Beech Tree News Network

RUBRIC'S CUBE- Some of you readers may have caught the fact that the title to this column is slightly misspelled. The brightly colored cube toy, which twists in multiple configurations and which just about all of us are familiar, is actually called a Rubik's cube, named after its inventor- Erno Rubik. There is something like forty three Quintilian possible configurations on a standard Rubik cube but the only one considered “correct” or “solved” is the one where only one color is on each side of the three dimensional, six sided cube.

While Memorial Day weekend is a wonderful time for gathering with family and friends for picnics, pool parties, and parades, I write to you with the annual reminder not to forget the true meaning of the event. Memorial Day is a time to remember the brave men and women who have put everything on the line so we may live in freedom in the greatest nation in the world.

The older I get(I’ll turn 38 Saturday), the more laid-back my celebrations become.  Not to say that I ever had a raging party.  I remember when I was 18 years old.  It was one of our final days of my senior year in high school.  We all would hang out in the cafeteria until the bell rang for us to go back to our first class.  My friends made me, right on the spot, a birthday card made out of poster board that said “Happy 18th Birthday, Andy on the cover.  All my friends signed it.  That was one of my most memorable moments of high school, not just my senior year.

Recently, I heard a lady say, “Mama said there’d be days like this.” Of course, that saying was a song by The Shirelles in the 1960s. We often use sayings to express ourselves. According to Wikipedia, a saying is an expression that is especially memorable because of its meaning or structure. Sayings emerge from many sources, and we all have our favorites.

Sayings are quite common in daily conversation. I asked friends and family, “Is there a quote or saying that you like? (Example: ‘Mama said there’d be days like this.’).” Their responses were:

I was flipping my TV channel changer when I caught the tail-end of: “They may even know the most personnel, devastating, secrets you carry, and are hiding-skeletons in your closet, as it were.” First off I don’t know who “they” are. I assume it is some scare tactic regarding some sort of electronic surveillance (personal spying) going on. 

Caused me to think about what I have that may be classified as immoral or subversive or my trying to overthrow the Government. 

“If you put a peanut in the road and a car runs over it, it will make peanut butter,” my granddaughter, Sabria, told me on the way to school one morning.  She continued with the in-the-road theme.  “If you get run over by a car, sometimes you can still be okay.  They can take you to the hospital and fix you.  Sometimes, they can’t, but sometimes they can.”

Coming home from Pigeon Forge Sunday, we came the country route to miss that all crazy Nashville traffic. Taking the backroads is always a treat. I got many good pictures and I’ll share some through the next few weeks .

Sickness touches all of our lives, whether one fights colds or the “flu bug” or something worse. Folks strive daily to overcome these diseases as best they can. Illness, disease, and finally death has not come from God, but is a consequence of sin (Gen. 3:16-19). Thus, we deal with these problems daily. Whether we are the ones suffering, or we are the care-givers to those who have the problem, we have to deal with illnesses almost daily.

GIVE ME LIBERTY

I try to be positive.  I gave up Facebook last June simply for that reason.  Funny thing is, I don’t think twitter is as bad as Facebook.  Instagram certainly isn’t.  It’s just about pictures.  I often got depressed after spending time on there.  And I sometimes spent way too much time on there, I might add.  For whatever reason, I can hope off twitter or Instagram at any moment but always had a problem with Facebook.