Life After Death?

There is a memorable quote about death by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, the Swiss American psychiatrist and author of “On Death and Dying”:

“I've told my children that when I die, to release balloons in the sky to celebrate that I graduated. For me, death is a graduation.”

This positive view of death reminds me of a fascinating concept by Plato, one of my favorite philosophers. Of course he couldn’t have been a Christian, for he lived from the 400s to the 300s BC, but for him this world was only a kind of prison of the soul, and we  existed in the “true world” only before birth and after death.

As he put it in his famous allegory, “It is birth which is the sleeping and the forgetting since the soul, in being born into the body goes from a state of great awareness to a much less conscious one and in the meantime forgets the truths it knew while in its previous out-of-body state.”

And only in death would we be able to return to that earlier state.

I remember how I enjoyed learning about Plato’s explanation for all of this through his fascinating allegory of life here on earth.

Though we do not realize it, he said, during our whole lives we are imprisoned in a cave and can only face the back wall. We therefore can see only shadows of the true world of eternity. Because we can never look behind us into the true world beyond, we mistakenly think that the shadows we can see are the only reality.

In this allegory, Plato makes one of the “prisoners” move out of the cave into the true blinding light. He is not allowed to remain there for long, however, because he is told he must go back to “rescue” his fellow human beings. He goes back and tries to help people realize that there is another, more wonderful world. Instead of believing him, however, those still in the cave are resistant and even attack him.

The Bible also has several hints that we exist before birth. In Psalm 139, for example, it says,

My frame was not hidden from you

  when I was made in the secret place.

When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.

All the days ordained for me

  were written in your book

  before one of them came to be.

My own response to all of this is simply that I don’t know what came before my life or what will happen after it. I am simply thankful to have been born and to be enjoying this life to the fullest. I can hope that after I die I will have what Elisabeth calls “a graduation.” I can hope, like Plato, that I will move beyond the shadows to “the true world of eternity.” And of course I can also hope to move on to what Jesus calls “eternal life” where I will be in a totally happy world, reunited with all of those I have loved in this world.

But finally, as a Unitarian, I are simply thankful to be alive. I therefore feel strongly that I should concentrate not upon going to heaven but rather upon trying to improve life here on earth.

[A note by the blogger: You may have notieced that I've changed the title of the blog. I'm embarrassed to admit that I confused 'inter alia' with 'et cetera' and can plead only that I never benefited from schooling in Latin. - Andrew]

Tea with Thich Nhat Hanh

I know, I know, I've already written two columns on my favorite drink. But this one is much more in depth, for it is about the world-famous Zen Buddhist teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh from Vietnam, with whom I actually have something in common. And that’s tea drinking.

He even makes drinking a cup of tea sacred. “When you hold your cup, you may like to breathe in, to bring your mind back to your body, and you become fully present. And when you are truly there, something else is also there—life, represented by the cup of tea. In that moment you are real, and the cup of tea is real. You are not lost in the past, in the future, in your projects, in your worries. You are free from all of these afflictions. And in that state of being free, you enjoy your tea. That is the moment of happiness, and of peace.”

Elsewhere he says, “Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.” Sometimes Nhat Hanh, together with his students and colleagues, have what he calls “a tea meditation.” They sit for
maybe an hour together, enjoying their tea  “cultivating joy, brotherhood, sisterhood, dwelling in the here and now.” Elsewhere he comments, ”I am real, and the tea is real. . . . There is a real encounter between me and the tea, and peace, happiness and joy are possible during the time I drink.”

This concept of living every day  in the present seems to be essential for Nhat Hanh’s happiness. As he puts it, “Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.”

Nhat Hanh first joined a monastery in Vietnam when he was 16 and has lived in monasteries most of the years ever since. In the early 60s, he spent time in the West, studying at Princeton and teaching at Columbia University.

Sad to say he was exiled from his own country after leaving on a peace mission in 1966, but rather than complaining and becoming depressed, he moved to France where he founded Plum Village, a Buddhist meditation practice center and monastery.

He is now 87, still living at Plum Village, and over the years he has certainly done a lot more than sitting and drinking tea. He has developed what he called “Engaged Buddhism,” to encourage people to practice “peaceful activism.” Part of this most important peaceful
work was in Vietnam, where he helped with rebuilding bombed villages, setting up schools and medical centers and rescuing families in need. In addition, he has spoken to audiences all over the world and has written over 100 books on various subjects of faith and peace.

He was even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King Jr.back in 1967. As King said of him, “His ideas for peace, if applied,  would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.” Vegetarianism is also central to Nhat Hanh. He eats no eggs or cheese and drinks no milk because, as he puts it, “mindful eating can help save our planet.”

I’m just glad, for his sake--and for mine, too--that drinking tea isn't harming our planet, for he and I both value tea drinking highly and feel that it brings both joy and peace into our lives.

Mindfulness

It is my opinion that all of us, no matter what our faith might be, could benefit from a central teaching of Buddhism called "mindfulness."

Dr. Stephen T. Asma, a professor of philosophy and humanities at Columbia College in Chicago, has written a most interesting book about mindfulness and other Oriental teachings called "Why I Am a Buddhist.”

Asma explains that it is our nature to try to hold on to what he calls our "ego craving tendencies” and also our inborn inclination to live either in the past or in the future.

In response to this second human tendency, he quotes the Buddha himself who said that people who are truly mindful, "do not repent the past, nor do they brood over the future. They live in the present. Therefore they are radiant. By brooding over the future and repenting the past, fools dry up like green reeds cut down in the sun.”

We must, according to the Buddha, get a reality check about our transient joys. We should, of course enjoy the pleasures in life, but we should not “obsessively chase after them in a state of denial about their fleeing nature." We would, of course, like our bodies to last forever, remaining youthful and beautiful, but that is simply hoping for the impossible.

Mindfulness teaches us what is impermanent and what is eternal, and we need to strive to know the difference. According to the Buddha, our "Atman," or our “essential self” is eternal.

Christianity also, of course, teaches us the permanence of our souls, though there is a distinct difference, for whereas some other faiths believe in reincarnation back into this world, most of us here in the west do not accept this concept.

Another important difference between Christianity and Buddhism is that whereas Christianity emphasizes our need to submit ourselves to God and to His son, Jesus, Buddhism emphasizes discipline. According to the Buddha, we need to use our own psyche to untangle the messes in our lives and to raise ourselves above transient desires, rather than praying to a god to take care of us.

The Buddha's concept of mindfulness is also practical, and is similar to concepts in psychology in this country to help people with mental and physical conditions, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, depression and drug addiction.

Dr. Jack Kornfield, who has a doctorate in psychology, is another American Buddhist scholar who has tried to make those eastern concepts accessible for us in the west.

In his book "After the Ecstasy, the Laundry" he writes that amid all the Western masters and teachers, there are “times of great wisdom, deep compassion, and a real knowing of freedom [which] alternate with periods of fear, confusion, neurosis, and struggle.”

In the end, he says, “Just three things matter: ‘How well we have loved, how well we have lived, and how well we have learned to let go.’”

He also says, we must surrender our illusions of control. “We can love and care for others, but we cannot possess our children, lovers, family or friends. We can assist them, pray for them and wish they well, yet in the end, their happiness and suffering depend on their thoughts and actions, not on our wishes."

Your columnist has not converted to Buddhism, but these powerful concepts about mindfulness have had a positive effect upon her life, and she hopes they will have a similar influence upon yours.

My Memory For Music

“One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them, to have the right ones form themselves into the proper patterns at the right moment.”

--- Hart Crane, poet

Ever since I had open heart surgery in April of 2013, my memory for the right words has gone downhill. I still have a real passion for writing these columns, however, and, though it takes me longer to write them, I feel that the task is certainly helpful for me. I am therefore extremely grateful to the Enquirer for letting me keep writing them.

Through this whole experience I've certainly learned that memory is a complex, strange part of the brain. According to doctors and professors, people involved in music can better remember things in general. When children’s memories are tested, for example, the musically trained children remember words better than those without musical experience.

 

In my case, I've been playing music all of my life, so maybe it is helping my memory from being even worse. Whether that’s true or not, it’s interesting that though words can give me trouble these days, melodies and harmonies still work just fine. I can remember hundreds of tunes and am still able to play them by ear on violin and piano. Apparently musical memory is in a different, and in my case unaffected, part of the brain.

Even though musical people may be able to remember things better than non-musical folks, music can be positive for everyone. For example, even if people can’t remember a scene from a movie, if they hear the background music, they can often then recall that particular scene. In addition, advertisements that use musical jingles are better remembered by everyone than ones that are simply spoken or written.

I have actual proof of the power of music for I regularly play my violin at various residences for old folks, and I’m always impressed by how much those people love and remember music. There is a jewel named Margaret, at The Oaks, for example, who, though she is 99½, not only remembers the melodies and the words to hundreds of old songs, but even sings along with a smile. Even in extreme cases of Alzheimer’s, when people can no longer even talk, they can still sometimes hum melodies and even sing some of the words of old favorite songs.

I can’t tell you how excited I was when I could finally pick up my violin again, two months after my open heart surgery last April. It was almost as exciting as seeing an old friend after hearing that he or she had died.

Another really positive experience happened when I wrote an email to Charles Carlson, my editor at the paper, saying I especially enjoyed his column about the new year and how nobody can even guess what all will happen during 2014. I told him that I agreed about the uncertainty of the future but hoped that even though my memory was not what it used to be, he would still take and print my columns each week.

He responded immediately, saying, “Your spot in the paper is reserved forever.” Of course we both know that cannot really be true, but nonetheless, he surely warmed my heart with that comment.

The Minimum Wage - Miller Jozwiak

This is NOT a column by Linda: I did explain in my first post, that I might post other things occasionally. This was a letter published in the Appleton, WI Post-Crescent Media, Jan 8, 2014. The author is my grandson.
Andrew Leat

It’s debated by politicians, dreaded by businesses and needed by impoverished citizens. It’s the minimum wage. With movement being made on the federal budget, and steps by both parties moving away from severe polarization of government, the minimum-wage issue is being pushed into the political limelight.

Setting a proper minimum wage that will both benefit laborers and firms is a fundamental problem in economics because it’s hard to find an equilibrium that will allow low-wage earners to live out of poverty yet won’t force employers to cut back on hours and workers.

If the minimum wage was adjusted for inflation, according to The Economist, it would be around $21 an hour. However, this figure doesn’t take into account that the price of basic necessities such as food has been substantially reduced by improvements in agriculture and technology since the first minimum wage was put in place. The figure of a $15 minimum wage is often tossed around, which is reasonable when all costs of living are accounted for.

Adversely, firms believe that more than doubling the minimum wage to $15 will cause widespread cuts in workers, in turn raising unemployment.

In some aspects, this is an accurate assumption. Small businesses with few workers may not be able to handle so a dramatic shock to their payroll. However, with the top 1 percent of America earning around 19 percent of the nation’s income, it’s feasible to believe larger corporations would be able to handle a higher minimum wage.

Both low income earners and firms present valid arguments to raise or, conversely, keep the minimum wage, which is why the issue often results in a stalemate. With the Federal Reserve tapering bond-buying and unemployment declining, the true question is not if America should raise its minimum wage, the question is how.

The problem with current wage law is it blankets all 50 states, creating a minimum wage that may be too high for some firms and too low for some workers. A smarter law would include factors on how the minimum wage is set according to business size, age of employee and average cost of living from state to state.

Bigger businesses able to handle a higher minimum wage would be inclined to pay that higher wage, without forcing smaller businesses to cut profits drastically or even go under.

The age of employee should be a heavier factor in deciding on a minimum wage. Generally, minors working low-paying jobs aren’t doing so on a need basis. Their incomes are, for the most part, expendable, and thus not a total necessity. Older workers could be compensated with a higher wage that would cover their costs of living.

Though some may argue this age rule may give employers incentive to strictly hire lower-age citizens, current child labor laws would prevent this from happening. The benchmark would be set at age 18. Then, the older workers’ wages would vary on factors such as number of dependent children. Any prejudice against workers with children could be easily spotted if a firm has a low number of employees with children. Providing incentive for firms to hire more workers with dependents may come from a tax credit for firms that hire such workers.

Lastly, costs of living vary so drastically, from the highest of the highs in California and New York to the lowest of the lows in North Dakota and Wyoming. Accordingly, a better minimum-wage law would adjust to such variations in the local consumer price indexes.

All these factors could be drawn up in a form that would be filled out upon hiring, similar to a W-4 or I-9.

The faulty minimum-wage system is a problem and, if not properly and carefully handled, it could become much worse.

President Ronald Reagan once said, “Status quo, you know, is Latin for ‘The mess we’re in.’”

Minimum wage is truly a mess because there seems to be no right answer. But implementing a different law, rather than a higher or lower wage, may be the first step toward greater economic prosperity.

— Miller Jozwiak is an Appleton resident and an Appleton North High School senior. He can be reached at pcletters@postcrescent.com

Little Tommy Tucker

I was only two and one half when my brother Thomas was born, so I don’t remember him coming home from the hospital. But I’m told that when he would sit in his high chair and scream for his food, I called him “Little Tommy Tucker” (the little guy who sang for his supper). And for seventy-odd years, our family has been calling him “Tuck.”

Like both of his sisters, Tuck was never bashful. After our sister Marjorie was born three years later, we were baptized at our grandmother’s church in Chicago near the Christmas season. During the baptism itself, Tuck asked the minister two questions: “What kind of car do you have?” And, “Do you have your Christmas tree up yet?”

Our father, Rudy, was an artist and did the decorating every year for the Golden Roosters’ Christmas party which was put on at the Palmer House for the jewelers of Chicago. He would take us along and have us help with the simpler tasks. Some of the time we would run the halls of the hotel, however, and one year we actually met the governor of Illinois, Adlai Stevenson. Tuck, a license plate collector by that time, had the nerve to ask the governor if he would be willing to send his old license plate to our address at the end of the year. (Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, it never arrived.)

I've been thinking a lot about Tuck recently, for I just finished reading “The Birth Order Book: Why You Are the Way You Are,” by Dr. Kevin Leman. I’m a pretty typical first-born, in that I was the most serious about education -- and, OK, I’ll admit it: I could be a bit bossy with my little siblings.

Margie, on the other hand, was typical of a youngest child and had a lot more fun than I did.

Middle children are the hardest to categorize, Dr. Leman says.  Because they can feel somewhat neglected, they often seek attention and friendship outside the family. When he was just 18 and a freshman in college, Tuck joined the Marine Corps, going to an extremely difficult summer camp with the understanding that he would finish college and then join. By his junior year, however, he transferred into the army as a helicopter pilot, served his country for two years in Vietnam and went on to have a full, successful career in the service.

Also, as a middle child, Tuck perpetually tried to be sillier than his sisters, making up nicknames. He called me “Big Liz Llama” and “Jessica Pimpleton of the Pimpleton Estates” called Margie “Nurse Connie Zuba to the Rescue,” and called an old friend “Algonquin Silvernail.”

Tuck is nevertheless more conservative than his sisters. He’s a serious Southern Methodist, whereas Margie is a liberal Jew and I’m an equally liberal Unitarian. And whereas we are democrats, Tuck is a republican.

Most of all, however, Tuck is a real gem. He is a wonderful repairman at home and is always helping neighbors and folks from his church. He and his lovely wife Peggy Jane have two extremely successful, mature children and nine delightful grandchildren. Their daughter Amy and her husband have been Presbyterian missionaries in Japan for 23 years, and their son, Bennett, has just retired as a major in the Air Force.

Tuck loves nothing more than spending time with his grandchildren, teaching them facts, especially about geography, and playing all sorts of games with them.

Little Tommy Tucker is a model human being, and I feel honored to be his big -- I hope not too bossy -- sister.

Generous Gander

It’s been over 12 years now since the dreadful, tragic day when four planes attacked and destroyed the World Trade Center buildings as well as doing significant damage to the Pentagon and crashing in rural Pennsylvania.

I’m writing about this terrible incident not because I fear that my readers have forgotten it, but rather to introduce a book which covers the amazing story of the 6,132 people from approximately 40 countries who, because all American airports were closed, were taken to Gander, Newfoundland.

“The Day the World Came to Town” was written by Jim DeFede, an award-winning journalist who shows that the town where all of those travelers were stranded is a remarkable place which should be remembered for its generosity.

Though Gander had a population of only about 10,000 people, they somehow found beds in schools, churches, fraternities, and hotels as well as buildings owned by the Lion’s Club, the Knights of Columbus, the Royal Canadian Legion, the Salvation Army and in nearby villages for all of those travelers to sleep. In addition, they provided food and entertainment and, most of all, genuine friendship which, in many cases, has lasted for more than a decade.

Two ladies from one of the planes even insisted upon sleeping in a tent, in order to give others proper beds. And, after people finally were able to go home, those same ladies stayed to help the people of Gander recover from this huge upset to their lives.

The Canadian Tire store there in town received a phone call from their national bosses saying that everything that was in the store could be given away free. In addition, if there were things needed from other stores in town and those stores’ donation limits had been met, the store could pay for those items as well. As it turned out, they spent approximately $20,000 in giving out their own merchandise and about $10,000 by helping other stores give what was needed.

The owner of the store did have one rule for the toys they gave out, however: “Nothing violent: no war toys, no guns” for she felt that there had already been far too much violence.

There were nine dogs, 10 cats and two monkeys on the planes, and they too were well cared for by folks in town.

When, after some days, the travelers were finally able to leave, some of them actually wished they could have stayed longer. They had had great meals, they had played golf free with borrowed clubs, and in some cases families even let them use their cars to drive around the area while they waited to leave.

After they got home, many Americans were extremely generous, in turn. They purchased 35 computers for school children, gave grants to various churches which had been so helpful, donated $15,000 for people in need, gave money for the Canadian Red Cross and the Salvation Army and provided gifts for the various towns around Gander which had also helped. One unnamed person paid for a new roof on a church, and a doctor from North Carolina gave $15,000 for college scholarships.  

I certainly recommend DeFede’s book, for it will deeply impress you not only with the generosity of the folks of Gander, but also with the hard work the author put into this project. He spent a month in Gander, interviewed about 180 people and truly makes his readers feel amazed with human generosity at its best.

Atheism and Other Beliefs

Although Andrew, my long-time sweetheart, and Frances, my closest
friend of half a century, are both proclaimed atheists, they are also
two of the most loving, generous, thoughtful people I know. Both are
deeply concerned about the large issues of our world today; both are
generous with charities; both passionately want peace and justice for
us all.

I admire them both tremendously. We're all three of us liberals
who accept evolution; we don’t believe in Heaven; we feel that all of the
world’s religions in their purist state can teach us some truths. Yet
we are aghast when we see what these same religions have justified and
even promoted in terms of hatred and violence throughout history.
But I simply cannot be an atheist.

Although Plato’s famous “cave allegory” is over 2,000 years old, I
feel that it still has some validity in describing the human condition. As
Plato explained, we are chained to a seat in a cave which allows us to
see only the shadows of the real truth which is behind us. We come to
believe that the shadows are the truth because we cannot turn around
and see what reality is being projected onto the wall in front of us.

Now some interpret this image as religious or philosophical blindness.
If we accept Jesus Christ, if we become sufficiently philosophical to
become unchained, then we will see what is real. But then if we study
the teachings of these people, we realize that there can be many kinds
of “reality” behind us, and who is to say which is true?

The existentialist would say that life is ultimately subjective, and
therefore we cannot ever see or learn of a universal truth. We must
simply work out the truth as we can best perceive it and then try to
live by it in order to make our lives worthwhile.

Then there was Einstein, who declared that there is a God, but he is
not personally involved in our lives. James Joyce apparently felt
similarly, saying of God, he is like the artist who “remains within or
behind or beyond or above his handiwork, invisible, refined out of
existence, indifferent, paring his fingernails.”

Finally, I accept and believe that the beauty of the earth and the
power of human love have to have been created by a force much greater
than ourselves. This “force” has to exist in order to have brought
about all of life, from one-celled animals to us complicated,
sometimes-contentious human beings.

I certainly do not pray to this deity to make certain teams win
football games or even certain candidates win elections. But I can—and
do—thank this deity for life itself, for the wonders of this world,
this universe, and also for my believer friends and my atheist
friends. I don’t pray for the latter to be “converted”; I rather
express my gratitude for all of the people in my life who provide me
with such deep and real emotions, goals, and examples.

A note by me the blogger.
Some may point out that not only religious zealots, but atheists too, like Stalin and Hitler, have done horrible things. I might reply that they weren't true atheists, but then are the Taliban (for instance) true Muslims? The truth, as I see it, is that all human beings, whatever their professed religion or lack of it, seem to have the capacity for unfeeling cruelty, often in the name of religion or racial purity or some other concept. The Biblical Jesus exhorted us to love our neighbor as our self, and whether or not we love God, this is the best precept, to my mind. This is the essence of humanism in a broad sense, which can be the aspiration of not only atheists but people of all religious persuasions. 
- Andrew Leat

I'm Funny About My Friends

I’m a people person, through and through, and I plan to remain that way.
Despite my admiration for Buddhists, I’ve decided that I could never become one.
Henepola Gunaratana, a man from Sri Lanka who has spent over 50 years
as a Buddhist monk and teacher of Buddhism, wrote, “We learn to view
our own reactions to stimuli with calm and clarity,” which brings
about “the bliss of emancipation from obsessions.”

Now “calm and clarity” sound like good qualities, and “the bliss of
emancipation from obsessions” sounds downright irresistible, but these
goals are simply not strong aspects of my rather emotional
personality.

I’d never make a good Catholic nun, either, I’m afraid, or Muslim, for
Islam has a comparable teaching, called “Zuhd,” or absence of
attachment to this world.

No, my world is full of attachments, as my family and friends will
testify. I am still in touch with friends from early childhood, grade
school, high school, college, graduate school and all of the years to
follow. I send out about 240 Christmas letters each year, and
intentionally send them early so that my family and friends still have
time to write back before the Christmas rush.

But then my mother was also a people person who stayed in
correspondence with friends from her whole lifetime. I often think
about how she would have loved the convenience of emailing for all of
the same reasons that I do.

Another strong reason that I’d not be a good traditional Buddhist or
Christian or Muslim is my doubts about--or at least lack of emphasis
upon--a “next world” or reincarnation. I grew up a liberal
Congregationalist, but for the past decade I’ve been a member of the
Unitarian Universalist Church--and feel right at home there.
We Unitarians concentrate strongly on this world, seeking “Justice,
equity and compassion in human relations.” There’s no doctrine either
advocating or denying the existence of an afterlife, but in truth, the
subject is rarely mentioned in sermons or hymns. Rather, we emphasize
“The inherent worth and dignity of every person” and “Acceptance of
one another and encouragement to spiritual growth.”

Rather than yielding to the temptation of being preachy about my
emphasis on people and on this world, however, I’ll simply close with
a favorite poem I wrote many years ago.

I'M FUNNY ABOUT MY FRIENDS
I'm funny about my friends.
Even if you move to Burma and start a shrimp farm
One hundred and seventy-two miles from the nearest village,
Address unknown,
And you don't write to me for thirty-five years,
Someday a Burmese mail carrier on bicycle will find you,
And, bowing slightly, he will hand you a bundle of letters and poems from me.
I know, I know,
You may throw my letters and poems, unread, into your bait bucket,
And you may not think of me once for another thirty-five years,
But just the thought of you
Smiling as you pull bamboo cages from the ocean foam
In the glow of an Asian sunset
Will warm my caring heart.
But then, I'm funny about my friends.

Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven

We Michigan folks should be especially proud of Thomas Edison, for he lived in Port Huron for most of his childhood. His parents were buried there, and there is a most impressive monument for him on the St. Clair River as well as a beautiful, large fountain in Detroit and an institute named after him in Dearborn.

I was reminded of him when I read Fannie Flagg’s enjoyable book, “Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven.” Her heroine, Elner Shimfissle, admired Edison tremendously, hanging a magazine picture of him on her kitchen wall and personally celebrating his birthday, February 11, 1847, by turning on all of her electrical appliances at once and leaving them on all day long.

One of her life-long regrets was that she never got to meet Thomas Edison. ”I just hate to think we were on the earth at the same time and I never got to shake his hand and thank him,” she said. “Just think, without old Tom Edison, we would all still be sitting in the dark, no lights, no radio, no electric garage door openers. I think, after the Lord, of course, I’d rank the Wizard of Menlo Park number two.”

It’s interesting that when Edison left Michigan and moved to Menlo Park, New Jersey, in 1876, he was young and still unknown. During his first six years there, however, he patented approximately 400 inventions, including the phonograph, devices for electric light and power and  the motion picture camera or "Kinetograph.”

He was an outgoing fellow who was extremely proud of his invention of electric lights, saying, "We will make electricity so cheap that only the rich will burn candles."

True enough, as Fannie Flagg points out in her novel, we don’t have a national holiday for Edison, but he has certainly been memorialized in this country. Towns, colleges, high schools, lakes, bridges, hotels, museums and an asteroid in space have been named after him, and there are even two Navy ships carrying his name.

Though “Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven” is mostly quite believable, Elner, unlike any other human being we’ve ever heard of, actually dies and goes to heaven for a short time. While she is there, she even gets to meet her hero, Thomas Edison. He not only appears but he interrupts the God figure, saying to Elner, “Just wanted to say a quick hello, and thank you for all your good wishes and support over the years.”

Not a shy lady, Elner responds immediately by complimenting him, saying, “Just imagine how much company you have given to all the shut-ins and so forth, people don’t have to be all alone anymore.“

After her time in Heaven, she comes back to earth for a last visit. Then Elner dies again, this time permanently, near the end of the book. Going back up to heaven, she is thrilled to meet up with not only her deceased husband and relatives but also with Thomas Edison, who is again delighted to see her.

Flagg is most famous for “Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe,” for which she won an Academy Award and a Writers Guild of America Award, but “Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven” is a delightful book, as well. Elner is a delightful, unselfish, loving character, a fine model for us all. I was especially pleased to be reminded of one of our finest Michigan heroes, Thomas Edison.