I’m Still Giving Thanks

Howdy friends, It’s still Thanksgiving time for me; I didn’t get enough last week. And, while at it, have a few other things to clear up.

So many changes in the last several years have left me with a spinning head. Some of them are changes in me; stuff I once believed but no longer do.

Like, is O. J. guilty? For a longtime I thought he was.

A couple of weeks back, there was a show on YouTube, with one of O.J.’s lead attorneys. Probably an anniversary, 30 years? He was going on all about how the prosecution simply had no credible evidence, except for one bloody glove; which more than anything else, set O.J., free.

I remember watching the trial, where Johnnie Cochran became lead attorney, and he continued saying, “If the glove don’t fit; you must acquit.”

And, remember watching O.J. try on the glove, over the tight fitting rubber glove that someone insisted he have on, I suppose, to prevent any cross contamination of DNA.

I was thinking, there is no way he’ll be able to get one glove on, over the other.

And sure enough; he could not, so the trial ended, with an acquittal.

But wait, there is more. This most recent show had a closeup of O.J., trying to get the glove on. You could see it was not gonna happen, he has huge hands; befitting a dude famous for catching footballs.

I was not there, I can only go by what the jury saw, and did. In our justice system a person is innocent until proven guilty, and the jury did not see evidence to make a guilty verdict.

So, I’m going to go with that. Thus showing, I can change my mind, and perhaps am not as stubborn as often accused.

One place where I have not changed is opinion about Lee Harvey Oswald. Lone gunman or pawn of a conspiracy?

Have had many discussions and/or arguments about the subject; especially with people from somewhere other than Texas. Talk about stubborn?

I usually win, by bringing up one fact.

Oswald worked at the Texas State Law Library starting in March 1963. Conspiracy theorists would have us believe that a vast network of operators had it all planned out.

Oswald would apply for a job at the library, be approved and start working, meanwhile up in Washington, others in the scheme would be convincing JFK to go to Texas, culminating with a stop in Big D. For me, a plain and simple country man; it’s all too preposterous.

I have a good friend, Tom Johnson, now living in Iowa. Tom is a student of presidential history. He knows his stuff, when it comes to presidents. And he specializes in assassinations.

He tells me that every one of the attempts on a president was done by a single person, with two exceptions, John Wilkes Booth and Lee Harvey Oswald.

Well, Tom, old buddy, I believe you are wrong, at least about Oswald.

My thinking is that all the facts came together in such a way that Oswald must have felt it was an order from God.

Here was a man he hated, sitting next to another hated man, in a open top car, going right under the place he would be. It all fell into place so neatly.

So much time has passed – sixty years. Why do we still care? Only old timers like me can remember when it happened. And what changes it made.

Speaking about changes makes me ponder some changes in me.

My lips, for one. Once soft, smooth and kissable; now resemble a crack in an old gray sidewalk. Can’t whistle a tune or at a pretty girl. Can’t call a dog – even if I had one. Oh well.

I’m still thankful for everything I’ve been given. Ran out of room and time to list every one who helped me last year.

• The super folks at the La Grange Post Office – both inside and out, including all the nice ladies who go inside and pick up my mail from the box.

• All the bank ladies who tolerate my creaky voice and get my money straight.

• And especially; a big thank you to Jasmine Calvert, who stops by every Tuesday with several scrumptious home cooked meals. She is one of those people my old Grandpa Tom Parker was talking about when he said, “If you want something done; ask a busy person.”

Along with husband William, she runs a Health Care business and raises four kids: Braeden-14,Adelina-9, Codi-5, and Osiris-2.

Finally, a special thanks to Editor Jeff Wick at The Fayette County Record for giving me time and space for my little pieces of writing.

As Always, Love from La Grange.