As Memorial Day rolls around, I am reminded of a story that I heard. Though the exactness of it I cannot confirm, I am assured its basis is quite factual, and it’s message definitely deserves to be retold. The story is of a man, Andrew, who was known all his life for selfless sacrifice and good works. He always stood in defense of the defenseless, and toiled without tiring, standing up for the downtrodden and underprivileged. As he grew old, and people tried to honor him for his well-lived life of service, he was reluctant to accept the praise and attention that his community desired to heap upon him. It was then, for the first time, that he told a story that had burned deep in his heart and was hard for him to relate. Andrew was a young man, thirteen years old and living in Austria, when the Germans invaded. The Austrians, brave and proud, decided to fight back. In the town where Andrew lived, the men and teenage boys organized and destroyed a power plant that the Germans relied on to continue their war effort. The men and boys all knew this would cause great hardship on themselves as well, for they also relied on the power from the plant. But the thing they had not counted on was the swift and severe retribution that would come from the Nazi invaders.

Long ago and far away, In a land that time forgot, Before the day of Dylan Or the dawn of Camelot There lived a race of innocents And they were you and me. Ike was in the White House In that land where we were born Where navels were for oranges And Peyton Place was porn.

Send responses to: andybowman839@gmail.com If you work and work hard, you will understand this topic. Exhaustion.

Tell your kids once My grandmother was a sweet lady who was a great cook, terrific baker, whistled while she worked, gardened vegetables and ruined my life once. Or so I thought.

Feeling like you have some control over your life is vital for life happiness. Control is not always easy.

I know it is the height of the basketball season. I know the orange one is the ball of choice for most people during the heat of the NCAA tourney and, soon, the NBA playoffs. But I am, and shall forever be, in baseball season until the last out of the last game of the World Series. Hope springs eternal my favorite team will be in the Series this year but, regardless, I will watch or listen to nearly every game. I suspect my children will cheer and groan along with me through all 182 regular season games. You see, there is a genetic defect in my family. Devotion to baseball was in my father’s DNA and I am a carrier of his gene.

Jim Priest is CEO of Goodwill Industries of Central Oklahoma and can be reached at jpriest@okgoodwill.org. I’m reading a book titled “Knocking on Heaven’s Door”.

Feeling like you have some control over your life is vital for life happiness. Control is not always easy.

Divorce in Decline There’s some good news to report. According to recent articles in CNN and Forbes magazine, the divorce rate in the United States is going down.