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Daily Newspaper and Tourism Guide for Reeves County Trans Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

OPINION

Mac McKinnon

Opinion

Friday, December 19, 1997

OBSERVATIONS


By Mac McKinnon

Sharing Christmas tales brings back memories

The Big Day - Christmas - is almost here.

I get real emotional about this holiday as I remember many
of the Christmases past and members of the family who are no
longer with us. I'm sure the same is true for many others.
I guess this is my favorite time of year as the decorations
are all so pretty and varied. I love the hustle and bustle
of the crowds shopping and everywhere you go people are
usually smiling although there will always be a grouch or
two.

Children are really happy. Then I think of the people who
don't have very much or any Christmas, some who don't even
have enough food. So while we enjoy the season we need to
remember those who don't have the means to enjoy the
holidays and mainly remember the reason for the season -
Jesus and his birth, the gift it symbolizes.

I always enjoy telling tales to my youngest daughter about
my Christmases when I was a mere lad. Yes, I was young once
and, yes, I do remember it well.

She gets a big kick out of my stories. I'm not sure if she
really believes what I say.

Like the time I got switches for Christmas. I had been told
by my mother and father that I'd better start behaving a
little bit better or Santa wouldn't come or if he did, all
he'd leave would be a bag of switches.

I don't guess I believed them because I didn't get my act
together. A few days before Christmas, I heard a knock on
the door. My mother told me to see who was there. My father
was at the kitchen table and there were only the three of us
in the family.

When I went to the door, I found a bag of switches with my
name on it. I was only about six or seven, old enough to
read and tell my name was right there on the package. That
got my attention! I did get my act together and Santa did
come see me that year.

We were what you might call poor back in the 1940s. I didn't
know it as I always got just about everything I wanted. We
had plenty to eat. I didn't know what else was out there in
the big world as we lived on a farm 12 miles from the
nearest town - no television or radio and only an
occassional newspaper and of course, the yearly Sears
Roebuck Wish Book.

I do remember going through that wish book and hoping for
many things. I usually got fruits and nuts in my stocking
and a few handmade clothes plus one or two toys. That was
all I needed. Those were really happy times.

I've always enjoyed giving to all members of my family,
particularly the children and still do. I suppose I've
always given them too much as they are spoiled but in spite
of that, they are good people. I take great relish in
spoiling them and now my granddaughter as well. Maybe I
shouldn't but I'm selfish and enjoy the pleasure it gives me
and what it seems to give them.

I guess I could share many other stories about Christmas
time when I was just a pup. But, I'm sure everyone has their
own tales. I believe they are something that is good to
share with all the family.

Turn the TV off and try it. It's fun.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Mac McKinnon is the Editor and Publisher of
the Pecos Enterprise whose column appears each Friday. He
can be e-mailed at: bigmac@bitstreet.com

Your View

Hegelian principal used to bring about change

To the Editor:
The issue of global warming is a perfect example of the
"Hegelian Principle." The enemies of America have used the
"Hegelian Principle" many times to bring about change in our
way of life.

It is a three step process. The first step, or thesis, is to
create a problem. The second step, antithesis, is to stir up
fear concerning the problem. The third step, synthesis, is
to come up with a solution to the problem created in step
one. The solution requires changes which would never be
tolerated except for the psychological conditioning achieved
in steps one and two.

We are being told that global warming is caused by
greenhouse gases accumulating in the upper atmosphere and
holding heat in like a blanket. The primary culprit is said
to be carbon dioxide.

Of the gases produced in the burning of fossil fuels, carbon
dioxide, usually makes up less than five percent. In the
brewing industry it is a by-product of the fermentation of
glucose. It escapes through fissures in the earth in Mexcio
and the southwestern United States.

Just how evil is carbon dioxide? In it's frozen state we
know it as "dry ice."

In what is called the "oxygen-carbon dioxide cycle" plants
absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen. Animals and
humans require oxygen and give off carbon dioxide. Without
it, life would cease to exist.

Many commercial greenhouse operations buy compressed carbon
dioxide because it is like a fertilizer for plants.

Carbon dioxide has a specific gravity of 1.529 which means
that it is more than one and one half time heavier than air.
It stayes in the lower atmosphere where it can be absorbed
by vegetation. That is the way the Creator designed it.
The real goal of the global warming scam is to accelerate
the decline of the United States by imposing draconian
regulations that will shut down industry. And by raising
taxes on fuels that will result in higher prices on everything.

Other means of crippling our economy, such as NAFTA, are
working well but not quickly enough. We must be made to
conform to a world government by the year 2000.

The controlled media is working hard to brainwash us into
believing in a global warming crisis.

The people most likely to fall for it are those who:
Measure progress by the number of beer stores in a community.
Voted for Bill Clinton the second time around.

Believe that a rock found on Earth proves there is life on
Mars.

Believe in evolution.

Don't necessarily believe in evolution but teach it to
students anyway.

Are still in denial that a conspiracy to control the world
exists.

And pseudo-Christians who are so biblically illiterate that
they fail to recognize a corrupt counterfeit of the Bible
when it is literally under their nose.

There is no scientific evidence for it. Global warming isn't
happening, it hasn't been happening and it's not going to
happen. Read Genesis 8:22 (KJV). We are going to pay for it
anyway.

R.L. Rich
Pecos

Guest Column

Students of English teachers speak better

By JERRY HULSEY
As a teacher of Spanish in high school, and even as an
ex-teacher, I'm always getting the comment of "The Spanish
they teach our kids in school is not the Spanish spoken
here." My first reaction is to lambast the parent with a
harsh reply," and the language you're speaking to me is not
what you were taught in language art classes either." What I
would have liked to do as a teacher, I can now do as a
writer. I can elaborate on the subject.

First, let's talk about English. Do you speak English? Heck
no, you speak American, and if you live in Texas, you speak
a dialect called "Texan." Y'all understand? You guys in
Oklahoma speak "Oakie." What's a crick in Tennessee is
something in my neck that won't let my head turn. Is it
in-ve-lope or an-ve-lope?

In school, they distinguish between American Literature and
British Literature. Why shouldn't we Americans study
American grammar? Let's learn about slang and proper
grammar; that there's a time and place for both. Just as we
don't wear overalls to church or plow with a tie around our
neck, let's dress and speak properly to fit the occasion.
My peeve with our schools is that the only grammar teachers
are the language teachers. For students to write and speak
correctly, every teacher needs to be an example of a
language teacher and tune the mind and ear of the student to
correct language.

No, mom, your child doesn't speak the Spanish that his
Chicano counterparts speak - for several reasons. What the
Chicano learned from his parents was like the English you
learned from your parents - filled with slag and regional
expressions and accents.

I could always spot the children of educated parents. They
spoke and wrote a higher grade of the American language.
Remember, parents are the first and most influential
teachers.

But if you want to know why your child doesn't speak
Spanish, let's consider two factors. Number one, he isn't
motivated to learn the language - it's just a course that's
taught in school, and everybody goes for a diploma - not to
prepare himself for a world when he has to make it on his
own. Drop him off in the jungles of South America, and by
the time, or if, he gets back home, he'll be fluent.
Guaranteed.

The real problem lies in the teachers who don't teach your
angels. They're professional babysitters, the majority of
whom don't speak Spanish themselves. I'd be willing to bet
that not even 10 percent of the Spanish teachers in Texas
can carry on a telephone conversation with a high school
principal in Monterrey, Mexico, just a few hundred miles
away.

Just because we have a sheepskin doesn't mean we know it all
or are meant to be teachers. I made a real enemy of a close
friend a few years back with a very innocent comment.
We are both farmers, and his wife invited me over for
supper. After eating, we were discussing what we were going
to sow for hay. I told him I had been pricing seed and
two-way cross sudan was much more expensive than three-way
cross sudan. I explained that I didn't understand the logic,
and since he was the new head of the Ag. department at the
local branch of A&M, to give me an explanation.
He shrugged his shoulders and replied, "I really don't know."
"Well, tomorrow, call your agronomy prof in and get us an
answer, I'm curious," I insisted.

His bald head got red and he looked at me with beady eyes
when he responded, "I am the agronomy prof."
"Thanks for the supper (or should I have said dinner?)
Ma'am, (or do I say madam). Need to be getting home." Notice
- I lost the subject!

Ironically, most people think I was an Ag teacher because I
farm. My father was the Ag teacher. He taught me how to
drive a tractor and if I didn't plow the weeds up, I had to
go back and get them with a hoe. Then...made me go to
college so I wouldn't farm.

Editor's Note: Jerry Hulsey is a guest columnist of the Pecos Enterprise.



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