Thursday October 21, 2021
I can tell how old you are, without asking. I merely have to cite three words: “Fibber McGee’s closet.”
Did you smile? Even laugh out loud?
Then you’re probably over 80.
Fibber McGee, for those of you with blank looks on your faces, was a radio program of the 1940s and parts of the 1950s. It featured the improbably named Fibber McGee. Who put everything he didn’t know what to do with into his closet. So, naturally, every time he opened his closet, several hundred pots and pans and other clanging things came crashing out.
It always got a laugh.
It wasn’t just Fibber McGee, though. In those days before television, young people tuned in every afternoon to hear another exciting half-hour installment of The Green Hornet. The Shadow. Amos and Andy. Flash Gordon.
Older folks of the time, like my parents, preferred to listen to Ozzie and Harriet. One of whose sons, Ricky Nelson, later became a rock star. Or to Lux Radio Theatre, which turned movie scripts into audio dramas. Or Just Mary.
Random connections
These reflections came about because my mental synapses work in strange ways. If I let them play unleashed, they make connections that I had no idea were still there.
Synapses are not logical. They don’t operate linearly. You can’t set up a cause-and-effect flow chart for them.
They’re more like quantum physics.
As I understand it, sub-atomic particles don’t figure out the best route to get from A to B. They try every possible route at once. The route that gets them to B is the one that they take.
Sometimes our minds work the same way. They don’t intend to dredge up old comic strips. They make random connections.
This column resulted from one of those random connections. Unexpectedly, out of nowhere, the name “Skeezix” popped up.
Who?
Skeezix was a character in an old newspaper comic strip, Gasoline Alley. Google says the strip ran began in 1919 and still runs in some papers. It was the first strip to let its characters age naturally, through multiple generations.
Only the Katzenjammer Kids has a longer publishing history.
In and out of existence
If I had paid no attention to that name “Skeezix”, it would instantly have ceased to exist. But because I did pay attention, a whole pantheon of other long-forgotten comic strips emerged: Mandrake the Magician. Joe Palooka. Ozark Ike. Little Orphan Annie. Popeye.
To say nothing of the strips that have become embedded in our culture – Pogo, Li’l Abner, Dick Tracy…
If you’re younger than 80, probably none of these musings will mean anything to you. But you have the same synapses, making random connections -- when you’re not herding them into formation. Who knows what they’ll turn up?
Memory is like a pop-up children’s book. You turn a page, and a castle rises out of nowhere. You can close that book. Or you can explore the castle.
One memory leads to another. That’s the joy of writing memoirs. You may think the past has vanished into the mists of time. But each time you recognize, identify, reflect on, an incident, it opens up doors to another. And another.
Your synapses will have a wonderful time, dancing you through an castles you never knew you knew about.
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Copyright © 2021 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.
To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca
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YOUR TURN
After last week’s column picked up a few highlights from Nando Parrado’s book, Miracle in the Andes, Frank Martens reminded me that two movies were made of it as well – Alive (1993) and Survive(1997). Frank also provided a link to an interview with one of the survivors of that plane crash https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kw0ki74RpI&ab_channel=RadioLynxContent
Jane Wallbrown referred to one of those two movies: “That was one of the most powerful movies I have seen. Just watching it somehow the director managed to capture Parrado's view of God. One felt it.”
Tom Watson wondered if Parrado had embroidered reality a little: “Can you even imagine being in circumstances such as being alive in the Andes after your plane has crashed? I can't. I have no idea either what thoughts would be running through my head. I'm not at all sure, though, that I'd turn to theological matters...but who knows...it's one of those questions that can't be answered in a vacuum.”
Heather Sandilands, on the other hand, liked Parrado’s conclusion: “I like the idea that ‘G*d simply IS’ and so is worthy of awe and praise and all the other ‘holy’ words we use. John McQuiston in his Prayer Book for the 21st century has a great line: ‘we are suspended in a web of divinity. G*d is the water we swim in, the air that we breathe, the Wonder-full love (inadequate word) that we feel.’”
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Psalm paraphrase
Psalm 126 is the alternate reading for this Sunday. I chose it simply because I liked the message (inmy paraphrase) better than the one for Psalm 34.
1 When the gates of our prisons opened, we could not believe it.
2 Stone walls sank behind us;
the sky opened above us;
we did cartwheels for joy.
Those who gathered to celebrate our release said to themselves, "God has been good to them."
3 Indeed, we could not have set ourselves free;
God must have had a hand in it.
4 Now we must rebuild our broken lives,
like piecing together shards of shattered pottery.
5 May we find as much joy in putting the pieces together
as we had sorrow in their shattering.
6 Our new lives were born in pain and suffering;
with God's help, they can blossom into a second spring.
You can find paraphrases of most of the psalms in the Revised Common Lectionary in my book Everyday Psalmsavailable from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.
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TECHNICAL STUFF
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PROMOTION STUFF
To use the links in this section, you’ll have to insert the necessary symbols. Some spam filters have blocked my posts because they’re suspicious of the web links.
Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. http://wwwDOTchurchwebcanadaDOTca He’s also relatively inexpensive!
I recommend Isabel Gibson’s thoughtful and well-written blog, wwwDOTtraditionaliconoclastDOTcom. She also has lots of beautiful photos. Especially of birds.
Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at tomwatsoATgmailDOTcom (NB that’s “watso” not “watson”)
ALVA WOOD’S ARCHIVE
I have acquired (don’t ask how) the complete archive of the late Alva Wood’s collection of satiric and sometimes wildly funny columns about a mythical village’s misadventures. I’ve put them on my website: http://quixotic.ca/Alva-Wood-Archive. You’re welcome to browse. No charge. (Although maybe if I charged a fee, more people would find the archive worth visiting.)