By DANNY MINTON Turn on the TV, listen to a conversation, or walk down the mall and you’ll get a picture of the world of our youth today. Sex, violence, drugs, are shown and discussed in many circles. The apathetic work ethic and laziness are thrown out for us to consider. We label a whole generation based on what we
Read moreBy DANNY MINTON It was April 6, 1945, just off the coast of Okinawa, Japan. The U.S. naval forces were preparing for an eventual attack on the island with many of the U.S. fleet off the shores. One of those ships was the USS North Carolina, the ship which my dad served on during the last few years of WWII. On
Read moreBy DANNY MINTON His name was Jack Thum. His profession was a professional clown. Few people remember him, especially those outside the Chicago area. You see, Jack died some thirty years ago of cancer. When Jack died, Walter Cronkite mentioned it on his broadcast, and the church bells of Chicago rang in tribute. All of Chicago mourned. So what made
Read moreBy DANNY MINTON The time was late afternoon, Dec. 10, 1965. Daylight was fading on a rather warm day for December in North Central Texas. The high temperature for the day had been 66 degrees with winds rustling the trees in the neighborhood around our football field in Plano, Texas. By tradition, each afternoon before our game the following day
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“Il faut laver son linge sale en famille” By DANNY MINTON The title of this thought is an old French proverb. It was one that Napoleon quoted when he returned to France from his exile in Elba in the year 1815. It was a phrase that was first used in England in 1867 by Anthony Trollope in “The Last Chronicle
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By DANNY MINTON The term “Bucket List” has been around for quite some time, but seems to have become more popular since the movie, “Bucket List,” came out a decade ago. The term originates from the phrase to “kick the bucket” or in other words to die. It’s a list that people create of things they want to do or
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By DANNY MINTON There’s an empty plate at the table. There’s a strange silence that comes from that spot as the dishes are passed from person to person. She was always the last to sit down, making sure everyone was served first. When everyone was served, then she sat down. That plate was empty today for the first time. There’s
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By DANNY MINTON One of my favorite stories at Christmastime is “The Other Wise Man” by Henry van Dyke. It’s the story of Artaban, a man who studied the stars. He and his companions in the east had been studying the stars looking for a sign they had discovered in an ancient book. The sign would signify the birth of
Read moreBy DANNY MINTON When Kathy and I first got married, we lived in a little house on Orange Street in Abilene. We didn’t have much. She was working for $50 a week at the public relations department at Abilene Christian. I was going to school and working part-time at Gibsons Discount Center. We didn’t have a lot of bills,
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Spirit Of Abilene 