Earlier this morning, 11 day-old Elijah saw David Ellis’s author interview with his grandfather when he awakened from his morning nap. Hours later, Elijah harkened to his grandfather’s voice, smiled, and did his best to focus his eyes on mine for another conversation.
“Grandpa, are you famous?”
“No,” I said, “I’m not famous. If anything, I’m infamous!”
“Are you infamous in England? David Ellis lives in England. Mom says that’s far away from Minnesota.”
“No, actually, I’m infamous in Minnesota but David in England must think I’m famous ’cause I wrote a book.”
“Yeah! Mom told me last night. She said I should follow Grandpa’s advice. She said I should ‘Be still!’ What’s that mean, Grandpa?
“Well, it means be calm, be quiet. Did you keep Mom up again last night?”
“Yeah! I should be quiet at night so Mom can sleep. That’s what Grandma said. Otherwise Mom might lose it and use another bad word. She might tell me to ‘shut up! Don’t be a cry-baby!’ I’m not a cry-baby, am I Grandpa?
“No, Elijah, you’re not a cry-baby. You’re just a baby — the grandson of an author who’s famous in England and infamous in the United States of America.”
“What’s the United States of America, Grandpa?”
“I’ve been wondering that myself lately, Elijah. I’ve been wondering myself.”
- Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, MN, June 3, 2017.
Views from the Edge 
Sadly, all too true.
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The question seems to be, “What has the United Sates of America become?” When we were young, our history lessons included the Teapot Dome Scandal among other things, which let to the breakup of Monopolies and other things that are now a bit foggy in my mind. Now we have turned our backs on those lessons – many have never become acquainted with them, And once again the major amount of wealth is in the possession of a very few people… It has come time for another correction…… How this will come about is anyone’s question…
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As a citizenry we Americans have become increasingly ignorant of history of any sort. That’s a shame. So long as that’s the case, we will continue to re-create it while convincing ourselves that it’s all new.
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