Jackson Jambalaya

 I only saw my Dad cry once. Seeing tears running down his face bothered and confused me. We were watching television. I was just an elementary school kid and hadn’t understood all that had gone on the week before. 

On Friday we had gotten to watch TV in our classrooms! Wow! Our school had recently acquired televisions for some of our classrooms, but we had not seen much that fall. Something important must be going on. Walter Cronkite the anchor for CBS News was on the screen. He had just announced the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. What did that even mean?

Well, that changed the whole weekend, and Monday we didn’t go to school. That’s why I was watching television with my Dad. The TV was showing horses pulling a wagon with an American flag covering a coffin. Cameras showed sites along the way. I saw little John John standing beside his mom and sister. He saluted. Tears were flowing down my Dad’s cheeks. 

I thought my Dad hadn’t liked Kennedy as president. We voted for the other guy. Why would my Dad cry about the funeral? 

The 1960s were filled with things like that. Three more people were assassinated, soldiers killed four college students in Ohio, the news was filled with stuff about Civil Rights, and judging by the weekly death count America was winning a war in Vietnam where we killed more of them than they killed of ours. 

Reflecting on memories of my own childhood, I look around today and don’t see things that are that much different from what my father saw. I didn’t understand the confusion then, but my Dad understood and cried. He cried for me because he knew things would get worse for me if I didn’t seek for and listen to the truth.

As adults, we know we are fighting for what’s good and right. But many times we fail to remember who our real enemy is. The Apostle Paul told the Ephesians, “Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, that you may be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:10-12)

The same old enemies continue to distract and divide us. That’s their only goal. After all, they can never win! That war’s been fought and won forever! Nevertheless, distractions and divisions still win too many of our battles.

One of my high school math teachers told me I had to identify problems before solving them. That made all the difference for me when trying to solve problems. There’s no need to try to solve some things that aren’t even part of the problem. How will we know when or whether we’ve solved the problem if we have not clearly identified it in the first place?

Undoubtedly the biggest problem most of us face is failing to listen critically. We become the epitome of the father who tries to assemble the toy without referring to the instructions. Been there, done that. Been there again, and done that again, too!

Daniel L. Gardner is a columnist who lives in Starkville, MS. You may contact him at PJandMe2@gmail.com.