October 19, 1978

Everyone is aware that the cost of things has increased. What is often overlooked, however, is the riding cost of nothing. Nowhere is inflation more pronounced than in the price we pay for absolutely nothing.
For example, the natural gas bill at the N.V.N office was $3.89 throughout the summer months. We do not use a hot water heater and when it was 110 degrees outside we never felt compelled to light the furnace. So the cost for exactly no natural gas was almost $4 a month.
The next shocker is electricity. We are informed by the electric company that the minimum expense for us is $1.55. If everything was shut down and we were burning candles for light, we would still be charged $1.55 for the potential of using electricity.
Last, but obviously not least, is the telephone bill. For the luxury of being able to make a call, whether a call is made or not, we are charged $21.08 per month. Because we use the phone a great deal, our cost is substantially more than that. But, if we used our phone for a conversation piece and not a conversing piece, we would still be charged $21.08 every month.
This brings the total bill for nothing to $26.52. It could be argued that nothing is not what it used to be.... ~T.Stucky

October 11, 1979

Having two youngsters at the N.V.N. office during business hours often results in unusual phone conversations. Last THursday, for example:
"Hello, is this the Ninnescah Valley News?"
"Yes."
"May I talk to the editor please?"
"This is he."
"I'm Barbara Dickerson calling from Washington, D.C. to invite you (Emily, get that out of your mouth.) to the National Kansas Leadership Briefing to be held in (Aaron, can you get her down from there before she breaks her head.) Washington from November 28 until December 1. It will be the first time (Emily, I can't hear with you banging the desk.) since Kansas became a state in 1861 that its leaders have been invited to (Hey, get your sucker out of her hair.) Washington to share their views about America's future. After reviewing more than 5000 names submitted to our office we have (Cute, now get the pencil out of your nose.) selected you as part of the cross-section of outstanding individuals with varying backgrounds and professions to whom (Emily, just use the crayon on the paper not on the wall.) to extend this invitation to participate. Your views about America's future, and Kansas' role in it, are important (Aaron, does she look like a fly to you? Put the flyswatter down.) and need to be shared both with national leaders and your peers. We would like to invite you to attend because (Oh, Jeez. Emily get that beetle out of your mouth.) we feel that as one of the young leader of Kansas you would be a benefit to the briefing. Are you interested in attending?"
"Let me get this (Emily get down from there.) straight. You have decided that out of the 2,300,000 people who live in Kansas, I am one of the (Go get a kleenex.) 500 considered to be leaders?"
"That's correct."
"That, in itself (Give me those scissors.) tells me a great deal about (Aaron you're going to break it.) America's future and Kansas' role (Will you please spit that beetle out.) in it.... ~T. Stucky

October 9, 1986

There was an estate sale in our neighborhood Saturday. The elderly couple who called the house home for decades are now living in a nursing home so they no longer needed the furniture, lawn equipment, and paraphernalia accumulated during the years of their married life.
Family members and friends spent weeks helping the couple prepare for the auction; cleaning, collecting, sorting items. No small task, this, for each knicknack is weighted to the cupboard by a memory. The dining table, where the family had gathered on holidays, was carried to the front lawn for sale to the highest bidder. The tools were gathered in a box, their usefulness to be transferred to some other owner - never again will the man use a wrench to fix a faucet, never again will the woman hammer a nail into the wall to hang a family photograph.
Estate sales are somber events. Except for the auctioneer who rattles away with his bright voice, sounds are hushed. A funereal pall hangs over the cluttered lawn. Children scooting about, laughing, seem out of place.
People came Saturday and parked their cars for blocks around and walked to the gutted house, its insides now outside. The wind was cool and damp from the north, prompting people to lift their coated shoulders to protect their necks. As they huddled together the people talked quietly about the rain, about milo heads sprouting, about inundated wheat fields.
And as the people talked and the auctioneer chattered, the old couple stood on the fringe watching their life being sold as fifteen cents on the dollar.
In a box of books on the far end of a table was a volume of essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson. The ragged binding indicated the book had been handled often. Pencil underlining marking favorite sentences and ideas confirmed the book's usage.
Particular favor had been given "Compensation," as paragraph after paragraph was emphasized with a leaden undercurrent. The essay begins with a poem:
"The wings of Time are black and white, Pied with morning and with night.
Mountain tall and ocean deep, trembling balance duly keep.
In changing moon, in tidal wave, glows the feud of Want and Have...
And all that Nature made thy own, floating in air and pent in stone.
Will rive the hills and swim the sea, and, like thy shadow, follow thee."
Other ideas had been recognized by the reader; "As no man had ever a point of pride that was not injurious to him, so no man had ever a defect that was not somewhere made useful to him." "The death of a dear friend, wife, brother, lover which seemed nothing but privation, somewhat later assumes they aspect of a guide or genius; for it commonly operates revolutions in our way of life, terminates an epoch of infancy or of youth, which was waiting to be closed, breaks us from a wonted occupations, or a household, or style of living, and allows the formation of new ones more friendly to the growth of character." "Man's life is a progress, and not a station."
People found bargains Saturday and they carried away beds and lamps and tools. And they carried away peices of a life, pieces which will now become part of a different life.
In somber ending there is beginnings. In loss there is progress.... ~T.Stucky