Newspapers / The Charlotte post. / Dec. 25, 1986, edition 1 / Page 2
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—■ - —■■ — Ctntoriate Small Is Beautiful "And the same God who guides this world can bring harmony to your life. No problem of yours U TOO BIG for him to handle...And nothing that disturbs your peace is TOO SMALL for him to notice..." -GEORGE E. VANDEMAN German born British economist E.F. Schumacher became a hero to many people IS years ago with the publication of his book, "Small Is Beautiful-Economics As If People Mattered". Schumacher says candidly, "...from bigness comes impersonality, insensitivity, »nd a lust to concentrate abstract power." This is evidenced by the conunueous religious wars is the Middle East, the idlological struggle between Russia and the United States and the competiiton between already Mg corporations seeking to get even bigger. uur preoccupation and obsession with bigness has ao narrowed our thinking and our vision that we seem compelled to equate ‘‘•access” with bigness or high visibility. Therefore, success is measured by Michael Jordan, Bill Cosby, Michael Jackson, IBM, McDonalds or the bigness of an individual's automobile or his house. The success of these individuals and corporations in and of themselves is quite positive. However, when their success Is protrayed to the gen eral public, usually through commercial channels, it is done in a way to imply that doing somehlng on a small scale or living an obscure life shmehow makes one feel “unseccessfuL” Thus, many of us to often wish we were important people soing things that would attract fa»w» and publicity. Nevertheless, we should be forever mind ful that "precious things come in small packages”. Earlier this year Israeli police were con fronted with a mysterious package near the Palestinian Temple Mount, holy ground to both Jews and Moslems, but die scene of considerable violence by many extremists. Fearing a possible terrorist act, a bomb squad was called in. A sudden movement of the package resulted in the weak cry of an infant Thus, the "bomb” was in fact a day-old baby wrapped in rags. Rosa Parks TWrty-one years igo, a tired female black domestic worker named Rosa Parks, ignited the civil rights movement when she simple refused to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama, so a white person could have her original seat. She was fined $14. Two years later, in 1957, the U-S- Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation practices enforced an public transposition vehicles in Montgomery were 1 -.-v^ x rw w y; ' S3 $ ' F^ 4 ^ * "*r 'WF\w4 TP* W»||r^ •j-. ;? •■ . * . - CT? , ILt t *i •f|ilw^A.4aAtUl jl A baby and and old woman tell us clearly that perclous things come In small P«<**«®«- Yf!.the mort Precious of these Small things” occurred nearly 2,000 years ago when another baby eras born in an obscure village, The child of a peasant woman. The baby grew up in another obscure village where he worked In a car penter shop until the age of 30. This was followed by -three years as an itinerant preacher. This preacher never wrote a book never held an office, never had a family, never owned a home, never attended college, “fro vWtod • big city or traveled more than 200 miles from where he was bom. He did none of the things (me usually n«g/y*integ with greatness. He was only 33 yean old when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was filmed over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. **• 40 ■ cross between two thieves. While he was dying his execu tioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure (3 the human race and the leader of mankind . progress. “One Solitary Life” All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that have ever sailed, All the . parliaments that ever sat, all the Kings that ever reigned put together, have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that ONE SOLITARY LIFE of our Lord and savior JESUS CHRIST. We can restate the greatness of the small things about Jesus in our modern technical ly advanced world in this way. Jesus never graduated from the seminary, never preached in a great cathedral or 80,000-seat outdoor stadiums, never had the advan tages of world-wide statUite television radio, never had computerized mailing lists or massive fund raising efforts, and never utilized jet airlines, bullet railroad trains or annir conditioned limousine with tape re cording equipment Yet, Jesus is the center piece for the conversations and sermons of materialthLnPrseaCherS Wh° ^ aU °f 111686 Thug, as we enjoy and celebrate this Christmas Day, let us be forever mindful of the deeper meaning of what this day really symbolizes — the birth of child in an obscure village, who, when he became a young man, uttered words that have had a lasting impact on the minds of man and women everywhere. — • <Tf,A PmuiU'c *'-»■ ■ "v San _Down” For Being Late By Sherman Miller Special To The Poet As we walked into the shopping mall my eyes fo cused on the people tossing coins into the fountain. A pain shot through my foot. The benches surrounding the fountain were to be a god send, if only I could convince my wife to let me perch on one of them. With her know ing I kept a notebook and a couple of ballpoint pens in' my pocket, I knew it would be tough to convince her that I was not about to work on Christmas Eve. Never having learned to control my workaholic nature, I somehow managed to abandon the idea of rest, raised my head away from my wife’s knowing eyes and salvage some semblance of pride, and follow her from store to store. It seemed as if we visited every store in the mall. Finally, I heard her say, “We can get the goldfish here. I need to get out of here and get that cooking finished tonight.” Sherman contribution was limited to. keeping the dishes dean and preparing simple dishes. The Christmas Spirit mesmerised our house. We stopped work periodically to sing Christmas carols. But the bulk of the time the air was filled with the melodious sounds of the 34 continuous hours of Christmas music provided by WFLN, an all classical radio station in Philadelphia, PA. The evening rapidly slipped away from us. I was worn out and I eased into my office to rest my eyss for a few moments. My old sofa always made me feel like I was floating on air and It drove me into a deep and restful sleep. I heard this voice crying out, "Daddy 1 Daddy!” I couldn’t discern where the sound was coming from. These calls seemed to grow louder. * Ay -f ^ . ■ ^ . . - ^ ^ ^ It is that time of year again when visions of dollar signs dance in merchants heads. Yes, it is The Christmas season. The season that represents the birth of Jesus Christ. The season where giving and sharing ‘symbolizes the celebration of the immaculate birth. Of course all of this has been somewhat lost over the years, as Christmas continues to become more and more commercialized. Each. • year the Christmas shopping season gets an earlier start. Merchants use to wait until Thanksgiving before beginning the Christmas hoopla. This year several merchants were well on their way *—mn ™ —i fcerald by the first of Octobeir. WE have taken Christ out of Christmas and replaced it with $mas. Yet, on occasion something happens to remind us that the I slowly regained control of my faculties and began to recognize the voice as that of Missy Sammye. * Only then did I realize why I could not see her. I tried desperately to pry my eyes open. It took all of my power to wedge them apart. 4 -$ A pair of stern eyes were peering down on me. Sammye’s eyes showed signs of tremendous hurt coupled with despair. ' * She had always been Daddy’s Baby.and my wife would often have Sammye awaken me. Only this time I could readily see mat some thing serious was wrong be cause Sherman II accom panied his sister. Sherman is usually ^an easy-going chap who rarely gets upset about small things. Missy Sammye, on the other hand, is all business and she cannot stand to see things go wrong. I asked, 'What i wrong? “Sants Claus has not come to our house and It’s S a.m.," gushed forth Sammy*. I was lost for words but I knew I had to come up with something quick. It was no doubt in my mind that I was going to lose my baby with the Santa Claus myth, f re plied, "Santa is coining late this year. Y’all go back to bed so he can complete his roundt^ Sammye retorted, "Daddy, get up and go down stairs and do your Job!” I was crushed because I knew my baby was a big girl now. I did, however, manage to get them back into bed. I stumbled and fumbled for an hour or more getting the toys assembled. The 10 tiny fishes had died and the dreaded words, “some assembly required” haunted me. Nevertheless, the gleam in the children's eyes offered me some comfort when they came back downstairs. After Christmas dinner, my wife whispered to me, - “Honey, you know that was the first time I have ever heard anyone dress down Santa Claus for being late on Christmas.” IRA Announces New Interest Hate ., The IRS has announced that for the calendar quarter beginning ■ January 1, interest will be paid on overpayments at the rata of eight percent and charged on underpay ments at the rata of nine percent. The Tax Reform Act of ISM , requires that the rata of Interest be determined on a quarterly basis rather than a semi-annual basis and that the rate on underpayments be one percent higher than the rate on overpayments. Under the Tax Reform Act the interest rata Is based on the federal shortterm rata determined during October, ISM. The rate used la determining the individual estimated tax penalty win also bo nine percent, the IRS said. That rate will be In effect for Individual estimated tax penalties for the period Janaary 1, 1087, through April 15. 1987 true meaning of Christmas is a flame still burning in the hearts of many. Such was the case with the recent “Christmas Is For Kids” party spon sored by the Avon Cor poration. Linda Ford Tellis, Avon’s consumer communications specialist from Atlanta, started the coordination1 efforts in early August to^put this party efforts “?5S£5nas ^ds for Kids” turned out to be a great success. The City of Charlotte recommended several agencies that could provide disadvantaged youngsters to par ticipate in the program. The youngsters had to participate in com munity service projects to. earn Avon dollars. The Avon dollars could then be used to pur chase Avon products as gifts for relatives and friends. During the month of November, these kids participated in such projects as Piedmont Courts cleanup project, Adopt a Grandparent project where they did odd jobs for the elderly, mural painting projects where murals were painted in various parts of the city, and other worthwhile projects. Vjft vSPSKitrSV. :' 'j*-: The culmination of these efforts happened at a grandiose party given at the Civic Center on December 13, 1086. The youngsters were rewarded Avon dollars commensurate with their community service work. The party provided a variety of entertainment and food as well as mounds of Avon products to choose from. Local Avon rep reaentatives and members from the Hid den Valley Optimist Club volunteered their time and services as Santa’s helpers to make sure the party went smoothly. For the first time in their lives many of the kids that participated in this program were able to five Christmas gifts to their loved ones. Gifts that they earned through there efforts by helping others.
Dec. 25, 1986, edition 1
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