Days of Yore: Audio Recordings

Girl you know it's —
Girl you know it's —
Girl you know it's —

That was the beginning of the end for the popular band Milli Vanilli. As it would turn out, contrary to their claim in the song, it was NOT true. (I trust you read that last sentence in Morgan Freeman's voice.) We did not see the MTV broadcast where a hard drive issue caused the track to skip and repeat in the middle of the title phrase of the song "Girl You Know It's True," but it was big news in the Philippines, where we lived at the time. A technical glitch from a computer in 1989 exposed for the first time that the band was not singing, but was in fact lip syncing (though some had suspected it previous to that). As Rob Pilatus of the duo later remembered, it caused him to panic and he ran off the stage. He had to be coaxed into completing the concert. The irony of that happening on a song about how "you know it's true" is very interesting.

Though that example was due to a hard drive, the same thing happened with vinyl records sometimes when we would play them at home. The black vinyl disc would be playing the song "My Grandfather's Clock" until suddenly... "Ninety years without slumbering, tick tock — Ninety years without slumbering, tick tock — Ninety years without slumbering, tick tock — Ninety years without slumbering, tick tock —" That was when we knew we had to go move the needle because it was skipping due to a broken record. Records have been making a bit of a comeback in recent years, but they have not been nearly as popular as they were when I was young. When they were not skipping, they were great. They were double-sided, so once you reached the end of one side, you had to turn it over to listen to the rest.

Then there was the 8-track. It was a large rectangular cassette with a notch in the corner. We had an 8-track player in our car, and we would play music on long road trips. Ford began putting 8-track players in their cars in 1965, and music has been a regular feature in cars ever since.

8-track, cassette, record
Photo by Wynter, Adobe Stock

Once the 8-track started decreasing in popularity, the smaller cassette tape became more popular. Like records, they were double-sided and you had to flip them when one side ended to listen to the rest. Like 8-tracks, they had a long film on rollers inside the cassette. Sometimes the film would get tangled up in the tape recorder, and we had to untangle it and then roll it back into the cassette, using either our fingers or a pen or a pencil. Radios with tape recorders were also very handy for recording songs and other things on the radio so we could listen to them later. In the Philippines, they played "Good Morning" from the musicals Babes in Arms and Singin' in the Rain every morning at the same time, like clockwork. (I tried just now to find the specific arrangement they played, and didn't find it.) It always made us happy, so we recorded it. We recorded a bunch of the songs that they liked to play on the radio, such as "Put On a Happy Face" from Bye Bye Birdie, "Make Someone Happy" as sung by Jimmy Durante, and others. We could also record ourselves, speaking or singing into a microphone or into the tape recorder. After our car with the 8-track player, subsequent cars had cassette players. If you didn't play a cassette all the way through on both sides, it was necessary to rewind.

There were several different kinds of players to play cassettes. They were much more mobile than previous kinds of recordings. Boomboxes often had tape recorders. There were simple tape recorders that only played (and recorded) cassettes. Many radios accommodated them, as did cars. They even made Walkmen, which were small tape recorders you could carry with you and connect headphones. Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy has one. The Walkman was very handy as you could carry it in your pocket (provided your pocket was big enough), and some had a clip so you could clip it to your belt.

Record, cassette, 8-track, CD, not to scale
(Note: They did not typically have smiley faces) 😀
Drawing by Steven Sauke, June 2022

In the 90s, we were introduced to a new kind of recording: the CD (compact disc). It looked a bit like a record, but was smaller and fit in a slot rather than setting it on the player like a record, though some CD players do allow you to place it on there, similar to a record, but then it retracts into the player to play the music. Also where the typical record is black (though they did come in other colors occasionally), the typical CD is silver and shiny. They are still relatively common today, though not nearly as common as they were in the 90s and early 2000s. Recent cars have had CD players rather than cassette players. 

Everything that could play a cassette eventually adapted to be able to play CDs. The Walkman turned into the Discman. The Discman was similarly handy, though harder to fit in my pocket because CDs are bigger in diameter than the cassette, albeit much thinner. Recording things on CDs was more complicated than doing it on cassettes, however.

As the early 2000s moved on, the iPod and Zune (and other brands of MP3 players) came out. iPod lasted longer than Zune, but they were pretty cool. I had a Zune for a while. Much smaller than your average Walkman, they had the music stored in them in MP3 format, which you could upload to it. They similarly had headphones attached.

These days, I hardly use any of those any more. I have music on my cell phone and computer, and can easily download it from Amazon and elsewhere and play it on any of my devices (computer, cell phone, Kindle). I have SiriusXM (and a CD player) in my car. Recordings have come a long way over the years.

The Parents of the Savior

Today is Ash Wednesday, which begins the season of Lent. Many Christians take this time to give something up as they prepare for Holy Week and Easter. I don't always do that, but I respect people who do. I think it is important to consider what Christ went through for us. I wrote this poem October 4, 2004, as I reflected on these things, and in particular, how it may have been for Mary and Joseph. The poem was also inspired by the songs "Mary, Did You Know?" by Mark Lowry, "Child of the Manger, Child of the Cross" by Craig Courtney, and "One Quiet Moment" by Bob Kauflin. These songs got me thinking more about how events throughout the Bible were connected.

Image by R. Gino Santa Maria
Adobe Stock

In a humble stable,
A young mother held her newborn baby in her arms
Did the joyful coos make her think
Of the same mouth speaking the stars into place?
Did she realize that the same lips
Spoke to Moses on the mountain
And did she know that one day
They would beg the Father to forgive His enemies?

In a foreign land,
A young couple taught their child how to walk
Did the crawling, toddling legs
Make them think of the same legs
Walking with Adam and Eve in the paradise of the garden?
Did they remember that those legs crushed the Tower of Babel
And that one day those ankles would be pierced
With long, cruel nails?

In a small village,
A father taught his son the art of carpentry
Did those little hands make him think
Of the same hands writing on tablets of stone
And on the wall of a palace?
Did he remember that those hands
Sprinkled manna over a desert
And that one day those wrists would be impaled
With nails bigger than the ones He was hammering into the wood?

Did they know that the back that dazzled Moses
Would one day be ruthlessly beaten
And forced to bear a heavy and slivery cross?
Did they realize that the breath that breathed life into Adam
And blew the waters of the Red Sea apart
Would one day breathe, "It is finished!" and slowly, painfully cease?

***

On a skull-shaped hill,
A mother watched her son die on a cross
She heard Him entrust her to the care of a friend
Did she know what she and her son's friend
Would find three days later?
Did she know that burial spices would be useless
And that her son would refuse to stay dead?

As she agonized over the suffering of her beloved son,
Did she know that the face so mangled and torn
Would so soon be glowing with life?
Did she know that those hands, dripping with blood,
Would so soon be raised in victory?

Did she realize that the love that saved the children of Israel

    The love that gave Jonah another chance
    The love that fed five thousand
    And brought the dead back to life --
Did she realize that that love led Him to pour out His wrath on Himself
To save her very soul?

Did she know that His death would be the shortest-lived death
And that by it He conquered death and sin
Once and for all?

That magnificent head is lifted on high
Crowned with glory and honor and splendor!
All hail the omnipotent King
Who was willing to give up His life and so conquer death
That we may reign forever as His beloved children!

Days of Yore: Computers

Many of us have heard about how our parents walked 5 miles to and from school, in blowing snow, uphill both ways...and they enjoyed it! Did they? I don't know, as I wasn't born yet, but they did teach me to be honest, so maybe? I know I did not. (That may be partly because most of my childhood was in the Philippines, just north of the equator, where they don't get snow due to the tropical heat. I ran 5 miles to school in pelting rain, uphill both ways, slipping and sliding all the way, arriving at school and home muddy and drenched to the bone, and I enjoyed it! My homework was so waterlogged that my dog ate it. OK, maybe that didn't happen, though occasionally some of the rain-related details came close to the truth.)

Another thing we often hear is "Kids today will never know the struggle..." I hope to go through a few things that have changed over the years in the next few blogs (between poems). I feel like "Days of Yore" may be exaggerating a bit, but I was going to call it "Before the Internet" and then realized some of the things I might want to include were when the internet was young.

Photo by Boffy b
CC BY-SA 3.0 license

We got our first computer in the Philippines in 1988. Once we turned it on, we had to know the codes to get around. (It's been so long that I had to look it up just now because I've forgotten a lot.) We didn't have Windows yet, so we had to learn a lot to navigate MS-DOS.

C:\> kljadh
Bad command or file name
C:\> cd games
C:\games>

Once we turned on our computer, we had to navigate to the program we needed. The <dir> command came in handy when we couldn't remember the specific file name that we needed to open. Our IBM computer at home informed us there was a "Bad command or file name" when it wasn't happy with what we told it. Our Apple computers at school preferred the term "Syntax error" instead.

When I was working on a paper for school, I would open WordPerfect and type it up. We didn't have font choices at first, and when they were introduced, a different font was indicated by a different text color on the screen. We had to print the document to see what the fonts looked like. I remember coming back to the US in 1991 and being amazed with the new-fangled computers that actually showed on the screen what the fonts looked like!

When we wanted to print, we used our dot-matrix printers. Sheets of paper were attached to each other with perforations. We strung the papers into the printer with strips of paper on either side of the sheet with holes down the side so it could go into the rollers in the printer. The printer made loud noises as it printed. Once we were done printing, we would tear the last sheet off the ream on the perforated line, and then tear each page apart. We then tore the sides off the page, which also had perforations for that purpose.

When friends came over, they would sometimes bring their large floppy disks (so called because they were, well, floppy) with games on them. We would insert it in the disk drive (the computer above has two such disk drives) to play games. We didn't have them on the computer, just on the floppy disks, so we had to have the disk if we wanted to play the game. I loved to play Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Digger (also called Dig-Dug), Tetris, Pac-Man, Mario Bros, and more. (Side note: Seeing some of this on Stranger Things in more recent years brought back memories.)

As technology moved forward, the floppy disks got smaller and rigid. However, as we learned at BCTI, they were still floppy if you opened the outer case (not advisable if you're planning to continue using them, but a great way to destroy them if you needed to make sure to eliminate sensitive data on them).

When turning the computer off, there were several ways. The "proper" way was to type "quit" in the DOS prompt. (I learned the word "acquit" because I accidentally typed "aquit" and thought it was funny, so I asked my parents what "aquit" meant. But as I was asking them verbally, they didn't hear the way I spelled it, so they told me the definition of "acquit." I was surprised it was actually a word!)

If necessary, you could do "Ctrl-Alt-Delete" to turn the computer off. Now that only opens a screen with choices to lock your computer, open the Task Manager, or other options. In an emergency (such as the Blue Screen of Death or the diabolical cascading error messages, see below), it was sometimes necessary to hold down the power button until the computer turned off.

There were several errors that got annoying. "Bad command or file name" was one. "Syntax error" was another. But with those, you just had to retype the command correctly. You never wanted to see the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), which was when the entire screen turned blue and had text explaining that the computer would be turning off now (but in a lot more words), whether you liked it or not. But as computers continued to advance, nothing struck more panic and the idea of diabolic laughter coming out of the computer (not literally, but nearly) as this, which was the stuff of horror movies and nightmares:

Picture found here

An error message would pop up and start jumping pell-mell around the screen, leaving a long trail going everywhere. It was a bit reminiscent of a leprechaun gleefully jumping all over the room and causing mischief, mayhem and destruction of everything in its path. It moved too fast for me to try to click the button as I chased it around the screen.

In 8th grade, we started learning about a new concept called the information superhighway. At first I pictured a literal paved highway across the US with circuits running through it, where people could exchange information. That turned out not to be the case. It is now called the internet. Our first modems used the phone lines. We could connect to the internet, but we couldn't use phones at the same time. (This was an issue for some customers when I had an IT job helping with tax preparation software a few years later.) As the modems connected to the internet, they made very loud dialing noises and then a loud staticky noise. I'm glad that has gone away since then.

On the whole, I loved computers. But they had some quirks that I am thankful have been worked out over the years.

My grandpa and I had a running good-natured argument about what was better: computers or typewriters. He used his typewriter, and couldn't see the point of computers. I insisted that computers were better. Someone tried giving him a computer once, and it just sat there and collected dust while he used his typewriter. One time our power went out and I called him to ask if I could borrow his typewriter. He laughed for several minutes. Another time he commented he had seen a typewriter exactly like his in a museum. He didn't get an e-mail address until the last couple years of his life, and I helped monitor it. Toward the end, he commented that he wished he had learned more about computers sooner, as he was starting to see the benefits more.

Unknown

When I visited Normandy, France in 1999, we spent a day going to several beaches where the Allied Forces landed on D-Day, June 6, 1944. That day in 1999 we visited Omaha Beach, Pointe du Hoc and Arromanches. Omaha Beach was featured in Saving Private Ryan (which we would watch a few days later). Pointe du Hoc is at the top of cliffs (pictures at the bottom of this post), and Allied Forces were able to scale the cliffs under the cover of fog and defeat the Germans waiting at the top. There are iconic pictures of the artificial port at Arromanches used for getting heavy equipment off the boats, which is still there.

The American Cemetery at Omaha Beach had row upon row of crosses and Stars of David. It was very solemn, beautiful and moving. For me, the most moving crosses read:

HERE RESTS IN HONORED GLORY

A COMRADE IN ARMS

KNOWN BUT TO GOD

I wrote this poem January 18, 2006 after attending a David Harsh concert where he sang a song on the same subject. It made me think back to my visit to Omaha Beach where I saw these crosses.

Photo by Mika167
CC BY-SA 3.0 license

A white cross stands in a cemetery
In a land far away
A lasting monument to an unknown soldier
Known but to God

What happened to this unknown soldier?
God alone saw him pierced by countless bullets
Tossed by bombs and grenades
Shattered by shrapnel exploding all around

A family waited and worried at home
Counting the days until their daddy
Would step off the airplane
And run into their welcoming embrace

Did they get a knock on the door
And learn that he was MIA?
Did they wait happily on the tarmac
For their daddy, who would never step off the plane?

Did they know a cross would mark
The place where his shattered remains lay?
A beloved husband and daddy
Ever in a land far away

A young wife wondered and prayed
What became of the love of her life?
The children worried and cried
Would they ever see their daddy's beaming face?

A wife never again got to kiss her husband's lips
A son never got to wrestle with his dad
And a daughter never got to dance in her daddy's loving gaze
He wasn't there to see his son graduate
Couldn't give his daughter away

His grandchildren never got to sit on the lap
Of the grandpa they never knew
Hearing stories of long ago
When he was their age

A young man kneels before a white marble cross
Moved to tears by the inscription to the unknown soldier.
Who lies beneath this cross in honored glory?
Could it be the bones of the grandfather he never knew?

The answer is known but to God.

Omaha Beach

Omaha Beach

The cliffs of Pointe du Hoc

Craters at Pointe du Hoc created
by massive cannonballs

Pointe du Hoc

Memories of Dad

My dad was an amazing person. It's been more than a year now since we lost him, but it still just isn't the same without him. I often wish I could ask him things or tell him things. I want to share my blog with him, particularly since I've been blogging more regularly lately, but I can't. I can only imagine all the comments he would have posted, as he was great at commenting on blog posts that he read. I'm more thankful than ever for the incredible father I had.

Following are some memories from several people, family and friends, that I read at his memorial service. His brother Norm Sauke passed away from dementia and other health issues October 31, 2021, and my dad passed away December 2 of that year, following a stroke. Losing two brothers (or in my case, my uncle and my dad) so close to each other was a huge blow for our family.

I made this graphic to use at my dad's memorial.

Erv Sauke (his brother, my uncle)

Ron was a gift to everyone. He was a great brother and son to his family. He was a great big brother. As a child, he was always busy doing something and into a lot of things. All my brothers were special to me. Losing Norm and Ron within one year's time was a shock to me and still is. I was glad to know they both gave their hearts and lives to my Jesus and I will be able to see them again in heaven. I will miss Ron a lot. So pray for his family and me when you can. Sorry for not being here, my wife and I are under the weather. Ron, I will always love you.

Erv

Linda Sauke (his wife, my mom)

Ron had a great sense of humor. He was so good with children and was an outstanding teacher! He loved his students, and they loved him! They also thought it was great fun to play tricks on him! One year when he was teaching middle school in the Philippines, the kids started putting salt in his coffee when he wasn't looking. After several days of enduring this, Ron arranged a plan with the school nurse to get even with them!

When all was ready, one day during class a student messenger came to the door with a "note from the nurse," listing several students she needed to see immediately. In response to their confused expressions, he reassured them that it was probably just a simple tracheotomy. (The students on the list, of course, were the main offenders.) They nervously headed to the nurse's office on the other side of campus.

The students were even more alarmed when they arrived and saw that the nurse had prepared a humongous syringe, along with a scalpel and several other pieces of scary medical equipment to use on them! The nurse explained to them the procedures that would take place ... and watched as their horror grew!

When she could see it was enough, she calmly added, "Of course, the other option is that you could stop putting salt in Mr. Sauke's coffee!"

The students ran back to the middle school building, and Ron's class could hear them yelling all across the campus!

But they never put salt in Ron's coffee again!

Steven Sauke (his son, me)

My dad studied Spanish in school and thereafter had a tendency to apply the rules of Spanish to any foreign language that he read. One time he preached an entire sermon on "Prisceeya and Aqueeya."

One of their first priorities upon moving to Hong Kong was to study the language. The first time he gave his testimony in Cantonese, it was at a large gathering of youth. When he told about meeting his wife, everybody burst out laughing! He was very confused. After sitting down, the pastor leaned over to him and said, "That was great, right down the part where you ate your wife!" It turns out that the word for "to meet" is 識 (sic, high tone) but "to eat" is 食 (sic, low tone). He pronounced it correctly, but ended up saying something completely different because he used the wrong tone!

One of my earliest memories is being at church and walking through a sea of legs because I was so small. I found my dad and gave him a big hug around the leg. I looked up fondly and discovered it was not my dad.

As we got older, he made an effort to spend time with us, wrestle and play with us, and encourage our interests, even if we were not the softball team he once dreamed of raising. We watched videos of musicals and other movies as a family. We also attended various theatrical productions of plays, musicals, ballets and more. He put up with us listening (and singing along) to cast recordings of musicals all the time and even got to know some of them because he knew that we liked them. For Tim's 30th birthday he took us to see The Phantom of the Opera. For my 40th birthday he took us to see Come from Away. Some of the best father-son times were watching adventure movies with him, such as Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Master and Commander, Pirates of the Caribbean, and others. Once he joined the church choir, we taught him some basic skills of reading music. He studied it so intensely that it got so he could identify a note on the staff much quicker than I could. There is still a sticky note on his desk that has two staves with treble and bass clefs and the notes labeled for each clef.

My favorite April Fool's joke we played on him involved Lord of the Rings. My mom doesn't like the violence, so she hasn't watched it with us. But she does enjoy old time comedies. One time while my dad was at a meeting, my mom and I were watching I Love Lucy. As soon as we heard the garage door, we jumped up and changed the DVD to Return of the King, and I hastily fast forwarded as far as I could get in the movie. We were in the middle of the climactic battle when he entered the house. My mom was watching intently as if she was enjoying it. My dad was so excited and proud of me and he came and gave me a hug and then he went in the other room to put his stuff away. He was hoping to watch the rest of it with us, but when he got back in the room a couple minutes later, we were watching I Love Lucy again.

One way he encouraged me was to tell me regularly that I missed my calling in life. It was a different calling every time he said it. When we were younger he taught us the basics of massaging as he gave amazing massages. When I would give him a massage he thought I should be a chiropractor. When I would correct his grammar, spelling or punctuation, he thought I should be an English teacher. He was great at giving compliments and making people feel special.

Dave and Oksana Elsinger (missionaries to Ukraine who worked with my dad)

Oksana and I will remember Ron as a friend and co-laborer in the ministry to kids with disabilities in Ukraine. We remember how Ron and Linda were a great help when they served on a ministry trip with us to Lutsk and Kyiv, Ukraine several years ago. Ron was a big help and he and Linda never complained about the less-than-ideal traveling conditions we experienced. We are thankful for Ron's example of a joyful and humble servant of the Lord!

Sharon Limb (missionary to Mongolia who worked with my parents - this was a comment on my tribute to my dad shortly after losing him)

To the Sauke Family, I am saddened to hear of Ron's passing but happy for him to be well and in heaven. He was such a gracious man with a warm and welcoming smile. I was just gazing at your parent's picture on my refrigerator photo wall and thinking that I need to be in contact with Linda. Thank you for the family history and tribute. I will be praying for your family.

If you would like to watch his memorial, we streamed it so people around the world could attend virtually:

A Nightmare and a Legacy

I wrote this poem April 21, 2007 after the cowardly attack on Virginia Tech that senselessly took 32 innocent lives and that of the shooter. Sadly, not much has improved since then. I have been aghast with all the violence in the past few years all over the US. In the name of the victims at Virginia Tech, Columbine, Sandy Hook, Parkland, Las Vegas, Orlando, Uvalde, Michigan State, and so many more, we need to set aside our differences and put an end to this!

As many of the victims at Virginia Tech were in French and German classes, I translated it into French (with valuable proofreading help from the folks at the A la Française Forum, which is no longer online), and I appreciate the excellent translation work into German by Jessica Eberhardt and Beate Peter.

Photos: Virginia Tech

ENGLISH
A Nightmare and a Legacy

A senseless act
A heinous deed
And when the nightmare was over, 32 innocent lives had been snuffed out
32 lives with so much promise
Suddenly cut short in their prime

They studied to make the world a better place
They taught their students the skills they would need to succeed
But in one catastrophic morning
Their studies and lessons came to a horrifying end
And 33 families were left wondering why
While shockwaves reverberated across the campus,
Across the country,
Across the world

They came from all over the world:
From Israel, Indonesia, Peru, Lebanon, Canada, Vietnam, India, Egypt, Puerto Rico, and across the USA
Each had a dream
And each pursued it
So why did so much work, so much living,
Have to come crashing down in such a sudden heartbreaking manner?
What purpose did God have for allowing this to happen?
Could it be that others will pick up the torches?

Whatever the case,
May God be praised
For so many lives well lived
For sparing so many more lives –
Both by a professor's last selfless heroic act
And because so many other victims survived

God can work through even the worst tragedies
May He be glorified for what He will do
May their legacy live on
And may He comfort the families and friends
And heal the wounded
As only He can.

FRENCH

Un cauchemar et un legs

Un acte insensé
Un oeuvre épouvantable
Et lorsque le cauchemar fut terminé, 32 vies innocentes s'en étaient allées
32 vies avec tant de promesse
Fauchées dans la fleur de l'âge

Ils étudièrent pour rendre le monde meilleur
Ils enseignèrent à leurs étudiants les compétences dont ils auraient besoin pour réussir
Mais en une seule matinée catastrophique,
Leurs études et leurs leçons se terminèrent de façon horrifiante
Et 33 familles se demandèrent pourquoi
Tandis que l’onde de choc retentit à travers le campus,
À travers le pays,
À travers le monde

Ils vinrent du monde entier
D'Israël, de l'Indonésie, du Pérou, du Liban, du Canada, du Viêt Nam, d’Inde, d’Égypte, du Puerto Rico, et d'à travers les États-Unis
Chacun eut un rêve
Et chacun le poursuit
Pourquoi donc tant de travail, tant de joie de vivre,
Devaient-ils s'effondrer dans un déchirement si soudain?
Pourquoi Dieu a-t-Il permis que ceci se produise?
Se pourrait-il que des autres se passeront les flambeaux?

En tout cas,
Que Dieu soit loué
Pour tant de vies si bien vécues
Pour avoir épargné tant d'autres vies –
Et à cause du dernier acte désintéressé et héroïque d'un professeur,
Et parce que tant de monde survécut

Dieu peut oeuvrer même à travers les pires des tragédies
Qu'Il soit glorifié pour ce qu'Il fera
Que leur legs survive
Et qu'Il soulage les familles et les amis des morts
Qu'Il guérisse les blessés
Comme Il peut, Lui seul, le faire.

GERMAN
Ein Albtraum und ein Vermächtnis

Eine sinnlose Tat
Eine schandhafte Arbeit
Und als der Albtraum yu Ende war,
waren 32 unschuldige Leben ausgelöscht
32 Leben mit so viel Hoffnung
In ihrer höchsten Vollkommenheit auf einmal abgeschnitten

Sie studierten, um die Welt in einen besseren Ort zu verwandeln
Sie brachten ihren Schülern Wissen bei, um es in der Welt zu schaffen
Aber an einem katastrophalen Morgen
Fanden ihre erlernten Fähigkeiten plötzlich ein schreckliches Ende
Und 33 Familien standen mit der Frage nach dem Warum da
Während die Schockwellen über dem Campus zusammenschlugen
Über dem Land
Um die Welt

Sie kamen aus der gangen Welt
Aus Israel, Indonesien, Peru, dem Libanon, Indien, Ägypten, Puerto Rico und überall aus den Staaten
Jede/r hatte einen Traum
Und jede/r lebte ihn aus
Warum musste so viel Arbeit, so viel Leben in einem Herz zerbrechenden Zusammenstoβ auf uns niederfallen?
Welchen Grund hatte Gott für dieses Geschehen?
Könnte es sein, dass andere die Fackeln aufheben

Was der Grund auch sein mag
Mein Gott soll angebetet werden
Für so viele gut gelebte Leben
Und für die Leben, die nicht zu Ende gingen

Gott kann uns sogar in den schlimmsten Zeiten helfen
Er sei gepriesen für das, was er tun wird
Ihr Vermächtnis lebe
Er tröste die Familien und Freunde
Und er heile die Verwundeten
Nur er kann es tun

Simple Kindness is a Superpower

When US airspace was closed following the horrifying attacks on New York, Washington DC and Pittsburgh, 38 planes were diverted to the small town of Gander, Newfoundland. The people of Gander welcomed over 7000 strangers with open arms, and a few days later, they said farewell to over 7000 family members. They gave them food. They transformed their local skating rink into a massive refrigerator. They took them on hunting trips. They took them into their homes. They cared for their pets (and two rare Bonobo monkeys) that were traveling with them. They drove over 500 miles to help a rabbi get home in time for Rosh Hashanah. They screeched in honorary Newfoundlanders. They cried with new friends who lost family members in the attacks. They filled peoples' prescriptions that were packed away on the planes. They creatively broke through language barriers using Bible verses. The list goes on and on. Their heroic and generous actions toward strangers inspired David Hein and Irene Sankoff to write the musical Come from Away. They also inspired Kevin Tuerff, a passenger traveling from Paris to Dallas, to found Pay It Forward 9/11, a movement that encourages people around the world to do random acts of kindness for strangers. Those acts can be simple or complex. They can be expensive to the giver, or even free of charge. But it's amazing how transformative a simple act of kindness to a stranger can be. These ordinary people became extraordinary when they opened their hearts and homes and did wonderful things. Without even meaning to be, they are real-life superheroes.

Photo by Sergey Peterman
Adobe Stock

Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day. In that spirit, and partly inspired by the good people of Gander and Kevin Tuerff, I have been blogging over the past couple months about times people have shown kindness to myself and family members (and others). I hope this will help inspire people as they consider ways to make this world a better place and show kindness in a world that is becoming increasingly polarized. You may not be able to fly or teleport (though I'm still holding out for the invention of a teleporter), but you can do things that can make all the difference. A simple act can save someone's life.

A few ideas, with links to the post in question:

• The people of Gander, Newfoundland welcomed thousands of stranded travelers and treated them like family. 
• Kevin Tuerff invited me to a private viewing of You Are Here: A Come from Away Story with the people featured in the documentary, who also inspired the musical Come from Away. At that event, Beulah Cooper gave me a big hug. She didn't know me from Adam, but I happened to be standing next to her. 
• A few weeks later, Diane Davis of Gander recognized me at a performance of Come from Away and gave me a big hug.
• My friend Michael Kape generously let me use his frequent flyer miles to travel to New York, and he hosted me in his apartment and showed me the ropes of the New York subway, among other things.
• My amazing friend Barzin Akhavan blew me away with a massive hug. He also has one of the most gentle and loving ways of challenging me to consider ways that I could be kinder to others. That is one of his superpowers.
• My amazing former manager and team helped and supported me through some difficult times, and I was able to support them as well. We were like family. I miss working with them.
• Though we didn't know it at the time, people around the world prayed for my eyesight, and God healed an incurable disease. I can see today because of that miracle!
• The elderly Queen of 44th brightened many people's day with a simple smile and wave, and a friendly greeting.
• The Purple Lady marched to the beat of her own drum and was memorable in her kindness and purpleness. 
• Captain Beverley Bass, the first female Captain in American Airlines' history, gave me a hug, bought me coffee, and took time to talk to me.
• A gentleman who came out to the streets of Anaheim to support his church's women's ministry taught my friend Dan and me a valuable lesson in helping the poor by buying food for a homeless man.
• Another gentleman paid the remainder of my bill when I couldn't afford everything I had been planning to buy at a bookstore.
• My amazing friend Mio used his artistic talent to speak volumes to our family as we dealt with one of the hardest losses we had faced. He also went out of his way to make sure I got to keep a Christmas gift he could tell I wanted. Though he is about half my age now, I admire him more than I can say.
• A generous professor reimbursed my medical expenses when I had issues requiring a doctor in France. In fact, despite their stereotype, most French people I met were very kind and helpful. People say that the French are rude (and I don't doubt there are some), but that was not my experience in France.
• My friend Belinda volunteered to order groceries for me, including tea to help me sleep when I was having trouble falling asleep one night. She has also been inspirational in her advocacy for marginalized communities.
• A classmate at BCTI (Business Computer Training Institute) encouraged me daily by reminding me that "It's a beautiful day!" He reminded me that the beauty of a day has nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with our attitude.
• A Thai cab driver took it upon himself to give us the grand tour of Chiang Mai, and he took us to places that were fascinating, educational, and not necessarily frequented by tourists.
• My friends Kim and Jason Kotecki, along with their amazing team, sent me a shining reminder to remember my dad. They, and their gift, are truly a light in the darkness.
• Their older daughter Lucy made some incredible winter hats at a reasonable price, and she has done more than most people her age to advocate for animals who need help.
• A stranger pulled off the road to change the tire on my mom's car, when she was desperately trying to figure out what to do about a flat tire in the middle of nowhere.
• Our neighbors in the Philippines took me in with a smile to wait out the flood waters. Many of our friends pitched in to save as much as possible, and to help clean up after the flood.
• A pastor in Boise, Idaho performed the marriage ceremony for a couple he had only just met. A new neighbor crossed the street to be a witness at my grandparents' wedding. Prior to their wedding day, my grandparents had never met any of the attendees.
• My inspirational friend Cara Tracy regularly paints rocks, and leaves them for strangers to find and be encouraged. She inspired me to do the same in New York. She also regularly posts pictures of things that happen each day to bring out the joy in her life.

These are just a few of the many ways that friends, family and I have seen people reach out to us. Some of them were very simple: just a smile and showing interest. Others were more challenging, and some of them cost money. Most of them were done by complete strangers, and some by dear friends. They are from different races, heritages and communities. They are black, white, Jewish, Canadian, Iranian, Thai, Filipino, and from other countries and backgrounds around the world. They are from multiple states. They represent multiple religions. At least two of them are gay. They are all superheroes to me. There is beauty everywhere. We need to find the good in people, find what we have in common (which I can guarantee is more than we realize), and celebrate our differences.

My friend Kevin Tuerff recommends doing three kind things for strangers in September in memory of the kindness he was shown in Newfoundland following 9/11. I fully endorse that, and would add that we can make it a regular practice all year. It doesn't even have to be difficult or complicated. I think sometimes we overthink things and then don't actually go through with the acts of kindness because it's too challenging and time consuming. It can be, but doesn't need to be! Just use your talents and superpowers for good, and be yourself.

Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day. Let's go out and be kind to people! You never know how your simple action might be your superpower that brightens someone's day, or even saves their life!

Children of the Almighty God

I wrote this poem May 27, 2010 for a friend with low self-esteem. It's something we all struggle with from time to time, myself included, and it's good to remind ourselves of how valuable and needed we are.

Image by tomertu, Adobe Stock

My brother, you're a prince
My sister, you're a princess
And not just any prince or princess
But children of the highest King above all kings.

You're squires in His service
You're warriors of His mighty Kingdom
Ambassadors to a fallen world
To represent our great Father and to bring in more.
The glorious, almighty God thinks so much of you
That He gave up His glory and His life
To make you His beloved child.

So where did you get this idea
That you are worth so little?
You rank higher than the child of any human monarch!

Once we were worth nothing
Until the King of Kings adopted us
And made us His treasured children.

Compared to the Almighty God,
We are nothing
But in the eyes of the Almighty God,
We are everything.

Finding Joy and Rocks

Kamas, Utah, 2022. I had just arrived at the conference center and happened to look down at the ground to discover this guy smiling up at me:

I picked it up and looked at the back:

That could only mean one thing. My friends Paul and Cara Tracy had arrived at the legendary Escape Adulthood Summit, put on by my friends Kim and Jason Kotecki and their amazing family and team. Over the past couple years, Cara has perfected the art of rock painting, and leaving them in their part of Arizona for people to find and adopt. Now she had brought some of her joyful shenanigans to Utah. Further examination of the grounds revealed more faces smiling up at me, such as this guy:

How can you not smile when the rocks are smiling at you like that? I ask you!

I kept the orange one and let others claim the rest. Kim and Jason's younger daughter Ro had also left rocks of her own around, so I got one of those too. They now hold places of honor at my desk. I brought googly eyes that I left everywhere for people to find. Shenanigans shenanigated.

I found Paul and Cara, and after hugs all around, we talked excitedly. Their child-like joy is contagious. Cara (rhymes with Sarah) is a yoga instructor and speaker liaison in Arizona. Paul is Director of Operations at JusticeTrax, a software company specializing in forensics and law enforcement. He is also an accomplished Lego architect.

Left to right:
Kim Kotecki, Cara and Paul Tracy

As Cara has perfected her art and left rocks for Arizonans to find, she has posted pictures of many of them. These are just a few of the many:

Rocks and photos by Cara Tracy
Used with permission

Inspired by Cara's art, in addition to my friend Kevin Tuerff and the amazing people of Gander, Newfoundland, I painted rocks of my own last summer (some of them obtained in Montana in May) in preparation for a subsequent trip to New York. I was in Utah at the beginning of August, and the following month I was in New York. 2022 was an eventful year! I went with a Broadway theme. I trust they found good homes!

Rocks and photos by Steven Sauke
Left at the WTC, Battery Park, Lincoln Center,
Central Park, Times Square, and elsewhere in Manhattan
(I also left one, not pictured, on Staten Island)

In addition to her amazing rocks, Cara also posts daily pictures of things that make her happy. It could be her rocks, an amazing cactus, a picture of Paul, a heart she found in nature, her yoga practice, and a multitude of other things. You can follow her on Instagram at @azjoyfinder. Her joy is contagious, and she continues to inspire me.

Valentine Vows

March 1941. Ken was a young man in love. He had to been getting to know Marian for some time, and he knew she was the one. He asked and she said yes! He was able to buy a ring shortly thereafter in a fire sale at a local jewelry store. Plans for the happy event began. Unfortunately, as someone once said (and even sang), "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." 

April 1941. Plans for the wedding went on hold, as the draft caused upheaval and found him suddenly sent by train to Louisiana for boot camp. It was a lonely time, as the people he met were nothing like the people he had known back home in North Dakota. He clung to his faith and exchanged letters with Marian and family back home. In July of that year, he got word that his brother Melvin and Marian's sister Pearl were planning a wedding. Loneliness intensified. (Melvin would also go on to fight in the war.)

December 7, 1941 was, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt put it, "a date which will live in infamy." Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor, killing thousands, sinking ships, and throwing the US into the War. Ken's upcoming furlough was put on hold as they were taken by train through Texas to San Francisco, on to Pendleton, Oregon, and then to Boise, Idaho. It was during this time that he got a phone call from his beloved Marian. She had the chance to take the train to Boise! He was able to arrange with his superior officers to get leave to find her in town and help her find a hotel when she arrived in early February 1942. The happy couple spent time together when he was permitted to do so by his very accommodating superiors. Ken and Marian bought a wedding ring on Thursday, and got their marriage license at the courthouse on Friday. They had passed a Baptist church advertising a Wednesday prayer meeting, and the pastor's name and phone number were on the sign board out front. Ken and Marian crowded into a telephone booth and called the pastor. When they asked him if he could perform the ceremony, the pastor asked...

"When?"
"Now."
"Do you have a marriage license?"
"Yes, we do."
"Do you have witnesses?"

They hadn't thought about that. The pastor invited them to his house to discuss. They would need at least two witnesses. The pastor's wife would be able to be one, and as they were brainstorming who could be the second witness, the pastor's wife commented that new neighbors had just moved in across the street, and she could go meet them and find out if they would be willing to do them a favor. The only people at the ceremony who knew each other were the pastor and his wife, and Ken and Marian. The neighbor who came over met everyone there for the first time. 

It was Saturday, February 14, 1942. Valentine's Day.

That act of kindness to strangers began a long and happy marriage, though it would be a while before they would be able to spend much time together. They stayed together as long as they could until Ken's unit was sent back to California to catch the ship across the Pacific. Marian took the train back home, and Ken would go on to serve in New Caledonia, a small island off the eastern Australian coast. He would later be transferred to Europe, where he was part of the victory parade through Paris on V-E Day.

Sometime after his return to North Dakota, they had their first child. Four more children followed. Between 1973 and 1993, they welcomed seven grandchildren (the fourth being me). 1999 started a new era, as he dedicated his first great-grandson. Seven more great-grandchildren have followed in the years since.

Find someone who looks at you the way my
grandparents looked at each other in 1985.

They were happily married for 47 years.

The morning of November 7, 1989, Philippine time, my parents came in my room. Usually it was just my mom who came to wake me up, but I knew something was up when my dad was with her. They told me they had gotten a call the previous evening that Grandma and Grandpa had been together praying. When Grandpa was done, he waited for Grandma to take her turn, and she was silent. He looked up to discover she was too busy rejoicing at the feet of Jesus.

The afternoon of May 9, 2015, our family was gathered around his bed. He was moaning in pain. We each said our good byes. I asked him to give Grandma a big hug for me. My cousin Annika told him that she loved him, and he replied, "I love you." It was the last intelligible thing he said. My mom's cousin Nola arrived and he opened his eyes and acknowledged her. My mom was holding his hand and it went limp. Annika, a nurse, felt for a pulse and found none. My mom said, "He's singing with the angels." He was four months short of 100 years old.

I don't know how my grandparents' reunion went, but I imagine them running into each other's arms on the golden streets and dancing for joy, along with their son Robert, who was killed in a traffic accident in 1979. They weren't much for dancing in this life, but I picture them dancing arm in arm in heaven.

Perhaps they were joined in the reunion by a man whose name I don't even know, but whose kindness in performing a wedding ceremony at his house in Boise, Idaho for two strangers changed the course of their lives and paved the way for a long and happy relationship. A pastor who heeded the sage advice by the author of Hebrews (13:2), "Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!"