Family and Community Lose a Good Man

Hank at Matthew's H.S. graduation. (Bergeron Image)

A week ago today, Henry (Hank) Schleckser, a long-time resident of Martinsville, New Jersey, passed away unexpectedly at the Somerset Medical Center after a short illness.

Hank enjoyed a long, good and prosperous life blessed with a loving wife, children, siblings and many friends.  Ever active and involved in life and community service, he volunteered not only as a member of the Martinsville Rescue Squad for 28 years, but also with the Surf City Fire Company and EMS for 14 years.

After retirement, Hank declined to become a sit-at-home couch potato.  That would have been totally counter to his nature, and his activities and interests explain why he was ever on the move, and always reading and learning.

Perhaps the best synopsis of his life and contributions and of the fact that he will be deeply missed came from two people who spoke of him at his funeral Mass at Blessed Sacrament Church in Martinsville.

Just Thinking . . .

Happy Mother's Day!  (Photo/Bergeron Image)

“Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.”  I came across that straightforward aphorism a few days ago while reading an essay by Catharine A. Henningsen.  She acknowledges that this thought has been around for a long time – nothing new in the scheme of things.

Yet, it embodies such a powerful message that it bears more than just passing attention.  It has the quality of a mantra which, if stored in memory and repeated periodically, can be of great effectiveness in times of pressure and duress.

Henningsen puts it this way:  “Be present.  Do not be where you just came from.  Do not be where you are going next.  Show up and be here while you’re here.”

Most people tend not to think like that:  in this overly complex world, it sounds like too easy a formula.  Interestingly, I think it’s a quality that mothers have, one that becomes virtually necessary in their quotidian lives, as they struggle to meet the demands of their calling.

Snooki, Yes; Condoleezza Rice, No!

Three years ago, officials at Rutgers University invited ‘Snooki’ Polizzi of TV’s Jersey Shore to be the guest commencement speaker.  The university paid her thirty-two grand for the privilege of watching her put on parade the trivia of her mind on graduation day before an audience of Rutgers’ graduates, their families and friends, and, presumably, prominent intellectuals.

This year, Condoleezza Rice, one of our nation’s foremost African-Americans who rose to prominence as Provost of Stanford University long before she entered government service, was slated to deliver the commencement speech at Rutgers.

 

Rice became National Security Advisor to George W. Bush, and was subsequently appointed to the post of U.S. Secretary of State.  Previously, Rice had served on the National Security Council under George H.W. Bush, where she honed her skills as an expert on the Soviet Union.

Easter Day, 2014, Bridgewater, NJ

This morning in time zones throughout the globe, the sun rose over a planet in which there is no significant space that the name of Jesus has not been heard.

This man, born as a Jew, who lived and taught as a Jew, who died as a Jew, and who was crucified under the Roman Empire as a common criminal by a means so barbarous, that Roman law reserved that form of slow, gruesome death solely for non-citizens of the Empire.

By all accounts, by any manner of sociopolitical analysis, that should have been the end of it.  As the French say, C’èst fini:  It’s over.  Good riddance.

  

He was just another rabble-rouser from that unmanageable Roman colony – only one among hundreds of others who dared to cause turmoil in Palestine of the first century – nailed to a cross, now gone and forgotten.

Recreational Pot in NJ: A Misguided Endeavor

Yesterday, The Journal of Neuroscience released a study by medical researchers from Boston’s Harvard University and Chicago’s Northwestern University on the inherent dangers associated with recreational pot usage

.

 The analysis concludes that even “light to moderate recreational use [of marijuana] can cause changes in brain anatomy.”  The study was conducted with youths in the 18 to 25 age bracket.  All participants were from the Boston area

. 

The results are quite disturbing.

 

This study calls into question the quality of judgment and the nature of research demonstrated by proponents in favor of legalizing pot consumption for recreational use in New Jersey.