Children these days have a hard time believing that their parents did not have cell phones when they were their age, or at least when they were teenagers. Some of those parents, back in the day, found it hard to believe that their parents didn’t have phones in their homes until they were teenagers. And those parents who grew up without a phone in their home heard stories from their parents about how they communicated.
The ability to communicate has always been a constant need of mankind, Wendell Arnold writes in his autobiography, telling about what a difference having a phone made when he was in an isolated situation. He continues with how his grandpa told them about talking with smoke signals, and he writes, We told him that was just a tale but he proceeded to show how it was done. It was fascinating to see him putting up different rings of smoke. It was a fastidious art. The problem as I saw it was someone had to be on the other end of the communication. Someone had to read those signals.
Reading this, I wondered what the different rings and things would mean. What would be the need for someone to communication like this? A plea for help perhaps, what else would someone have to say to whoever might see it? And in Oklahoma in the 1920’s, sending up smoke signals to give your location might not be such a wise idea. Depends who you are I guess, but being an Indian wasn’t the popular thing to be back then. So how about you? What would your smoke signals say?
Wendell continues writing, Communication is so important. When we asked Grandpa if God read his smoke signals, he looked at us with red devil eyes. I never could connect the dots with that look. As life’s little pieces were put together I figured that communication with his god through prayer was not part of his repertoire. Perhaps that was where Dad got his agnostic view of religion. You are what you are, Grandpa would say. I wondered later what makes a man desert his family of nine kids and take up with a woman half his age to go gallivanting around the country.
He then tells of a story his aunt related about running into Grandpa’s mistress while she was out shopping one day. You can read about this humorous encounter in his autobiography, FROM THE COTTON PATCH TO Ph.D., GOD’S MANAGEMENT OF MAN THROUGH THE EYES OF A SCIENTIST, available at xulonpress.com/bookstore, amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, and on the kindle, nook and google e-book. Telephone orders may be placed by calling (866) 909-BOOK (2665). But the only place you can order a signed copy is wendellarnold.com, where you can pay using your credit card, PayPal or mail us a check.
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