Frères Jacques!

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.
—Ezekiel 36:26

In Canada where my wife and I grew up, this was the opening line to the French song all children learned. It asks Brother John if he is sleeping as the morning bells are ringing: "Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques, Dormez vous? Dormez vous? Sonnez les matines, Sonnez les matines…"

Your first foray into a different tongue may have been "La Cucaracha" about the cockroach that couldn’t walk: "La cucaracha, la cucaracha, Ya no puede caminar, Porque no tiene, porque le falta, Las dos patitas de atrás."

Whatever your introduction was, I hope you continued learning a "new tongue!" Twenty six percent of American adults report that they could hold a conversation in a second language!

Who let the dogs out?

The Glory of God is a person fully alive.
—St. Ireneaus 2nd Century AD

Depending on how the question was asked, it usually meant someone was in trouble because the dogs being dogs were doing doggie things!

Oscar, Squire, Ripley, Finnegan, or Piper could be counted on to do 100% doggie things!

Not created to stay indoors all the time, but built to run, sniff, explore, and play, the dogs will look you in the eye every time and ask:

"Please let me out!"

"Please throw the ball!"

"Please let me get one good sniff in before I have to go back!"

Created to be fully alive, yet stuck inside, in a kennel, or the back seat of a car going somewhere they have no interest in going!

How about you?

CAPS LOck KEy!

You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to get rid of your old self,… to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self.
—Ephesians 4:21-24

At least once a day I hit it unknowingly, only TO LOOK UP AND REALIZE THAT CAPS LOCK HAS BEEN ACTIVATED and now I have to re-type everything over again.

Few computer keys have the power to frustrate like the CAPS LOCK. "Enter" is fun because it makes things happen, "Control-Alt-Delete" is my power trip as it gives me the opportunity to tell Windows a thing or two. Well…at least try!

But CAPS LOCK sneaks up and ruins a great typing run. It can take reasonable words and make them appear like I am YELLING AT THE PERSON TO WHOM I am writing.

When I least expect it or need it…I hit the CAPS LOCK key.

What is past is prologue

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
—Eccl 1:9

You will find these words, "What is past is prologue," carved into the facade of the National Archives building in Washington DC. The place where our history is sheltered, studied, and restudied. A quotation from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, this phrase has been interpreted by some to mean: “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

A more scholarly reflection describes it this way: Before archivists as a profession can write their prologue for the next century, they need to understand better their own past. What is Past is Prologue: A History of Archival Ideas Since 1898, and the Future Paradigm Shift by Terry Cook http://www.mybestdocs.com/cookt-pastprologue-ar43fnl.htm

I grew up in Canada, and almost four years ago had, with my wife, the honour of becoming American citizens. In reflecting on the upcoming 4th of July celebrations, we recalled the trials of our country as we saw them from north of the border in the early 70’s. Times then were challenging: wars, economic struggles, an energy crisis; all kinds of challenges faced these United States then as they do today.

I remember hearing the broadcast in 1973 by Gordon Sinclair, a Canadian radio journalist, entitled simply The Americans. I have copied it below as the past was indeed prologue in many instances. Equally, the hope and the character of the people of this land is prologue to the way in which we will meet the challenges of the future.