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Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?
Townhall.com ^ | January 3, 2010 | Mike Adams

Posted on 01/03/2011 5:37:52 AM PST by Kaslin

American communities are not what they used to be. Today’s college graduate changes jobs about a dozen times in his career. Since he changes jobs every few years he usually finds himself moving every few years. And since he figures he won’t be with his neighbors for long he seldom takes the time to get to know them.

It wasn’t that way when my family moved to Fort Worth in 1966. Four different welcoming committees came to visit from four different churches - all asking whether we had found a church home. Our first batch of mail was hand-delivered by the postman. When he rang the doorbell he introduced himself and asked “Have you found a church home yet?”

We eventually found a church but it was not the home of any of the four groups that came to visit. They must have all written off their visits as losses. But that was far from the truth. In fact, my mother was so moved by their hospitality that she began regular church visitation as soon as she joined a church. She kept doing so after we moved to Houston.

Soon after we arrived in Houston my mother developed a clever plan to keep from missing any new visitation opportunities in the area. She went down to the Clear Lake Water Authority and copied all of the new addresses of people who had just opened new accounts. This was all done by hand as it was before the era of word processing and personal computers.

In 1969, mom’s visitation paid particularly good dividends as she met her closest friend for life, Lisa Chambers. Our whole family became friends with their whole family. In fact, the friendships endure to this day. There were many more friendships formed in the process. We still get Christmas cards from people who joined the church for whom mom was visiting.

Of course, there are the untold numbers of people we never hear from but whose lives were affected nonetheless. My mother knew from experience to never write them off as losses. I hope by chance that one of them is reading these words today. If so, thanks so much for seeking us out and welcoming us when we moved to Fort Worth.

When my folks finally retired and moved to Huntsville there were fewer opportunities for visitation. There weren’t many people moving into the very small neighborhood in which they retired so mom stopped doing these visitations regularly. But, one day, a different kind of welcoming took place in their little neighborhood.

Mrs. Bishop was a very nice lady with a very ill husband. She also had a son with a criminal record. So the two police officers who lived in our neighborhood decided to pay the Bishops a visit right after they moved into their new home. The officer knocked on Mrs. Bishop’s door and boldly stated that for years there had been no crime in the little neighborhood. And they promised that if anything happened they would come looking for Mrs. Bishop’s son in a heartbeat.

One of the officers came over to our house after going to the Bishop’s. He reassured my mother that Mrs. Bishop had been warned and that, therefore, there would probably be no trouble in the neighborhood. The officer was proud of himself but my mother was horrified.

Next thing you know my mother went into the kitchen and found her favorite apple cake recipe. She didn’t always bring a cake when she went on a visitation. But she figured Mrs. Bishop really needed one after her rude reception in the neighborhood. Naturally, when my mother knocked on her door and gave Mrs. Bishop the cake she was thrilled.

Mom got a “thank you” card from Mrs. Bishop, which was a very rare occurrence. She later got a request for the recipe for that apple cake, which she gladly passed along. She also got a renewed interest in doing church visitations. I guess you could say she decided to come out of retirement.

When the next family moved into their little neighborhood mom cooked an apple cake and took it down to them. But, this time, something happened that had never happened before. The woman of the house looked at the cake and laughed and said “We don’t need another apple cake, Mrs. Adams.” She saw my mother’s puzzled look and then explained, “Mrs. Bishop brought us one this morning.”

Those of us who are conservative Christians are apt to blame the problems of the world on others. When we aren’t blaming Obama specifically, we are blaming socialism and socialists generally. But none of these things are really problems. They are symptoms of a larger problem; namely, that others are assuming the responsibilities that Christians have been neglecting for years.

We can’t change the world overnight. But we can change our neighborhoods today. The Recipe has been around for ages. We just have to keep sharing it with others.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: mikeadams
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1 posted on 01/03/2011 5:38:00 AM PST by Kaslin
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To: bayouranger; BenKenobi; Biggirl; Blue Collar Christian; Constitutionalist Conservative; ...

Mike Adams Column


Please Freepmail me if you want to be added, or removed from the ping list

2 posted on 01/03/2011 5:39:45 AM PST by Kaslin (Acronym for OBAMA: One Big Ass Mistake America)
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To: Kaslin
On New Year's Day, it did, watching TCU.

ML/NJ

3 posted on 01/03/2011 5:40:08 AM PST by ml/nj
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To: Kaslin

Genius. No wonder, he’s a Texan!


4 posted on 01/03/2011 5:43:07 AM PST by Republic of Texas (Socialism Always Fails)
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To: Kaslin

I just heard that song this morning.


5 posted on 01/03/2011 5:46:30 AM PST by RadiationRomeo (Step into my mind and glimpse the madness that is me)
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To: RadiationRomeo

apple cake ping


6 posted on 01/03/2011 5:48:46 AM PST by homegroan (....13 yr FR playa)
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To: Kaslin

great article


7 posted on 01/03/2011 5:51:30 AM PST by GeronL
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To: Kaslin

I visit our hospital. I don’t know whether I change those folks lives but they have changed mine.


8 posted on 01/03/2011 5:52:46 AM PST by Mercat
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To: Kaslin

This is Christian, Traditional, conservative “community organizing.” It should be employed broadly.

I am blessed by the article. Thanks!


9 posted on 01/03/2011 5:53:01 AM PST by John Leland 1789 (Grateful.)
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To: RadiationRomeo

I moved to a small town south east of Fort Worth in 1990...loved it there. The author is right, many visitors early on from the neighborhood and the local churches.

My time there belied the story that you can tell a Texan a mile away but when he gets near you, you cannot tell him anything. I found the local people to be rich in character, honest, church going and friendly. Oh almost forgot, CONSERVATIVE and patriotic.


10 posted on 01/03/2011 5:54:24 AM PST by Mouton
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To: Kaslin

It was nice to read an article where the subject was not wailing and moaning about society but rather had a positive attitude about how to make a difference.


11 posted on 01/03/2011 6:26:57 AM PST by dog breath
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To: Kaslin; NFHale
Those of us who are conservative Christians are apt to blame the problems of the world on others. When we aren’t blaming Obama specifically, we are blaming socialism and socialists generally. But none of these things are really problems. They are symptoms of a larger problem; namely, that others are assuming the responsibilities that Christians have been neglecting for years.

We can’t change the world overnight. But we can change our neighborhoods today. The Recipe has been around for ages. We just have to keep sharing it with others.

if and when that fails...it will be *time* to re-claim the hood by any mean necessary...

thank Kaslin...

12 posted on 01/03/2011 6:35:46 AM PST by Gilbo_3 (Gov is not reason; not eloquent; its force.Like fire,a dangerous servant & master. George Washington)
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To: Kaslin
They are symptoms of a larger problem; namely, that others are assuming the responsibilities that Christians have been neglecting for years.

I have tried to be as diligent as possible with my children and my church to explain that the only real solution is to get people saved. "Saved" people usually don't get abortions, go homosexual, rob or kill, or support those who do. It isn't 100% but it is a lot better odds than the other side.
13 posted on 01/03/2011 6:50:45 AM PST by wbarmy (I chose to be a sheepdog once I saw what happens to the sheep.)
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To: Kaslin

Excellent article!


14 posted on 01/03/2011 7:18:02 AM PST by Tax-chick (The gifts we have, we are given to share.)
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To: RadiationRomeo

I haven’t heard that song in a long time, but Fort Worth crossed my mind when TCU beat Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.


15 posted on 01/03/2011 7:27:24 AM PST by Verginius Rufus
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To: Kaslin

You know Kaslin, I’ve read Mike’s column every time since I had you put me on your ping list, and I truly enjoy his rants, but this rantless column was his BEST! The truth like a biblical prophet. WOW!


16 posted on 01/03/2011 7:51:56 AM PST by Blue Collar Christian (Be instrumental in the REVIVAL that will heal our land. ><BCC>)
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To: Kaslin

What a great article! Thanks for posting it..


17 posted on 01/03/2011 8:00:46 AM PST by MEG33 (God Bless Our Military Men And Women)
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To: Kaslin
Thank you, Sir! Good article to start the new year.

Seems that for years, the government has been doing it's best to lessen the importance of the traditional family, and now, I realize, to lessen the importance of “community”.

It's harder for thugs to threaten someone at his home, when all the neighbors show up to help that “someone” out. Hence, authoritarians prefer it when no one looks out for their neighbor.

Mr. Adam's story shows how we can go about making our communities stronger. Again, thanks for sharing.

18 posted on 01/03/2011 8:12:40 AM PST by Sergio (An object at rest cannot be stopped! - The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight)
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To: Kaslin
[Art.] Today’s college graduate changes jobs about a dozen times in his career. Since he changes jobs every few years he usually finds himself moving every few years. And since he figures he won’t be with his neighbors for long he seldom takes the time to get to know them.

This was a deliberate corporate policy employed by many of the Fortune 500 companies, from the 1950's.

The model was the Army. The corporate moguls decided they wanted Army-like devotion to The Company from their employees, so they set about weakening community ties of their hands by moving them early and often, to keep them from striking community roots. I know that this policy, with this rationale, was in effect at Humble/Exxon and Conoco, to name two that I knew about in the 60's.

Corporate policy at some firms went as far as social engineering their executives for more "productivity" (time spent in the office). One of the newsweeklies (before they became 100% Communist) ran a story in 1966 or 1967 about how two big chemical firms (the names Monsanto and Dow come to mind, but I can't remember for sure who it was) were deliberately piling on the work in their Manhattan offices, in order to foment marital discord among their exurban-dwelling executives. The senior executives had noticed that men whose marriages were on the rocks spent more time in the office and caught later trains home, so they deliberately scheduled them more work and called them in to the office on weekends, to frost their victims' wives and sour their marriages. Outed, the firms swore off this practice, but they'd already been documented using it.

19 posted on 01/03/2011 8:47:20 AM PST by lentulusgracchus (Concealed carry is a pro-life position.)
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To: Kaslin

Thanks for the Mike Adams article for the New Year, Kaslin. As much as Mike’s mom was “horrified” by the visit of the local constabulary to the home of a known ex-felon, it takes both that kind of visit and his mom’s kind of visit to build a community. I expect that the local cops had noticed a harbinger of a trend that continues today in towns that are home to prisons. Families of prisoners move to town and it is not always for the good.


20 posted on 01/03/2011 11:02:06 AM PST by T-Bird45 (It feels like the seventies, and it shouldn't.)
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