T's

  When one meets a politician, you can usually tell if they are genuine or not.  Whether they care or not.  Or, whether they just want your money.  I met two people, who I felt were really genuine people.

 The first was Tim Scott, who was the United States Senator from South Carolina.  He was speaking at my church as part of a celebration for our former pastor.  He said in his speech that his life verses from the Bible were Proverbs 3:5-6:  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding.  In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths."  He said that he has used those verses in his everyday life to get through the challenges that come his way.  After the service was over, I went up to him and told him that those were my Life Verses, too.  They were the first verses I memorized after John 3:16. Those verses kept me going, when I was homeless.  We shared a prayer together.  He was truly a man of God.

 The second was Tulsi Gabbard, who was a United States Congresswoman from Hawaii.  She was in Columbia for the Martin Luther King Rally at the Dome in 2020.  She was running for President, although she dropped out of the race soon after.  I was standing on the side of the State House's steps, where the speakers were.  It was a very cold day.  After her speech, I saw that she was leaving, and I went up to her.  There were others who wanted to take pictures with her, but I just wanted to ask her something.  I introduced myself to her accompanied by a very firm handshake from her.  She had said in her speech that we needed to do more for the veterans.  I told her not to forget about the homeless veterans, and that I knew some personally.  She said that she never would, and then we hugged.  Despite her lack of name recognition like Biden, Sanders, Warren, or Klobuchar, she seemed to really care about the veterans and their needs.  

 Tim and Tulsi represented two different political parties at the time.  Later, Tulsi became an independent.  But, they had one common thread between them.  That thread was "caring".  No matter what one may think of their politics, and I may disagree with some of their positions, they both listened to me.  That is very rare in most politicians.  I never met Dick Gephardt who served in Congress from Missouri, but he ran for President in 2008.  On the campaign trail, he went to a small restaurant and saw a little girl.  He bent down to her and asked her name.  He didn't hear it and asked her to repeat it.  He then shook her hand and called her by name.  Then, he went on shaking hands with others.  I have never forgotten that moment.  He took the time to shake her hand and ask her name.  She couldn't have voted for him.  She may not even remember that moment now, but I do.  He wasn't looking for a photo op.  He just cared.  You can't ask for much more.

Bill

 When one goes to a political event these days, you can't just show up.  You have to register for the event, so that they can check you out to see if you are a terrorist or something.  You have to go online and get a virtual ticket.  Usually, they are free.  If they are not, then I will just stand outside and wait for a sighting.  

 One of these events was the South Carolina Democratic Party Primary winners rally in downtown Columbia at the Art Museum in 2016.  They were having it outside, because there were so many people attending.  It was February at night, and it was cold.  I couldn't feel my feet, and I was wearing several layers of clothing. When I got there, I looked around and saw a metal barrier that looked like that would be the entry and exit point for the winner who was Hillary Clinton.

 Before their arrival, I saw Star Jones.  She was just feet from me but was not shaking hands.  Then, the arrival of Hillary followed by her husband Bill.  They walked past me and headed up to a stage to welcome the folks who braved the cold weather.  After their remarks, they were leaving the stage and shaking hands with those around it.  Then, it came time to head for their car, so they had to walk right past me.  I put out my hand and told Hillary, "God bless you".  She said that she needed it.  It just so happened that a State newspaper photographer snapped a picture of me and Hillary at that moment, and it ran in the next day's paper.  

 Then came Bill.  The former President of the United States.  He was surrounded by Secret Service agents.  I stuck out my hand for him to shake, which he did.  I then said. "God bless you".  He thought I had said something else, I guess, because he looked at me kind of sternly and said, "What?".  I repeated it, and then he said, "Oh, okay".  I didn't want to get tackled by the agents.  I was going to say something like "Bill Belk says hello", but the agents would have come after me.  Belk and Clinton used to be good friends, until Belk said something bad about Hillary and Clinton cut him off.  

 So, I have actually shaken hands with two presidents.  Biden and Clinton.  Biden had a sense of humor.  Clinton probably does, but not that night.  And, no federal prison for me.

Republicans

  I have met a lot of Republicans.  Maybe even more than Democrats.  I don't know why that is, but it just seems to be.  Despite what some may think about me, I have voted for more Republicans for national office than Democrats, but I have voted for more Democrats in local elections than Republicans.  This story is about two Republicans who have both been on the national stage.

 Newt Gingrich used to be the Speaker of the House.  He was one of the most powerful Republicans in the country.  Much of what the Republican Party is now can trace its roots back to Newt.  He had come to Columbia to make a speech outside at the State House.  I went, because I wanted to meet him.  Not so much because of what he believed in.  He was a bit too extreme for me.  I saw where his bus was parked on the side of the State House, and I headed over there.  His security was a little tight, but I got to shake his hand and introduce myself.  There were only just a few of us there.  One of my former friends was right across the sidewalk from me, but he didn't say hello.  I was nice to him, but he looked right through me.  His loss.  By the way, Newt's handshake was very firm.

 Mike Huckabee and I were at Southwestern Seminary together, although he was a class ahead of mine.  At the time, he was studying to be a minister.  He became one before entering politics.  I didn't really know him then, but I think we had a class or two together.  When he was filing in South Carolina to run in the Republican Primary of 2016, I went to the Republican Headquarters to say hello.  I brought our seminary's picture book of the students to show him we were there at the same time.  The book is known as the "Funny Book", since the pictures can be hilarious.  Most of the students look so serious.  Just before he went before the cameras, I showed him my picture and his.  He turned to me and said that we both had more hair back then.  After the event, he and I were standing out in the parking lot chatting about the old days.  He said he remembered a couple of drama presentations I did out there.  He also told me how much the campus had changed since those days in the 1970's, and that I should go back.  Maybe one day.

 

Bees

  The next group has one thing in common, and probably only one.  Their last name begins with "B".  One was primarily a singer.  One was primarily in politics.  And, one was a professional golfer.  

 The first was Pat Boone.  He came to Columbia to make a personal appearance in opening a restaurant.  This was in the early 1960's, so I was just a kid.  I remember he smiled a lot and had a California tan.  He shook my hand and asked my name.  I told him, and he said he was happy to meet me.  I can't say he was sincere about that, but he seemed that way.  I also remember he was taller than me, but pretty much all adults at that time were taller than me.  

 The second was James Brady.  He had been President Reagan's press secretary and had been shot in the head during the failed assassination attempt on Reagan.  He and his wife visited my church in 1983 on the same day as the Marines' barracks bombing in Lebanon.  That is how I remember that day.  Brady was in a wheelchair.  He could talk a little, and he still had a very firm handshake.  I was an usher at church that day and helped bring him into the sanctuary.  His wife was very protective of his welfare.  Brady was known for his sense of humor, and he didn't disappoint.  He was an inspiration to us all for not giving up.

 The third was Mark Brooks.  I met him, when he was 16 in Ft. Worth.  His mother taught public speaking and drama at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  She and I developed the curriculum for a Communications major at our school.  She was a great teacher.  She invited me to have dinner at their home a few times.  Mark and his sister were there, along with his mother and father.  Mark was in high school and obsessed with golf.  He didn't want to eat as much as he wanted to hit golf balls outside.  At one dinner, he was squirming so much that his mother told him that he would have to finish his dinner before leaving to hit balls outside.  He reluctantly did so, and then he bolted out of the door.  Even in the dark, he was hitting balls.  He embarrassed his mother for not being more polite at the dinner table, but practice made perfect.  Mark went on to the University of Texas and excelled in golf.  He turned pro and won several tournaments including the Bob Hope, the PGA Championship, and more.  He came in second at the U.S. Open one year.  He also holds the PGA record for the most starts in tournaments (803).  I guess his being "rude" at dinner paid off.

 Three people who were famous in their own chosen fields.  And, all three knew that God had given them talents to share with others.  And, they did.

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.