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April 19, 2017: Columns

Let there be light…

By KEN WELBORN

Record Publisher

Deserved or not, I have managed to get a bit of a reputation for knowing a few things about the history of North Wilkesboro and Wilkes County.

Or as Blair Gwyn used to say, “If he doesn’t know, you’ll never know he didn’t know.”

Clearly, I like this, because of the amazing company it brings to my offices here at The Recordand Thursday Printing. And, in fairness to my mother’s baby boy, if I don’t know the answer, I can often steer folks to Sandra Watts (very knowledgeable on genealogy) at the bank across the street, or to someone else who can help them.

To that end, on Monday a man who lives in Traphill, named Bob Johnson, stopped by our office to ask if I knew the location of Carlton’s Hardware in North Wilkesboro. Well, that one was easy, because the store was right across the street next to another North Wilkesboro icon, Carl W. Steele’s jewelry store.

Mr. Johnson pulled out an envelope and gave me an old flyer from Carlton’s Hardware store in near perfect condition. It was mailed to “Postal Patron Local” with a one-cent George Washington pre-canceled stamp.

As we looked through it, it was amazing at the variety of merchandise available and the prices — a Pyrex teapot for $1.95, a five-pound bag of Vigoro plant food 50 cents, light bulbs 10 cents, Sherwin-Williams best grade of house paint for $4.90 gallon, even a Coleman gas iron for $7.50. The flyer was also full of timely information like the dates for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day (which I later used to find it was printed in 1950), as well as household hints and recipes galore. There was even a recipe for peanut butter and onion sandwiches — just add mayonnaise.

In no time, I started telling stories on the Carlton’s, who just happened to be one of my customers in 1960 when I took over a Greensboro Daily News paper route from Ed Finley, Jr. The owners were Mr. and Mrs. Hill Carlton, who lived on Sixth Street across from two of my other customers, Fred Hethcock and Carl Steele. I would stop in and see them on Friday afternoon or Saturday at the store to collect my forty-five cents for the paper. Mrs. Carlton was always pleasant, usually standing behind the counter in a cotton dress and apron, while Mr. Carlton busied himself filling customers’ orders.

He was every inch a gentleman who greeted his customers politely, and, if he knew them personally, would never fail to ask about them and their family. I mentioned earlier that Mr. Carlton knew where all his merchandise was located and that the store was always dark.

Well, it stayed dark.

Once Mr. Carlton determined what his customer needed, he would set about filling the order.

It was a sight to behold.

The building was long and narrow, and throughout the store, white cords hung from the ceiling. Each white cord was attached to an old keyless electric light. These fixtures with naked light bulbs were mounted way up on the rafters, and the sturdy white cords were attached to the on and off chain. As he would head back into the inky darkness of the hardware store, Mr. Carlton would reach up and pull the string, turning on the light just over his head.

Continuing down an aisle, he would never let go of one string until he was where he could reach the next one. Then, holding a light cord in each hand, he would simultaneously pull them both, cutting off the one behind him and cutting on the light above the area to which he was walking. This process was completed over and over as he moved on toward the back of the store, never allowing more than one light bulb to burn at a given moment. It always made me think of a circus acrobat floating from trapeze to trapeze, and looked like flash bulbs going off during a night baseball game.

The Lord may have said, “Let there be light,” but Hill Carlton was there to say, “Not over 40 watts at a time!”

Thank you for the visit, Mr. Johnson. You’re welcome back anytime.

How to treat soul cancer

By LAURA WELBORN

When we think of skin cancers it seems pretty apparent that they are treated by surgically cutting them out. First, the doctor cuts and then the tissue is evaluated. Next, if any signs of cancer are still remaining in the margins of the cut tissue, a larger cut is made. This procedure continues until the margins are clean and the cancer is gone.

Reflect on the steps required to eradicate cancerous cells and how they’re actually similar to the steps toward removing the diseased elements that reside within our inner, spiritual selves. Read the list below and consider the parallels:

How to treat skin cancer:

1. realize the need to be evaluated.

2. go to someone who could help.

3. The “problem” areas are thoroughly investigated and recorded.

4. Surgical plans are made to eradicate the problem.

5. Surgery is performed.

6. A close inspection follows to ensure the problem is eliminated.

7. A regular follow up is scheduled to safeguard against the problem returning.

Realize that dealing with the dark defects that loom in the soul are often much more difficult to identify than a mole or freckle changing its shape. But also know that the insidious cancers within the heart are easy to hide. These “cancers” are issues like pride, untamed anger, lust, selfish ambition, greed, jealousy, deep insecurity, revenge, wounded relationships, lack of forgiveness, inappropriate relationships and a mean spirit.

As you look at your own life, don’t wait for issues to fester, allowing soul cancers to grow. Find someone who can help you prepare for the needed surgery. Invite others to the exam table of honesty and deal with issues before they deal v you a world of pain and hurt. Don’t let another week go by without taking steps toward healing.” Doug Fields in Homeword Devotionals

Kitty Owens

One way to become mindful of our “cancers” that seem to eat us from the inside out is through Yoga. The movements and quietness of Yoga is soul healing. Here’s what Kitty Owens has to say about Yoga… “Yoga is about living well, yes, and long, of course, and ageing well. It is about waking up to a day as good as or better than any other you have ever spent. A little stiff? That eases once the body starts moving--certain special movements help considerably even with those diseases associated with ageing that younger folks share, especially arthritis, for instance. Energy lifts when you remember to breathe fully, using your diaphragm (you probably started suppressing it as a teenager). You meet the day with heightened awareness of life's gifts, great and small, especially if you practice a bit of meditation. You treat people well because you remember we are all one. One.

To take a yoga weekend retreat with Kitty at the Art of Living in Boone, April 21-23, call 800-392-6870.

BDS is a Moral Failure

By EARL COX

Special to The Record

Those who participate in singling out and attempting to hurt Israel through boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaigns are anti-Israel and not pro-Palestinian as they often claim. The purpose of BDS is purely anti-Semitic meant only harm Israeli businesses and her economy. If this were not so, those who support BDS would recognize that many Palestinians and Arabs freely and happily work for Israeli companies on both sides of the imaginary “Green Line.” When Israeli industries and factories suffer, Palestinian and Arab workers suffer, too.

The BDS crowd either has no conscience or has forgotten the lessons of history. If the church and others who know, or should know, right from wrong fail to stand up against any and all efforts and campaigns which single out Israel and the Jews as somehow deserving of being held to a different and higher standard, then they are failing to recognize the evil at the heart of BDS and anti-Semitism. Such moral failure paved the way for six million innocent people to be murdered for no other reason than Jewish blood coursed through their veins and it must never happen again. Sadly, as the Holocaust becomes a fading memory, far too many are losing any sense of shame at harboring anti-Semitic and anti-Israel sentiments. It’s almost become fashionable to hate Israel and this is especially egregious when talking about Christians and church leaders who are either indifferent to Israel or who are members of those denominations which have spearheaded BDS campaigns. After all, BDS is purely a campaign against Israel which is antithetical to the Word of God.

The Bible talks about a time when evil will be called as good and good will be called as evil. Being a Zionist means believing that Jews should have their own, sovereign nation yet liberal professors and the media speak about Zionism as though it were evil instead of something just, right and moral. Many who support BDS think they are somehow helping the Palestinians. These naïve people have bought into the distortions perpetrated by the media and the images staged by the Palestinians themselves showing suffering and poverty which they blame on Israeli policies. The Palestinian people are, indeed, neglected and suffering but it’s thanks to their own government. Their poverty has nothing to do with Israel. Israel and other countries around the world pump hundreds of millions of dollars annually into the Palestinian economy which only serves to shore up the corrupt Palestinian government. This sad fact was revealed during Operation Protective Edge. Instead of using the humanitarian aid they received to build roads, hospitals, schools, parks, housing and so on, the Palestinian government redirected this funding into the construction of tunnels to invade Israel’s territory. The world was deceived and betrayed and their generosity was used for evil.

No, Israel is definitely not responsible for Palestinian suffering. This rests squarely on the shoulders of their unstable government and their own uncivilized attitudes and behavior. Remember back during the 2005 Gaza Disengagement when Israel unilaterally withdrew and forcibly removed its citizens from their homes in Gaza in order to give the land to the Palestinians? Many do not know that under Israeli stewardship, Gaza was a beautiful beachfront community with thriving greenhouses, a lush agricultural industry and a solid community infrastructure. When the Palestinians were given the deed to Gaza, among their very first acts as new “property owners” was to demolish the greenhouses, plunder the fields, burn the crops and tear down the synagogues. The greenhouses and the fields were income producing and the synagogues could have been renovated and utilized for schools, housing or other honorable purposes instead of destroyed and reduced to rubble.

Prejudice against Israel which is manifesting in BDS campaigns is the same bigotry which was at work during the rise of Nazism which ushered in a time of unspeakable atrocities. With some exceptions BDS is, indeed, damaging to the Israeli economy but also to the Palestinian economy. While Israel has learned to operate in a global marketplace with many of its products, inventions and technologies being integral parts of the products the world has come to depend on and enjoy, the same is not true for the Palestinians. Israel produces quality products at competitive prices which serves to support a sizeable contingent of Palestinian and Arab workers.

The movement by the European Union demanding the labeling of products made in Judea and Samaria not be labeled as “Made in Israel” is all part of the global BDS campaign to discredit Israel. The United States has now jumped on the bandwagon with President Obama ordering the same damaging labeling. All this is an attempt to delegitimize Israel even if Palestinian lives and livelihoods are hurt or ruined in the process.

But the BDS movement does not stop with products. The press has been reporting on academic boycotts as well as a movement by a group of British doctors who have called for the exclusion of Israeli physicians from the World Medical Association. This would have been a huge mistake. Thank God that the World Medical Association did not support the call to boycott Israeli physicians. Israel is so far advanced in the fields of science, technology and medicine that any boycott against Israeli doctors would have been a setback for the global medical community and not just for Israel.

So whether you’re in the market for the best and latest technology in solar shield protection, the most sophisticated computer software or in need of treatment for a complicated medical condition, the answer is probably in Israel. A boycott against Israel is a boycott against humanity and this is a moral failure.

Some honey with my steak

By CARL WHITE

Life in the Carolinas

Colorful expressions are as common in the south as pine trees and humidity. We say and do things in our way, and that way is a blending of traditions and customs from around the world.

Local colloquialism’s help to define a people, I recall reading an article some years ago in which the writer said that in the warmer states people speak in a more relaxed manner. In general, I agree. However, I think that there are people from all regions of the world that have speaking behavior that ranges from formal and proper to slang.

Written words enjoy the same journey. We can experience the cultures and sounds of the world by reading the pages of a book or newspaper column.

I recall an interesting visit to the Outer Banks. I was doing research for a story, and in doing so, I met several local fishermen who trace their family from Europe to the New World. I would soon learn that many of their words and speech patterns had changed little from the time their ancestors made the journey to what we now know as the United States.

It was not enough to listen close to understand what was being said. I had to ask about the meaning of the words, everyone in the community did not speak that way, but some did. I learned a lot, and it was an excellent experience.

I am in the ranks of those who travel much, and in doing so, I am always looking for a good local place for a meal. I like finding the places where the locals eat. It’s a great way to meet people and get a real feel of an area.

The food is usually better, and the service has its flavor as well. “Hi Honey” What can I get for you? Sweetie, can I get you some more coffee? Sugar, how’d you like them greens? Thanks, Darling, Y’all come back.

These expressions are authentic southern. Life is not always easy, and the time we take to set down for a meal may be our only escape from the day. Excellent service blended with good food is hard to beat, but when you get that little extra, it makes a big difference.

I know the waitress is not family, but those familiar kind expressions give that feeling. I ask my niece Kaylee how she felt about these expressions, she said she liked it. “It’s nice,” she said, “and besides that helps the waitress get a better tip.”

Southern writer Doc Lawrence said being called Sugar by his waitress was delightful “It makes my day, and you never know, those sweet ladies may be angels sent to make our lives just a little bit better.”

It’s the small things in life that matter.

Ken Welborn said he likes it when his waitress calls him honey and yet there are others who don’t like it at all. That’s the way it is in life, everyone is different.

I am aware of politically correct notions; however, I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about someone hurting my feelings. I for one think we need more hugs, more doors being held open for others and kind words.

A little honey with my steak is just fine.

Carl White is the executive producer and host of the award winning syndicated TV show Carl White’s Life In the Carolinas. The weekly show is now in its 8th year of syndication and can be seen in the Charlotte viewing market on WJZY Fox 46 Saturdays at 12 noon. For more on the show visit www.lifeinthecarolinas.com, You can email Carl White at [email protected]. Copyright 2017 Carl White

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