| DOING QUIET THINGS
Dear Editor,
After reading several of your articles reflecting on life, I was reminded of the verse from Psalms 46:10, "Be still and know that I am God.." In our hectic, busy lives we often don't take time to smell the roses or the freshly mown hay. Some of our children think we lead boring lives. One of Sarah's and my favorite activities is to sit on our front porch as evening turns to night and just enjoy the beauty of God's creation.
Our two Border Collies like to keep us company. Birds are often playing in the trees beside our porch. Depending on the season we listen to Spring peepers, crickets, and occasional whippoorwills and owls.
As night falls we can see the stars and constellations and now and then a shooting star and high flying airplanes. And of course we are treated to the display of thousands of lightening bugs in early Summer.
Our "citified" grandchildren still find pleasure in catching them and putting them in a jar. To us this is sufficiently exciting to keep us entertained for hours. Unfortunately it bores our children to tears. They are not happy unless they are "doing something." They have not learned the joy of just observing and listening. Some of my fondest memories of growing up centered around our dining room table for holiday dinners with our extended family. Long after the meal was over, the folks gathered around the table and talked.
As a youngster I learned the family stories. I learned about the work and life experiences of my Aunts and Uncles. I heard about my Uncle's experiences in WW II. I also heard some tall tales. We passed many hours gathered around that large table. Now it is difficult to have a family gathering without several members talking or texting on their cell phones.
It seems that people have lost the art of conversation and the enjoyment of one anothers company.
We stay connected constantly, but do we really know each other?
There is a lot of pleasure in talking with people. And there is also a lot of pleasure in just "doing nothing" and observing the wonders God has created for us. Happy New Year! Mark Higgs, Barnes Run
LABOR OF LOVE
Dear Editor,
I just thought I would drop you a line on this New Year's Day to thank you most kindly for your ongoing, remarkable, utterly unique project known as The Hur Herald.
I was born and raised in Nicholas County, but live now in upstate New York.
I stumbled across your site one day about a year ago through a link in an article seemingly far removed from Calhoun County or West Virginia, and have visited pretty regularly ever since.
The stories about regular (or irregular!) folks, past and present, are always enjoyed, and it is good to have a picture of what is going on in a particular part of WV, even though we both know there are some alarming trends in the world that are maybe even more (or first) apparent in places like (though there is no place truly 'like') rural WV. The old canary in the coal mine comes to mind.
No doubt your Herald is a labor of love with not a lot of thanks forthcoming from the world at large (I may be wrong, of course!), but I for one appreciate it and I wanted to let you know.
Thanks for your work.
All Best Wishes for your New Year,
John Scott Legg, New York
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