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Show Thursday, November 27, 2008 SPRINGVILLE HERALD 15 x. Book Look 7 r sis- "Sillts" good read v -mi IS---'-'' f"' 3 As part of their daily curriculum. Sage Creek Elementary students focus on learning new words and their meanings. This year the Springville Rotory Club helped them in their efforts to increase their vocabulary by providing each third and fourth grade student at Sage Creek, and all other Springville elementary schools, with there very own dictionary. This philanthropic project is just one of many provided by the Rotory Club and Sage Creek Elementary would like to express sincere thanks for all that they do....but especially for the dictionaries! mi inamisgiviM i The Challenge Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson Throughout recorded history, most human beings be-ings have been poor. Poverty Pov-erty has been the norm and affluence the exception. excep-tion. Given a choice, most of us would rather be affluent af-fluent than poor, but in this year of jarring financial finan-cial losses, many of us are realizing that affluence can be fleeting "... riches certainly make themselves them-selves wings." (Proverbs 23:5). Affluence presents its own challenges, beyond be-yond simply the challenge of how to retain it. Affluence can be the beginning of the end of a great civilization. Consider Con-sider this famous outline, attributed to Alexander Tytler (1748-1813) of the sequential stages of a civilization: civ-ilization: From Bondage to Spiritual Spiri-tual Faith, From Spiritual Faith to Great Courage, From Courage to Liberty, Lib-erty, From Liberty to Abundance, Abun-dance, From Abundance to Selfishness, From Selfishness -to Complacency, - From Complacency to Apathy, From Apathy to Dependency, Depen-dency, From Dependency back into Bondage. If "Abundance" (i.e., affluence) af-fluence) is the zenith of a civilization, is it possible that we have passed that point and have entered a stage of civilizational decline? Economically, affluence seems to have dulled our work ethic. Many Americans have a sense of entitlement, feeling feel-ing that somebody owes them "the good life." In other countries, hundreds of millions of humans have recently climbed out of poverty. Should we resent or fear these "nou-veaux "nou-veaux riches?" No, they deserve our respect and in some cases our admirationfor admi-rationfor having emulated emu-lated the hard work and (irl C2X?Jf JDKDCSQ 11:00am to 6:00pm NEW "LEVEL 2" ASSISTED LIVING HOME weco? COME ATTEND A FREE SEMINAR 1:00 pm Benefits offered to Seniors through Medicare and Medicade 3:00 pm Surviving in uncertain financial times for Seniors - Bonnie Wallace, CSA 5:00 pm Recognition of the Veterans in the Community Come and help us recognize some of our great veterans and learn about vertans benefits for Assisted Living S . .1 ,. I S nr frugality common to earlier ear-lier generations of Americans. Ameri-cans. Another sign that affluence af-fluence has lured us off track has been the proliferation pro-liferation of high-leverage derivatives and aggressive ag-gressive hedge funds. Somewhere along the way, Wall Street forgot the purpose and value of capital. When invested in a productive business, capital blesses one's fellow fel-low man by increasing the productivity of labor and bringing prices down for consumers while raising rais-ing wages for workers. Recently, though, capital has become so abundant that financiers "invested" paper wealth for the sole purpose of generating more paper wealth, none of which contributed to the production of real wealth that uplifts people. peo-ple. "Behold, all was vanity van-ity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun" (Ecclesias-tes2:ll). (Ecclesias-tes2:ll). Affluence has corrupted our politics, too. We began be-gan to take affluence for granted and assumed that everyone should have it. This led to a vast system of transfer payments that consumed capital. To "spread the wealth," politicians poli-ticians made lenders issue mortgages to Americans that they couldn't afford, thereby producing the housing bubble that has devastated our economy. One of the most destructive de-structive byproducts of our affluence has been the decline in birth rates. We have fallen in love with the beguiljngly easy life that affluence affords to such an extent that we shun the demanding and expensive (though richly rewarding) task of raising children. Like a spreading spread-ing plague, native populations popula-tions in wealthy countries like Spain, Germany, France, and Japan are contracting rapidly. The European countries rely on Islamic immigrants to fill jobs and finance their 1 1 :00 11:00 11:00 11:00 1:00 - 2:00 - 3:00 - "i of government retirement programs. Even the U.S. population borders on shrinking were it not for immigration. I used to provoke environmentalist environmental-ist zealots by telling them that capitalism was the cure for overpopulation, since capitalism generates gener-ates wealth and most people peo-ple aren't willing to procreate pro-create their families out of affluence, but I never dreamt that capitalistic America would flirt with societal suicide. Finally, the greatest challenge posed by our unprecedented affluence is that the rise of affluence afflu-ence has been mirrored by a fall in religious commitment. com-mitment. Indeed Proverbs warned us of this risk: "... give me neither riches nor poverty ... Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain" (Proverbs 30:8,9). Many Americans have been lulled by affluence afflu-ence into relegating God to the background. Who needs God when you've got it made, right? Ah, but do we "have it made" when trillions of dollars of monetary wealth can be quickly wiped out in global financial finan-cial implosions? There may be a silver lining in our recent losses. As the financial crisis demonstrates demon-strates that government is incapable of saving us from human errors, we can anticipate a spiritual revival, by which Americans Ameri-cans once again turn to God, not the false idol of FREE HEALTH SCREENS -1 :00 pm - Bone Density Screening -1:00 pm - Blood Sugar and Blood Pressure Screening - 2:00 pm - Foot Screening - 3:00 pm - Denture Assessment 3:00 pm - Hearing Screenings 5:00 pm Eye Screening (Glaucoma Test & Visual Acuity) 6:00 pm - Blood Sugar And Blood Pressure Screening Debbie Balzotti It's time for Christmas gift recommendations! This book makes a great gift for men or women -take a vacation from your vacation. The latest Dick Francis mystery novel is written with the help of his son, Felix. After writing more than 40 books, winning the Edgar Award three times for best novel, and many more awards to list, he is entitled to a co-writer. Dick must be almost 100 years old! I am actually a fan of co-writers for old authors who are over-the-hill, past their sell-by -date, ancient and prone to wander. wan-der. I wonder who will help me with this book review column when I begin to do uence the state, to provide for our needs. As we celebrate Thanksgiving this year, we can turn to God in gratitude for what is truly valuable the joy of loving families and friends; the privilege of living in what is still one of the freest countries on earth, where, through our consecrated lives, we can once again prove "Blessed is that nation whose God is the Lord" (Psalms 33:12); and the comfort and assurance of the divine promise, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever be-lieveth be-lieveth in him should not perish, but have everlasting everlast-ing life" (John 3:16). If we remember that our true wealth isn't material, ma-terial, then we are rich indeed, and have much for which to be grateful. grate-ful. "Blessed be the Lord who daily loadeth us with blessings" (Psalms 68:19). And Happy Thanksgiving Thanksgiv-ing everyone! Dr. Mark W. Hendrickson Hendrick-son is a faculty member, economist, and contributing contrib-uting scholar with the Center for Vision & Values Val-ues at Grove City College. Col-lege. Money may be the husk of many things but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; acquaintance, but not friends; servants, but not loyalty; days of joy, but not peace or happiness. - Henrik Ibsen )Jm ' some mind meandering...? "Silks" does not disappoint disap-point Dick Francis fans. It contains all the important elements of his entertaining entertain-ing storytelling style. The good guy is really good, the bad guy uses a baseball base-ball bat to beat up people so he is really bad, and the victims are pitiful. There is plenty of race course action ac-tion at Sandown which includes in-cludes fighting, falling and felony. There is also plenty of courtroom action at London's Lon-don's Old Bailey which also includes fighting, falling and felony. The fighting is a bit more graphic than some past Francis novels and has a real menace behind be-hind it at times. The good guy falls off of horses and may be falling fall-ing in love with the lovely leading lady. The felonies involve illegal betting, illegal il-legal intimidation, illegal beating and the very illegal stabbing with a pitchfork. Geoffrey Mason, our hero, is a British barrister who is also an amateur steeplechase jockey. When one of his fellow riders, Steve Mitchell, is accused ggLcCf Springvsllei -n,w-. WXt I -5- j mi immmm ., .' ? tT' A I Jjuw - C' It T plla 2i k-X, - 24 HOUR , 1 flW-nSl VIDEO m H V. 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Of course this is Dicft Francis so justice prevails with a bit of a Perry Mason Ma-son courtroom conclusion but it is a satisfying end to a frustrating situation. If you have not read any novels nov-els by Francis you should start with "Straight", "Reflex" "Re-flex" or "Risk" which were written earlier when the author was more at the top of his game. If you are already al-ready a fan you will enjoy spending time again with one of the best storytellers still writing. 710W.7CON. 489-8988: Lit Aisles Custom Tech Roofing $ Roof Removal 756SG01; 686 East 110 South, 1. Am. Fork - Actom From Gold' Gym - Business 374-0395 305 North Freedom Blvd. Provo Ac row From Smith mm mm |