Cookin'

  When one thinks of the word "cooking", food comes immediately to mind.  I am not a cook.  I never learned how to cook.  I can boil water and make teriyaki spam, but that's about it.  If it were not for my microwave, I would starve.  If I read a recipe in a cookbook, it is like being in chemistry class.  I just can't do it.  Some people are great cooks.  Ironically, a recipe of mine found its way into a cookbook by Sanger Harris Department Store, when I lived in Fort Worth.  It was for Saltine Soup, which I learned to make in college.  It consisted of a cup of hot water; a packet or two of ketchup; and some saltines.  Use your imagination.

 As I have written about before, Sanger Harris had some famous people stop by to promote their products.  One such man was James Beard who had a new cookbook out, and he was autographing his books.  Since I worked in the Book Department, I had to help him set up and get him situated.  He had not only eaten a lot of food in the past, but he was also full of a lot of ego.  He treated me like a lowlife.  I tried to talk to him about writing and publishing, but he pretty much ignored me.  When a customer would walk up to buy his book and get signed, he was very gracious to them.  I guess one had to buy his book for him to be nice.  We even had him set up to cook a little food for the customers.  He piddled around with that, but I could tell he just wanted to get out of the store.  The employees didn't get to taste anything.  The food was for the paying customers.  He was a diva in all the meanings of that word.

 Another definition of "cooking" is when a band is on stage and treats the audience to some good music.  Such was the case with Micky Dolenz of the sixties pop group The Monkees.  He was in Columbia to perform at an outdoor concert downtown.  He had just recorded a cd for children and was there to sing those songs.  Then, he started to cook.  He did a lot of the old Monkees songs from back in the day.  He was great!  After the show was over, he was off to the side of the stage signing autographs.  I went up to him and shook his hand.  I told him how much his music had meant to me growing up.  He thanked me.  His hand was a little crumpled up though.  I don't know if that was from drumming or signing autographs, but he was very nice. Later, I corresponded with Mike Nesmith for a couple of years before he died.  We talked about songwriting mostly.  He was very encouraging to me and liked my lyrics from The Cobbwebs.  I had to keep that connection a secret, as he was a very private man.  By the way, Davy Jones had a horse farm near Camden, SC.  I had friends who would see him around town.  I wish I had known about it at the time.

 

Nobel

 It is not very often that one meets two famous people, who are also humble.  Generally speaking, a person has become famous because of a big ego.  I used to be like that.  My ego was as big as all outdoors.  Then, I became homeless, and my ego went away.  Any fame that I had went away, too.  Applause is a drug.  It can be very addictive.  But, as I have said before, fame is put upon you by others.  One cannot be inherently famous, unless one is born into a famous family.  One's work does not make you famous, unless someone notices you and declares you are famous.  Then, you say to yourself that you must be famous, because others praise you for your work.  The key is to not let it go to your head and do your work for the right reason.  The following two examples did their work to help others despite being famous to others.  

 The first example was Billy Graham.  In the summer of 1963, my father was leading a Sunday School conference at Ridgecrest Baptist Assembly in North Carolina.  He did that sort of thing for a week, and our family vacations were often times centered around those conferences.  One afternoon, the phone rang in our motel room.  My father picked it up, and the voice on the other end was Billy Graham.  Daddy knew Dr. Graham from their work in religious circles.  He had called to invite us to his house that night for supper.  Billy lived close by to Ridgecrest.  Daddy said that he was leading a conference, and we couldn't come.  He asked Billy if we could come the next night, but he said no, because he was flying out the next day.  When Daddy hung up the phone and told us about the invite that he turned down, my mother and I were livid.  He had turned down a dinner invitation from BILLY GRAHAM!  How often does that come about?  The next summer, we were in Atlantic City for the Southern Baptist Convention.  Our vacation that summer consisted of Atlantic City, New York and the World's Fair, and then back down to Washington DC.  It was going to be more of a vacation than we had done in years.  Billy Graham was scheduled to speak at the convention.  After his speech, my father took me up front to meet Dr. Graham.  He looked like a giant to me, and I shook his hand.  Daddy told Billy that this meeting got him out of the doghouse after he botched the dinner invitation.  Both of them laughed about that.  Billy Graham was known all over the world.  He counseled Presidents of the United States.  He was made an honorary Knight by Queen Elizabeth.  He had many accolades.  And, he was very humble.  He did his work for the glory of God.  

 The second example was David Beasley.  He was the governor of South Carolina, when I met him.  The State House had been renovated, and they were having an open house for the citizens to see it.  The place was beautiful.  The Governor was receiving people outside of his office to shake hands.  When I got up to him, I shook his hand, and he was very cordial.  Then, my first impression was that he hadn't done an honest day's work in his life.  His hands were very smooth like a baby's bottom.  Contrary to his Lt. Governor who was a cattle farmer.  I shook his hand, and it was rough.  You could tell he was a worker.  So years later, David Beasley became the head of the United Nations World Food Program.  He traveled the world helping to feed the hungry in third world countries, and those countries ravaged by war.  In 2020, the WFP (under his leadership) won the Nobel Peace Prize.  Despite the fame that came with his jobs, he stayed humble as a devout Christian.  My first impression of Gov. Beasley was very wrong.  

 Both of these men did the work they were called to do.  Any fame that came with that work just rolled off of them.  More people should look at their lives and see that it is all about the work, and not about themselves.  Fame is fleeting.  The work will go on forever.

 

Ute

  There are people who are in politics for the right reason, which is to represent others and give them a voice.  They want to make a better place, not just for the people who voted for them, but also for all of the people.  It is a noble calling.  Of course, there are others who get the bad press, because they are just in it to stuff their pockets with money and forget about the voters, until the next election comes around.  Everyone has an opinion on who is the good person and who is the bad person, but these next two were in the good category in my humble opinion, which of course is the right one.

 The first was Senator Ernest F. Hollings of South Carolina.  He liked to be called "Fritz".  He was from the Charleston area, and he had a Southern drawl that identified him as such.  No matter what some people said about him, he was a gentleman.  My brother was on his staff, mostly writing speeches.  I could always tell if my brother wrote a speech, because he would put words in it with many syllables.  He said it made the person sound smarter, even though no one knew what the words meant.  Fritz didn't really need those big words.  He was smart without them.  I met him, when he was the governor of South Carolina.  I was just a kid, but I got to go to the Governor's Mansion on a tour.  He knew my family name from my relatives in Charleston.  He was very gracious.

 The other good man was Jon Huntsman.  His resume of service was long and distinguished.  He was the Governor of Utah.  He was the United States Ambassador to Russia, China and Singapore.  He was a candidate for President in 2012.  I met him in 2011, when he filed to be in the Republican primary in South Carolina.  He dropped out of the race for President before the primary happened.  Mitt Romney eventually got the nomination but lost to Obama.  Huntsman was very personable and wanted to find out what people thought.  As they got off of their campaign bus, I met his wife and several of his children.  He had a big family.  He was certainly qualified to be President, but he just couldn't get any traction.  

 Sometimes, the voters don't want the more qualified people to be the President.  Fritz briefly ran for the job, but he had to drop out.  A lot of the time, it isn't how much you know about the job ahead of time; it is more about how good you look on TV.  It is about charisma.  We have had some presidents who had both--being qualified to be President and looking good on TV.  It is said that Abraham Lincoln could not have won, if TV was around back then because of his lack of good looks.  He wouldn't have looked good on TV, no matter how much makeup they used on him.  Maybe some Botox would have helped.  

Wannabes

  Why does a person want to run to be the President of the United States?  Maybe because he or she wants to make this country and world a better place.  That is a noble idea.  Maybe because their ego needs to be fed.  That is a misplaced idea.  Maybe because someone suggested that it would be a good idea.  That could not be a good idea.  Whatever the reason, it can be a grueling process and extremely expensive.  

 One of those candidates was Barry Goldwater.  He ran for President in 1964 on the Republican ticket.  His opponent was the incumbent Lyndon Johnson who became the President after the death of President Kennedy.  My parents and I were on a special tour of the U.S. Capitol.  Our guide was Senator Strom Thurmond who was a distant relative of ours.  It was the summer of 1964.  We were on a private elevator.  The doors opened, and there was Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona.  My mother almost fainted.  She liked Barry Goldwater.  He shook her hand, and she didn't wash it for the rest of the day.  He also shook my hand and asked my name.  I remember it was a very firm handshake.  Strom explained to Barry who we were, and why we were in the private elevator.  They had a laugh over it.  Barry lost in a landslide to Lyndon in the Presidential election.

 Another of those candidates was Nikki Haley.  She ran for President in 2024.  At this writing, she is in the race and running against Donald Trump for the nomination.  In my opinion, she is a long shot to get the nomination, but you never know in politics.  I met Nikki at the South Carolina State Fair in 2009.  I was working for Andre Bauer to be the next Governor of South Carolina.  Nikki was running 5th in a 5-person race to be the Republican nominee for Governor.  I won't go into detail about her candidacy, but I will say that she was very sure of herself.  I can't say she was very personable, but she knew what she wanted.  She and I have encountered one another for several years at various events.  I can't say that all have been pleasant.  We have had our ups and downs, but she does have a path to become the nominee for President.  Maybe after the primaries, I will write a postscript.  Maybe not.