I'm not the recording secretary that Sonny is, but I will do my best to share with you at least a sense of what transpired at our meeting at Panera Bread last Sunday afternoon.
Janet and her husband, Frank, were there along with Kerry, Owen, Angie and her "ball-and-chain" Danny (for a guy who doesn't listen to the radio show he hasn't missed a meeting yet!), and there was Kathy and Cindy. Mike was there long enough to get something to eat but had to answer his page to go help sick people. There was a really unexpected guest, Jim, from Kobe, Japan. And we had David with two of the world's best behaved children, and finally there was Renee, Harvey and me.
It was the first meeting for many people but there was no shyness that might be associated with being a first-timer. I've been to most meetings and I still love to hear everyone - old and new - introduce themselves and share what they feel about Dennis Prager, what we've learned from him and what a steadying influence he is.
We met in the Panera community room and had it all to ourselves. Except that there was a guy in the corner, ostensibly working on his laptop, with ear buds in. Jim kept his head down the whole time, and had said it wouldn't bother him for us to have our meeting. As it turns out - we learned at the end of our meeting - that he has also listened to Dennis.
Of all the subjects that Dennis brings to our attention, in those hours on the radio, we all seemed to gravitate toward the current political campaign. I believe - correct me if I'm wrong - that some of us would have really liked to talk Happiness Hour or Ultimate Issues Hour, but for the most part we just enjoyed being together, in what we believe to be a "safe" environment. There's a level of comfort that we don't always feel elsewhere among our family and friends.
We don't all agree on everything - even the big issues, we're not all religious, we're just a diverse group of individuals who seem to revel in the Clarity of Thought that Dennis Prager adds to the cosmos of ideas and events.
Our concern over the upcoming election and the troublesome idea that a truly liberal candidate could make it into the White House next January has many of us losing sleep. We were all invigorated, though, with some caplets of rhetoric that we can use to promote the Republican candidate, John McCain.
I will be reaching out to all of you in the next few weeks to build our own set of talking points to use when we get an opportunity to promote our candidate. We're not all glib-tongued spokespersons but with a few points in our sack of speeches, we believe we can make a difference in the upcoming election. Of course, I just might take the easy way out and carry a sign, make a bumper sticker or wear a T-shirt that says something like, "McCain - The Only Change I Can Live With." Okay, that's not terribly pithy but I'm open to suggestions!
I'm still feeling the effects of a lively and enlightening Sunday afternoon well-spent with other Dennis Prager fans. I really wish you all could have been there.
Harvey's still looking for a downtown meeting place for us for next month. We'll keep you posted.
And, thanks to Jim, we have a great picture of the entire group from Sunday. I'll post the picture and names on the blog as soon as I can. We lost a dear friend to cancer this week and have out-of-town company coming in on Thursday, so my web work will probably have to wait until Sunday.
As for the birthday present for Dennis, I'll keep you posted on the progress. (You guys were great and I know Dennis will appreciate it.)
Until August then! Hang in there, Everyone.
Dianne
PS - We're going to try and keep our birthday present for Dennis under wraps until August 3rd, so mum's the word!
You don't have to follow the crowd to be going in the right direction.
1 Image View Slideshow Download Selected
JDD_3945.JPG(2051KB)
No comments:
Post a Comment