Concho

August 4, 2013

There was a land called Concho. In this land lived a family that didn’t have a care in the world. The mother and father and two boys lived at, or in Glenn’s Trading Post. Three roads converged at an intersection where the trading post stood proudly inviting all to get gas, food, and other assorted goodies. World War II raged on, killing millions directly through shelling, bombings, and hand-to-hand combat, but the Jacobs family didn’t have a care in the world. Evil and conspiring men raped and pillaged the heart of Europe and went hell-bent and unchecked after their goal of eliminating Jews and others who were seen as less desirable than they, but we didn’t have a care in the world. After all we lived in Concho and we had only been on the earth less than two years. We had been blessed to come to a home where love, honor, freedom, and the mighty word of God were the clarion call.

Father was in the Navy as a CB (Construction Battalion) as mother and grandfather held fast to taking care of our family at home. Well, mother took care of the store, the gas station, the kids, and attempted to keep gramps from going too far off course. This was a time of mighty upheaval, with no rational person thinking that things would ever be as they had previous to the war. Those that lived in war-torn parts of the world; those that were honorable citizens of every country in the world feared we may have lost our opportunities to be free – to enjoy the opportunities of living our lives as we so chose. Millions stood up and said, “Not on my watch.” They went, they fought, and many died. They saved the world from communism. They saved the Jewish population from being exterminated.

Most have forgotten the horrors of World War II. Most would like to say that we don’t have a care in the world and that all the problems in the Middle East, in South and Central America, in Russia and many of the counties freed after the break-up of the Soviet Union belong to someone else. Most find the irritations surrounding extremist Muslims, Taliban, 9/11, and other international travesties as phony problems held out to disillusion and steer conversation and political direction away from reality. One television and radio presenter, Glenn Beck, has constantly warned that we need to continually watch the other hand. To look beyond the raging headlines, the most vocal of the politicians, and see what is behind door number two.

This week I had the honor of visiting with my cousin Clara Jo Fitch. She and her husband have been like rock stars to me and Jean for almost fifty years. We actually stayed in their camp trailer at their home in Stockton, California on our honeymoon. (Yes, I know; but we were young, in love, had no money, and didn’t see anything wrong with it.) We talked about many in the family, failing health, past experiences, a cousin who devoted her life to serving as a nun in Africa and just a tiny bit about our faith. Jo has some concerns about individuals who would demean, or otherwise see other human beings as less than God’s children, to which I heartily concurred.

I shared with Jo that her mother had long ago put that problem to rest. Auntie Lola was a life-time Catholic. Her brother Eleseo had become disenchanted with Catholicism as a youth and chose to be buried without service, or ceremony and that was his business. Auntie Lola’s oldest son married a wonderful lady from England and at some point in their life became members of the Baptist church. Her sister Lucy, my mother, became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints when I was about nine years old. After years of questioning and some harsh rhetoric regarding differing beliefs, she said very calmly, “Let’s just wait until we get to the other side and God will sort it all out.” I add my hearty amen to this statement.

This weekly letter is read by Catholics, “Mormons”, Jews, Lutherans, Baptists, non-believers, and others. All are children of God. All have the blessing of believing what they may. I think this is a crucial moment in the life of the earth. I think this is the time when we put our personal beliefs up as a banner which says that God’s first and great Commandment was to Love Him; the second like unto it is to love each other as we love ourselves.

May God give us the strength, the courage, the wisdom, and the inspiration to stand together in serving Him who gave us life, and in protecting our families, our fortunes, and our freedom.

Duane Jacobs, Father, grandfather, brother, uncle, cousin, and friend