Christmas again

Two months and around 12 days ago, our daughter gave to my wife and me a clear plastic box containing a couple or three hundred cards with dinner party discussion topics “to inspire fun conversations with your family and friends!”

Or (although the intro card does not say this), topics for when blog subjects hide behind that fence in the back of the mind, refusing to make an appearance. So, at random …

“what are you grateful for” – too serious for this early in the morning.

“do you have a lucky number” – several, but they don’t work. So, no.

“is trust a naïve or sophisticated quality” – what?

“who’s the best teacher you ever had” -- If anyone can mention only one, then his experiences are limited. My older sister Carolyn taught me to read when I was 4. In high school, Miss Juanita Koon, my speech teacher, taught me how to stand before a room of people, knowing they would listen. Also in high school, FFA teacher Robert Bearden taught Greenhand parliamentary procedure, and I have watched councils and commissions and boards do things wrong since. Staff Sgt. Campbell Reid showed me what a leader is. My wife, Priscilla, taught me how a true Christian conducts her daily life.

“what’s the best way to deal with stress” – If I knew, I wouldn’t be taking blood pressure drugs.

“what indulgency would you enjoy of there were no consequences” – There are always consequences. That question might as well be “how high could you jump if gravity didn’t exist?” No one could jump, because without gravity, there would be nothing.

“what’s the best speech you’ve ever heard” – A tie. The Rev. Martin Luther King’s August 1963 speech in Washington, and President Kennedy’s inauguration speech.