Free Press – September 6, 2007

John Smoll, Ralph Buzby, Compulsory Service Review

Dear Friends,

Good morning. There are plenty of subjects for today’s letter. Last week, I wrote about Jack Slotter, one of my boyhood friends who died of Alzheimer’s. Jack was a champion, a highest quality fellow. Unfortunately, I forgot to mention that he was a member of the Pennridge-Quakertown Athletic Hall of Fame. I also mentioned that I’d pass along a hilarious story that his uncle tells about Jack’s father.

One of Quakertown’s special characters and super athletes is John Smoll, Jack Slotter’s uncle. Smoll must be in his 80’s but he looks much younger. Anyway, I was sitting in Charlie Brader’s barbershop when Charlie told me about Smoll’s story. It involves Jack Slotter’s father, Jess.

During Jess Slotter’s retirement days, he held a part time job driving a school bus for the Levy organization. At the beginning of one, new school year, Jess picked up a cute first grader. The little boy was immaculately dressed and very well prepared by his mother who anxiously watched her child start his first day.

“Good morning, Mr. Bus Driver,” the student sang out. “How are you today?”

At the end of the day, Jess Slotter dropped the cherub off at the bus stop. “Good- by Mr. Bus Driver,” he said cheerfully.

And the next four days, the greetings and farewells were identical… “Good morning, Mr. Bus Driver; Good-by, Mr. Bus Driver.”

That is until Friday afternoon.

As the little boy left the bus on the final day of his first week, he said, “Good-by, Mr. Bus Driver, you won’t have to pick me up next Monday.”

Jess Slotter was caught off guard. “Why not,” Jess asked?

“I’ve had enough of this s—t,” the youngster answered sweetly.

That story just cracked me up.

Item.

Two weeks ago, I sat with Ralph Buzby at a Quakertown Rotary meeting. Ralph is 84, a walking miracle. He told me that he had three death defying operations just a few months ago. First, a half-inch aneurysm repair turned out to be a five-inch operation. He survived that only to learn that he needed four bypasses to his heart. Two of his three coronary arteries were blocked 90 percent. And while the surgeons were at it, Ralph had a defective heart valve fixed.

So when will he return to the tennis courts? “The Docs will tell me when I can go back,” Ralph laughed, “probably next spring…maybe this winter.” The former Quakertown National Bank officer looks great. He told me that the reason why he’s had such good luck is two fold. “I never smoked,” Ralph added, “and I was an active tennis player all of my life.”

Everyone can learn from his experience.

Item.

One of my erudite critics sends me an occasional letter but hasn’t given me permission to print his name, thus far. Until he does, I’ll refer to him as “Harry.” My column about compulsory service made him very uncomfortable and he’s chipped away at my arguments for weeks.

To review my position on compulsory service, I believe that America would be best served by having its entire young population give two years to the country…female and male, no exceptions. I’d start the program when a young person graduated from high school or turned 18, whichever came first. I’d give them their choice of service…either military or some other service…hospitals, parks, Peace Corp and the like. And I’d compensate them according to America’s needs at the time. For example, should our nation have a military shortage, I’d pay more.

Compulsory service would give any administration pause before it launched another foreign adventure. What President or congressperson would send her or his child or family member to war on such flimsy evidence as set forth by George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq?

In my August 23^rd column, I apparently confused “Harry.” He thought that I was excluding young women from compulsory service because I wrote, “My plan is to have each young adult choose his government service.” I should have been more careful.

I doubt that this explanation will satisfy “Harry.” Further, he’s alerted me that he’ll have plenty to say about my idea about running schools 24/7, 52 weeks of the year. A few columns ago, I wrote that two million of us 300 million Americans are in jail. It costs $40,000 per year, per inmate, or roughly $80 billion annually. And the number behind bars is growing every year.

Most prisoners come from urban settings where poverty stricken children have no role models and unsafe neighborhoods. I reason that we could snap the poverty cycle in one generation if we had children stay in school, 24 hours each day, 365 days of the year. Housed, clothed, fed, and taught, kids’ role models would be teachers rather than villains.

“Harry” thinks my idea is crazy…would bankrupt America. But I believe that the only way out of this terrible mess is through education. As Derek Bok, the President of Harvard, once said, “If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!”

If space permits next week, I’ll tell you why one of our daughters wants Hillary Clinton to be our next President. It has to do with Hillary’s lesser half. And I’ll give you my opinion about President Bush’s strategy of comparing the Vietnam War to America’s struggle in Iraq. Stay tuned.

Sincerely,

Charles Meredith