear missiles. You could argue that with your logic Roger we could have kept Russia, or the Chinese from the nuclear club. You would be wrong but there is nothing lost in the argument. We were not powerful enough to stop their development at the time. It takes inordinate power to stop that kind of development. We were not in position to stop near equals from developing powerful weapons. But North Korea was not our near equal. They still aren’t but they can bloody our nose with a terribly powerful weapon.

But our leaders, opened the door. Through a lack of wisdom and will, we said go ahead and develop nuclear capabilities for peaceful purposes. I know who these leaders were. I would name them but I choose to teach you to fish instead of giving you a fish. Look it up. Besides, it wouldn’t matter if I told you who it was. If you believe something different, you would blame it on the other side. Whatever. It really doesn’t matter. But you and I both know that the situation has crystallized for our Hawaiian friends. And it should crystallize for all of us.

While my fellow Americans were putting their children into sewers, I was on a walk through the woods receiving an epiphany. There was a young boy who had trouble focusing walking with the group. He was all over the place. Just a little disruptive but not too bad. Certainly, no restraint was being exerted on the child. Who knows why? He’s inquisitive. It is a big area. Show a little forbearance, he’s not really hurting any thing. After a while, he picked up a stick. Sure enough a few minutes later, someone was crying with a bloody lip. The boy felt “terrible”. It was an accident. “I just picked up the stick and held it over my head and it fell into his face.”

You know what? Some people should never be allowed to have a stick. And society needs to be wise enough and strong enough to say put the damned thing down.

Take care.

Roger

Sharritt 2017 Christmas letter

Dear Sharritt Friends.

The Sharritt clan is gathered around the Nintendo console on a cold, cold, cold New Years Day. The lovely Miss Beverly and I have entered the stage in our lives where compromises are needed to help everyone to meet Christmas family goals. So we had New Christmas Years Day this year. It was a lovely evening sitting around a grilled salmon, Chinese dumpling supper going through our fondest memories of the past year.

It was a year of addition and subtraction. The handsome Benjamin invited the lovely Miss Lisa to share in the Sharritt clan. It was the perfect 78 degree July 8th day. That is right. 78 degrees was the high for the day. It was unbelievable. I had to ditch the tank top, flip-flops and shorts that I had threatened to wear upon hearing that the Low-Sharritt’s had chosen July 8th for an outdoor wedding and reception at the farm. Were they crazy? No, it turns out that they were inspired.

The day provided a treasure trove of memories; the whole clan under the wedding meadow oak tree, the traditional Chinese blessing ceremony, and sharing the house with the  bridesmaids while making preparations

leading up to the wedding. The setting was perfect except for the 3-inch rain the evening before that forced the rehearsal inside and whose run off left a 2-inch stream of water running right through the seating area on the day of the blessed event. I had my suspicions and went to the wedding meadow at 7:00 a.m. with a good friend and 2 sump pumps. The two pumps only slowed the stream. So I headed upstream with a shovel and channeling my inner 5 year old, I played in the water, digging drainage ditches for about 100 yards. And viola, while a bit of a high heel hazard no one got their feet wet. By the time these two great-nieces were peering into the wedding mirror the stories of epic ditch digging were entering into annals of Sharritt myth. The couple will finish the school year in Bloomington, then move this summer for Lisa to pursue a Ph.D. in creative writing.

Grace and Chris continue to turn Michigan on its mittened thumb. Grace loves herding cats, commonly known as American Cancer Society Relay For Life volunteers. She loves the work and is always touched by the survivor stories and moved to tears as some volunteers lose their fight with this disease that affects so many people. Chris graduated from law school in May and proved that he had learned the secret lawyer handshake by passing the bar. He is now a full-fledged lawyer working as a clerk for a federal appeals court judge in East Lansing.

In April, we exercised our “at the end of the driveway” philosophy. JD became our foster child in a relationship that has endured through to the end of the year. He has found that he has an aptitude for wrestling and enjoys his nickname Hoss. Brother Aaron and Dr. Dave from church have been a good listening ear during this time. At times we hear about “how disruptive it must be” to have a 15-year-old suddenly come to live with you. It is. But it isn’t nearly as disruptive as being moved from your house away from your three brothers and sisters into a place where the old farts you’re living with like to go to bed at 8:30 at night and wakes up at 4:30 in the morning. What’s up with that? He does love to cook and bake. Last week he introduced the 3 lbs giant hamburger as the new Sharritt Christmas tradition and last night provided the 4 1/2 star brownies for New Years Eve dessert.

Viki and Vaeh, the two girls that we had in our home through Safe Families a couple of years ago, are still in our lives. They inspired the lovely Miss Beverly to start flower farming and selling bouquets at farmer’s market in an Indianapolis neighborhood. You see the girls are growing into lovely young women. As they do so, they become more concerned about their smile and how crooked teeth affects their self-esteem. While they were with us, we found a program that provided orthodonture for kids who can’t afford it. We got them on the waiting list. However, the list is long; over two years. So all of the profits from selling bouquets go to the orthodonture fund. Plus, the lovely Miss Beverly uses the opportunity to teach 12 and 13-year-olds what it is like to spend a few hours without a cell phone and work.

Bev finished her first year as a PATINS employee. PATINS provides technical advice and support to school corporations providing services to make learning accessible to all. If a microscope projector makes it easier to see the structure of a cell wall for a student with low vision, throw the image up on the wall and everyone can see the same thing only better. Pursuing the best technology requires Bev going to conferences in warm places in winter. She also travels throughout the state. As she helps teachers solve classroom challenges, they discuss the best pie place in town. Her list continues to grow and is kept on a map on her office wall. Who knows maybe she will publish it someday as more and more locations of fine pie treasures are identified. 

While I still work for the state, I have changed roles and have gone from operations to join a team of people who are working at implementing a new computer system to take the department forward for the next 20 years.

It is a good opportunity. The big news is all of the hobbies that I have now, woodworking, beekeeping, flower farming, bike riding, blog writing, and firewood cutting. It is a wonder that I have time to make it to work five days a week. I think that it may be too much at times, especially, when I am working feverishly to finish chess sets for Chris and Ben for Christmas. I just kept thinking that we really should make that elf on the shelf get to work in the shop making presents for good girls and boys. There is no time for idle loafing here.

Finally, 2017 will be the year that the lovely Miss Beverly’s mother, Bonnie passed away at the age of 85. She had outlasted the hip that was replaced 20 years earlier and needed a new one to ease the debilitating pain that was constant for her. She came through the surgery fine, but complications set in and the anesthesia from subsequent procedures continued to weaken her kidneys and she passed four weeks later. In spite of the sadness accompanying such a loss, one of Bev’s fondest memories from the year was spending time with Bonnie in the hospital. They would wake up at the same time with a nurse’s coming or

going and take the next hour or so sharing a lifetime of memories before slipping back into sleep.

As always, it has been great reading your stories, notes, and cards during this Christmas season. We know that you too have experienced additions and subtractions during the past year.  We hope that both have provided blessings that overflow into the next year and see you to a blessed 2018.

Take care

Roger, Bev and J.D.