o another year begins and it is the millennium. It has been pointed out that this must be it, despite all the hoopla last year since there never was a year ’00’ A.D. in our calendar, it started with an ’01 A.D. So the millennium starts with the 2001. Amen.
We look back on the year 2000 with some joys and some sorrows like most years of our lives. We marvel once again as to how quickly it has passed. Someone remarked that its because of our age , but I am happier with the idea that we are enjoying the time so much it passes quickly. The joys of our summer visit with the children and grandchildren. I can still hear our grandson Eric, while sitting on my shoulders, as we walked down Wildwood’s boardwalk, shouting so all within three blocks could hear, “Pop-pop you’re going bald!”. The moments of anxiety as the news trickled in on Anne’s fight for her life that ended with her losing . I loved how her daughter, Rosemary, commented, “God had a better offer!”. Here were the extremes of life in one short period. There were many other joys in the year, which started with the New Year’s Eve celebration at the wedding of friends, Terry and June Collier. We too renewed our vows at the ceremony. We came out into a New Year and as we drove towards home watched fireworks blazing over the city . To the sorrows were added the death of our fellow Granddad and good friend, Jerry Hopkins; the death of my new friend and golfing partner Ed Estrada here in Florida. But as usual the Lord balances things with giving us a new grandson in April Owen Yake,weighing in at 11 pounds and 12 1/2 ounces and still going strong. We had the blessing of a visit from our grandsons Sean and David, who turned seventeen as the year ended. I had the joy of surprising our son Dan as he prepared to run his first marathon and did so in Pittsburgh on May 7th. I might add that he has now qualified for the Boston Marathon to be run on April 16th, 2001 and I hope with the help of God and US Air to be present on that occasion. The year unfortunately saw the McSorley name in unflattering headlines, like “McSorley Suspended Indefinitely”, “McSorley Convicted”, etc. It really is not something you care to remember. My father in talking about having your name in the newspaper being a help in the practice of law stated, it made no difference why it appeared as along as they spelled your name right. I know even he would agree that this is one of the exceptions to that rule.
The “McSorley” name found a place on the web, with a page entitled www.mcsorley.org. with a listing of the clan, a place to show the written thoughts on Anne by her children,Bob and Rosemary; Andy’s report of his and Paul’s trip to Scotland; a link to Father Dick’s Peace Page at Georgetown University; a link to my home page, and other family endeavors. All thanks to the work of Webmaster Tom Baker, Sue’s husband.
We brought this year to an end quietly. In fact, we both laughed at a cartoon showing a couple in bed discussing their prior New Year’s Eve blasts and it ended with the observation that now they can’t stay up after 10 o’clock. It was an apt description of our present New Year’s Eve celebrations. We have even advised those who did call on the turning of the year that we would prefer them to wait until morning or earlier in the evening to do so.
The joys of the year were diminished a bit by a ‘disaster’ striking our beautiful lawn. It was attacked along the front by insects known grubs or slugs that eat away the roots. To consider such an event as a ‘disaster’ shows you how far we are into living in serenity. The real calamity is in the funds we have invested initially and in each month over the years, just to prevent such an invasion. The people hired to do so are now attacking them at no charge, but the big large gap in our front lawn is not very attractive. However, I was getting so proud of how it looked that maybe it was the Lord’s way of saying, “Remember it was I, Who made it the way it was”. June insists that when she get Upstairs she going to ask the Lord, “Why gnats? Or grubs?” I am sure Rita’s husband, Jeff Shapiro, a Doctor in the Bug-ology, could give her an erudite explanation of the reasons for their existence. Specialization, such as Jeff’s reminds me of story of a young man, attending an institution like MIT, he was asked in his first Creative Writing class to write all he knew about Keats. He responded by saying, “I don’t know anything about Keats. I don’t even know what the are!” I know even less about grubs. For a time I thought they were nice big fat worms, good therefore for the soil, so I keep putting them back in as I planted some plugs of new grass. I had a rude awakening when a neighbor pointed out to me, “Hey, they’re the grubs!” But I do know what Keats are.
As the year ended I became interested in an Indian Maiden. Her name is Sacagawae. A magazine posed this question: “Where is Sacagawae? Not in your pocket probably.” The name struck a chord. The article told me why. It is the name of the Shoshone Indian girl who helped Lewis and Clark in the trek to the Pacific. She now appears on a newly minted dollar coin. The answer to the question was that Americans are probably not carrying her, the coin, in their pockets. Americans don’t dig dollar coins. I had been reading of Lewis and Clark’s expedition so that explained where I had seen the name before. The magazine goes on explains who she was. “Among other things, she provided knowledge of the local geography along the explorer’s route, acted as a translator in their dealings with the Indians, found edible plants such as artichokes and gooseberries, cooked, and on one occasion rescued supplies from an overturned canoe.” She did all those things but much, much more. She was chosen from among her husband’s ‘wives’ since only one was permitted to join Lewis’ expedition. She had become one of his ‘wives’ when he won her in a bet with the Indians who had captured her! She was fifteen years old, pregnant and delivers a baby boy while travelling to the Pacific from St. Louis area. She was Shoshone and spoke the language. It was an Indian tribe that Lewis and Clark had no contact with and were fearful of when they would reach the Rockies. When they get there and make contact, she begins to translate from Chief of the Shoshone to Lewis, when she suddenly realizes he’s her brother! She received absolutely nothing from U.S. Government or Lewis and Clark when the journey of nearly two years was over, though her “husband” got 500 dollars plus. It is no wonder she was chosen as one to be honored by being placed on an American coin. Her story is another great example of how truth is often stranger than fiction.
An article appeared entitled “Confessions of a lonely Atheist”. The writer lamented that atheists don’t get equal time in America. But of course here he was lamenting the fact in a national magazine! He further complained that atheist and atheism are treated as un-American. This is easier to understand than the rest of his theories since America was founded by people who believed in God. Even the Enlightment-Naturalist Thomas Jefferson was a Thiest. So it is not unreasonable to see that those not believing might be considered unpatriotic. The real gem in the article is his belief that…” the universe abides by the laws of physics, some of which are unknown, some of which are known, others which will surely be discovered, but even if they aren’t, that will simply be a result…of our brains having evolved for life on this little planet and thus being inevitably limited”. Isn’t there a contradiction in that the answer will be discovered but we don’t have the brains to handle it? I feel a lot better believing in the idea that every effect has a cause and that the mover is a person causing it. It makes more sense to me than a puff of air. The writer also equates the beliefs of a God and life after death as coexistent, which I think they are. But couldn’t a true evolutionist agree reasonably that life after the death of the body is the ultimate evolution? The material goes out and the spirit, consciousness, mind, soul or whatever you call it, being composed not of material, goes on? I find a lot more hope in a personal God than that some day maybe my brain will evolve sufficiently to understand that there is no God. One more lament he had was that the politicians in the last campaign made it clear they all believed in God. This was considered “unfair” to “us atheist”. Hey, it is good politics to claim a belief in that which, as he noted, 70% of their audience allegedly believe. The fact that this alleged belief doesn’t equate to an equal percentage of churchgoers is no surprise. People tell pollsters what they want to hear, the popular idea, not necessarily the facts. The author seemingly agrees with this when referring to the discrepancy between polls in a belief in God as opposed to Church attendance.
I will finish the month by doing something I was legally barred from doing since 1954. I am to serve on a jury. Well, at least I will appear to be possibly selected but whether I serve or not depends on the events on that day. I would like to very much but having guests here makes it difficult so I am hoping I get passed. We’ll let you know later.