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Hitting the Right Note

The Source

I sat as a guest, watching the Jacksonville Kiwanis celebrate their 90th birthday and I thought of Harold Hill. Hill’s the lead character in the musical, The Music Man. When he arrives in the mythical town of River City, Iowa, he notices that many buildings in the small town all bear the same name: Madison, but the residents of the town all refer to the departed man as “Miser Madison.” Confused, the music man asks the mayor’s wife, “Miser Madison? As in Madison gymnasium? Madison public library? Madison Park? That Miser Madison?” The haughty matron replies. “Yes! Who’d he think he was? The showoff!” And thus is shall always be, I suppose. As the Kiwanis made reference to the movers and shakers who were past members, I felt sure that each of these men and women who’d done so much for Jacksonville were once the subject of ridicule and criticism. We all are, I suppose, but the difference is that these folks had kept on doing what they felt was right for the community, despite the complainers. Of course the Kiwanis would be the first to admit that they don’t own the title of our community’s great movers and shakers. The Rotary, the Ambucs, Lions, Elks, Moose, Masons, KC’s and a dozen other civic organization have members who’ve made outstanding contributions to the general good, and many of the town’s greatest men and women belonged to no service organization. I don’t know whether St. Paul was a Kiwanis or an Elk, but when writing to his brethren (and sistren) in Galatia, he encouraged them to, “…not grow tired of doing good. While we have the opportunity let us do good for all.” I’m not sure that he was elected District Governor and he didn’t begin his prayer meetings singing, “Smile and the world smiles with you!” but his sentiment is as much appreciated today in our community as it was in the Roman province of the first century. Let us not grow tired of doing good. When I was teaching 7th-grade English I’d give the students a final essay of the school year, asking them to respond to what has been called “Mother Teresa’s Anyway Poem.” The poem, in part: “If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway. “What you spend years building, someone may destroy overnight; Build anyway. “The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway. “Give the world the best you have, an it may never be enough; Give the world the best you’ve got anyway. “You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God; It was never between you and them anyway.” The Jacksonville area is abundant with folks who work tirelessly to improve our quality of life. I spoke to a lady who recently moved here from a city in Minnesota. She told me, “I’ve never seen a community with so many fundraisers and benefits.” Yes, some of us tire of yet another knock on the door asking for donations, and there are those among us who feel like own a season ticket on the fundraiser circuit, but following St. Paul’s admonition, we keep buying the ticket, we continue to attend the events, and many of us never stop working for the betterment of place in which we live. One of Arenzville’s now-departed but much-loved men was named Bob Brassell. One night, many years ago, I looked out my back window toward the town park and saw a solitary figure on his hands and knees, illuminated by the headlights of his automobile. Thinking that perhaps the fellow was in trouble, I walked down the hill to investigate. It was the 80-year-old Bob on his hands and knees scrubbing fish frying pans with sand. The town had just hosted a ball tournament and fish fry to raise money for the Little League baseball team. I said, “Bob, doesn’t it irritate you to know that all the younger guys are home and you’re out here scrubbing?” Bob swatted a Cass County mosquito, smiled and said, “Ken, if I let stuff like that bother me then it just wouldn’t be fun any more.” I’ve always liked the word, “naysayer,” because it says exactly what it is. A naysayer simply says “nay” with no solution of his own to the problem. I am thankful to live in a community where so many quietly and firmly say, “Yea!”