February 2009 Lower Family Newsletter

[Chad T. Lower]

January has come and gone in what seems to have been a very short month.  The month has been colder than January's past and we have had a snow day already at the college.  We'd all like to believe spring will come soon.

 

Last summer, Bella began taking dance lessons at the local school of arts here in Williamsport.  This semester Suzy gave her a choice - dance, something else, or nothing.  Bella choose art class.  They've been learning to draw characters and put together their own illustrated story book.

 

Every so often we are asked to send a picture of Bella's lip to Dr. Waner as a follow up on her surgeries.  We were told in November she had had her last surgery.  Suzy sent Bella's picture in a few days ago and Dr. Waner feels she needs yet another surgery as the lip did not heal as well as he first expected.  We are still dealing with an appeals process from the prior surgeries with the help of Dr. Waner on her last three surgeries and have not made a decision to continue (or not) with more surgeries.

 

Bella continues to have some set backs at school, but we have seen definite improvement in her reading.  We received her report card the other day.  I'm hoping that, by the end of the year, she will be able to get past her stubborn streak and catch up with her classmates.  It seems it is her own self-control and ambitions that hold her behind.

 

Malachi has discovered he can play games on my laptop computer and has become a computer game junkie.  Suzy has limited him to an hour or two a day on pbskids.org and nickjr.com.

 

He celebrated Chinese new years in school and now he and Bella are preparing for Valentine's Day.  As I said before, he is our puzzle master.  Last night, he sat down and put together another 100 pc puzzle.  Tomorrow I'm going to have to go out an get him a 200 pc one to give him a challenge!

 

Alessandra (Ali) is as happy as ever.  She's been singing Old McDonald along with me in the car.  Of course she only knows the E.I.E.I.O. part and when you ask for an animal, she always says duck.  Like all of our kids, she's growing fast before my eyes.

 

A couple of weeks ago, Suzy's dad had heart surgery.  He had to have a new stint put in his heart and while the doctor worked on him, the doctor opened up his other three stints to help keep his heart working.

 

We took the kids to visit him a day after his surgery.  He was happy to spend time with us.  While visiting, Suzy's nephew Jonathon bought his first house.  Suzy, Bella, and Chi spent time painting, cleaning, and helping prepare his place for him to move in the following days after we left.  Ali and I spent our time with Pap Rainey.  I read a book and she kept Pap smiling.

 

Suzy is currently working on a new manuscript for a novel she is writing, and as always writing articles in between for online sites and paper presses.  You can read some of her work at www.mrschadt.com or she's been writing a blog at passiton.today.com.

 

Over the Christmas break, as I wasn't working at Wal-Mart and the college was on break, I was looking up some classic Christmas movies to rent for Suzy and I to watch.  One of the movies I found isn't a Christmas movie per se; however, the climax occurs during Christmas.  I highly recommend it to everyone.  The title is Meet John Doe (copyright 1941) by the same director who made It's a Wonderful Life.  During the movie, John Doe gave a radio speech which can be seen here [CAUTION: contains spoilers] http://www.americanrhetoric.com/videoclips/videomoviespeechmeetjohndoe.wmv.  I want to quote part of that speech, but it is long and might be easier to watch than to read...

 

If anybody should ask you what the average John Doe is like, you couldn't tell him because he's a million and one things. He's Mr. Big and Mr. Small. He's simple and he's wise.... He's the man the ads are written for. He's the fella everybody sells things to.... Yes, sir -- Yes, sir, we're a great family, the John Does. We are the meek who are -- who are supposed to inherit the earth. You'll find us everywhere. We raise the crops; we dig the mines, work the factories, keep the books, fly the planes and drive the busses.... We have existed since time began. We built the pyramids. We saw Christ crucified, pulled the oars for Roman emperors, sailed the boats for Columbus, retreated from Moscow with Napoleon and froze with Washington at Valley Forge. Yes, sir. We've been in there dodging left hooks since before history began to walk. In our struggle for freedom we've hit the canvas many a time, but we always bounced back! Because we're the people -- and we're tough.

 

They've started a lot of talk about free people going soft -- that we can't take it. That's a lot of hooeyl A free people can beat the world at anything, from war to tiddle-de-winks, if we all pull in the same direction. I know a lot of you are saying "What can I do? I'm just a little punk. I don't count." Well, you're dead wrong! The little punks have always counted because in the long run the character of a country is the sum total of the character of its little punks.

 

But, we've all got to get in there and pitch. We can't win the old ballgame unless we have teamwork. And that's where every John Doe comes in. It's up to him to get together with his teammates. And your teammate, my friend, is the guy next door to you. Your neighbor -- he's a terribly important guy that guy next door. You're gonna need him and he's gonna need you, so look him up. If he's sick, call on him. If he's hungry, feed him. If he's out of a job, find him one.

 

To most of you, your neighbor is a stranger, a guy with a barkin' dog and high fence around him. Now, you can't be a stranger to any guy that's on your own team. So tear down the fence that separates you. Tear down the fence and you'll tear down a lot of hates and prejudices. Tear down all the fences in the country and you'll really have teamwork.

 

I know a lot of you are saying to yourselves, "He's askin' for a miracle to happen. He's expectin' people to change all of a sudden. Well, you're wrong. It's no miracle. It's no miracle because I see it happen once every year. And and so do you -- at Christmas time. There's somethin' swell about the spirit of Christmas, to see what it does to people, all kinds of people.

 

Now, why can't that spirit, that same, warm Christmas spirit last the whole year around? Gosh, if it ever did, if each and every John Doe would make that spirit last 365 days out of the year, we'd develop such strength, we'd create such a tidal wave of good will that no human force could stand against it. Yes sir, my friends, the meek can only inherit the earth when the John Doe's start lovin' their neighbors.

 

You better start right now. Don't wait till the game is called on account of darkness.

 

Wake up, John Doe. You're the hope of the world.

 

Last month, I wrote to you about our attitude.  We can wake with a good or bad attitude as both good and bad things happen in our lives on a daily basis.  My encouragement is for you to have a good attitude every day.  This monologue takes that idea a step further.  Don't just have a positive attitude, but also be the "good thing" in someone else's life to cause them to have a good day.  We need to start "lovin' our neighbors," as John Doe said.

 

In the movie, after his speech, cities and town all across the United States were creating "John Doe Clubs" to embody this message of loving your neighbor.  But you don't need to be a part of a club to show someone you care.  John Doe mentioned that this attitude is brought out during the Christmas season.  Yes, it was over a month ago, but can you remember it?  Opening doors for strangers.  Letting someone with only a few items go in front of you and your cartful at the grocery checkout.  Wishing people a good day and a Merry Christmas.  Being friendly to store employees (as well as other customers).  Baking cookies... to give to someone else.  Donating items or money to Angel Tree or Toys-for-Tots or Operation Christmas Child (the shoebox ministry) or the Salvation Army.

 

But why does that stop on December 26th?  There are still strangers who would appreciate someone opening a door for them.  Store employees enjoy friendly customers year round.  A gift of cookies is nice for Christmas, but they taste even better when they are given "just because..."  And nonprofit organizations are continuing to feed and clothe needy people throughout the year.  Suzy started her first blog before we watched the movie, but it really is a constant reminder of loving our neighbor.  I posted the web address earlier, but I want to post it again:  http://passiton.today.com.  If an (almost) daily reminder of "Do unto others..." would help you to apply it in your life, I strongly encourage you to visit it everyday.  You could even set it to your homepage so it is the first thing you see when you open up your internet.  (If you are not sure how, write me and I will try to help.)

 

"If each and every John Doe would make that spirit last 365 days out of the year, we'd develop such strength, we'd create such a tidal wave of good will that no human force could stand against it."  I'm ready for a tidal wave.  Will you help?