Well, I was having a writer's block yesterday... This morning as I woke, God pulled up the memory I was to use for this issue...
Backs & Necks... But that will be shared later as appropriately to a storyline... LOL
I'm not much of a talker... More specifically, I talk when I have a reason to. Small Talk, frankly, bores me, or, rather, I see no real reason to sit around talking about whatever pops into somebody's mind... I need a reason to speak out... Like an exciting book, for example!
In any event, I've always been interested in interpersonal communication. That's why I find books so fascinating because each book is unique to the writer and I get to know the writer in their pieces and bits as they write--or not--depending upon the book and writer... This book, however, was the first and only book I found that was so easy, yet so informative that I've continued to use it as a perfect book for anybody to get to know about transactions between people... That's professionally referred to as Transactional Analysis. But Harris wanted to write something that was much easier to explain to ALL of us... So he wrote that I'm Ok; And, You're OK!
Or variations of just those few words... This is when I BEGAN to learn
What you do unto the least of these you do unto me...
Mom was a special woman. She became a widow during her pregnancy for me. I've never known the influence of a father, perhaps thankfully, I'll never know... But...well, that's another story...
This is a story about Backs & Necks...
Have you figured out what I mean by using them as a title for communication? Well, as soon as I heard the words this morning as I woke, all of the rest of that story, combined with all of the connections since then that my memories provided, told me how and why the world has developed as it has... Or, at least for me. I'm sharing it because it is the beginning of my understanding...
And it makes sense...
I previously showed a video of a pastor who was preaching "We are not a Christian Nation..." I agree. He provided his reasons, this is mine...
My Mom was a great cook, Her specialty was homemade Chicken and Noodles. Memories bring back, in particular, that she always invited our pastor, Reverend Babel, and his wife, who was at the New Geneva Baptist Church at the time this was all happening... As a widow, she had taken a mail-order class to be a nurse--not sure what that really meant. But she provided the only support to people in the small town of New Geneva. She would give shots to those who needed them, for instance. And, she combined health care for the mother living with our neighbors, the Hager's, who lived across the street. I don't remember a time when my Mom wasn't working. Somewhere she found a sit-down mangle which was a flat large clothes iron...and spent her evenings ironing clothes for others--sheets, table clothes... From Mom, all of her child grew to be those who worked hard in whatever job we had chosen...
But... with just the words, Backs & Necks, I saw the beginning of the evolution of the Haves and the Havenots... And I'm still not sure how to express what I realized...
You see, you "might" say we kids were taught to steal by my mother...
I would disagree! Maybe legally, but not morally, as a Christian...
My mother considered her job was to have all of her children in church every time the church was open. She also cleaned the church so we grew up helping her with that task. So, at the last church I attended, I volunteered immediately to clean the chair when I learned that it was not routinely being done... I share this because it illustrates how we nonverbally learned from our mother... To work hard, enjoy the work and gladly provide it... at least that's what I practiced for the majority of my life...
One thing I want to point out as we consider the ramifications of living in the U.S. Those who are poor always have weight problems. We grew up on pastas, noodles and bread as filling and good. Rarely could we afford vegetables unless they were bought at a farmer's market in bulk.
I remember Mom would get chickens from relatives, and she would kill them on our back porch--with a butcher knife... One chicken for Sunday dinner when the preacher and his wife came...
We kids would get our meat within the cooked "chicken and noodles."
The broth would come from the cooked chicken...
But also from chicken parts we bought - "Backs & Necks..."
There was a store called Moss's at that time. And, yes, they even sold the backs and necks of the chickens as a separate purchase. They put ads in the paper for 5 or 10 cents a pound...
But there was always a limit of how many pounds you could buy...
Soooo, when we went to the store, Mom would plan in advance. The oldest children who were old enough to buy on their own was given money. While Mom and I would go shopping alone. Then the oldest would buy the maximum and head to the car and wait. That meant we might come home with 4 times the limit, say, 40 pounds of chicken backs and necks...
Before I go on, I will also say that cleaning 40 pounds of chicken at one time to freeze was a task that none of us wanted to do. But...Did...
Now, here's the thing...
We could consider the owners of Moss's to have lots of money...
We were poor and getting 40 pounds of backs and necks would make many, many Sunday dinners--and even sometimes during the week!
Was that stealing? Up until what we are seeing in the federal government under the republicans, nobody every thought about how the difference between the haves and havenots developed... Until We the People began to realize that the government was providing excessive tax breaks to the already wealthy!
So as I was automatically connecting, I began to see exactly how it began. Using Thomas Harris' book...
The Poor in America saw business owners as rich--very rich! Even if it wasn't true... The Poor said in their minds "I'm NOT OK." but "You are certainly OK" meaning RICH... Sooo, it's alright for me, even though a Christian, that I be able to feed my kids. And by cheating a little, I can feed them for months on the little bit of savings on those chicken parts that aren't really worth eating to the average person...but with cooking and noodles added are fantastically good!
Now, many will quickly say that if you followed the Bible it says that God will provide, just as He takes care of the sparrows... And my Mother was wrong...
I once read a book that, unfortunately, I've not been able to find again. It was a story about the establishment of a government and a government required state religion which had taken over the main part of government... There were buildings that were empty, but the homeless were not allowed to use them... Many had become homeless and poor because of the government... as controlled by the rich...
Gabby
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