 On The Line -- Issue 592 -- July 21, 2006  Online News and Views of Life in San Benito County with Herman Wrede Published by HollisterOnline.com -- Copyright 1995-2008 HollisterOnline.com
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On The Line -- Issue 592 -- July 21, 2006 Online News and Views of Life in San Benito County with Herman Wrede Published by HollisterOnline.com -- Copyright 1995-2008 HollisterOnline.com
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What a week. As a backdrop to the terrible heat that saps everyone's strength and poses a danger to many elderly and very young people, brush fires lay waste to millions of acres in several states.
For four consecutive days the temperature has risen above 100 degrees, which should persuade residents of the pleasant myth that "no matter how hot it gets, there are never more than two days of heat without relief." The media tells us to prepare for rolling blackouts because of the unprecedented demand for electrical power that is very close to its maximum capability. The world situation grows steadily worse. Right now, as you read this, more than a million refugees from Lebanon and Israel are scurrying to any place that seems to offer refuge from a constant stream of rockets from both sides. As in any war, women and children are high among the casualties. The violence continues unabated in Iraq where -- let the administration call it what it will -- a bloody civil war flourishes between the Sunnis and Shiites. In our own country violence is on the rise and chiefs of many law-enforcement agencies confirm there has been nothing like it in their memory. Two young men are arrested for a local murder, as meaningless, senseless act of violence in deliberately striking another young man with a car, then rolling over him a second time. Gang drive-by shootings have become, if not common, not uncommon in San Benito County. With what seems to be a surrealistic vista of a world gone mad is there any aspect of good news? Of course there is. Man, who can be guilty of unspeakable horrors, is also capable of acts that approach the divine. We see it all around us every day. It is so commonplace that it often does not register unless compared with the savagery of war, the violence of crime or self-serving leaders on every level of government. One prime local example is Frank Goularte of San Juan Bautista. He was born near that community more than 93 years ago. After many years spent in the Santa Clara Valley where he worked as a tool-and-die maker for NASA, he returned to San Juan. Before his retirement, Goularte was active in church programs and often served as a cook during weekend gatherings for Cursillo (little courses in Christianity.) He was also generous with contributions to housing for poor South American people. In recognition of that generosity, one house in Guatemala is named "Casa Goularte." Goularte appears in a short article in the most recent volume of "Integrities," published by IF ( nowhere in the publication does it say for what the letters stand). Although the current edition has only 22 pages, including both covers, it is full of heart-warming articles about many of IF's projects and the people who support them. Goularte is not alone in his humanity. Hundreds -- yes, hundreds -- of people like him live all around us but their character is so well established and their deeds so natural to us that they often are taken for granted. Among Goularte's neighbors in San Juan is Marland Holte, who seems to have been born to help others. Now past 80 and not enjoying the best of health, he continues to give of himself. If for no other reason than having established the annual Thanksgiving and Christmas community dinners, his name would be blessed. Jim and Gayle Sleznick are a San Juan couple who have given themselves fully to their community ever since they came here when Sleznick was appointed supervisor of The Pinnacles National Monument in June 1986. After his retirement in January 1995, they found a home in San Juan and became an integral part of the community. Anything they can do to make it better, they have done. Mrs. Sleznick, a professional artist, also has lent support to other artists, whether veterans of the easel or newcomers. San Juan also has many others with the same attitude and nature as the Sleznicks. Al Martinez, owner and manager of Dona Esther's Mexican Restaurant, is a quiet but steady donor to many good causes, remembering his gratitude when he came there as a boy from his native Mexico. Hollister abounds in people of good will, and many who have already contributed much in the way of ideas, work and material donations still look around to find other ways of serving their community and its residents. Irene Agredano comes to mind. She arrived in the United States as a girl with her widowed mother, her brothers and sister. She has never forgotten the kindness that some people paid to her and has always found ways to repay it, from being active in the San Benito County Chamber of Commerce's Ambassadors to private acts of caring for the elderly and giving new-come immigrants help. Two of her friends, Cilly Fisher and Francene Markle, also have been busy in the Ambassadors and other Chamber programs as well as other venues to improve their adopted community. Shannon Grissom, Fernando Gonzalez, Jeana Arnold, Denise Cauthen-Wright, Joe and Linda Daughenbaugh, Brenda Weatherly and a host of others are names that come readily to mind when talking of people who have made valuable investments of time, talent and kindness to fellow residents. Whatever their background or character, all have this in common: They are cheerful people who could no more just live in a place without responding to its needs that they could ignore the plight of anyone they know who needs help. The memories of Don Anderson and Joe Leal, both of whom died last year, and Gary Goularte who died this year, are bright and will remain so because of their kindness that prompted them to reach out their hands to their fellow residents. Despite the ravages of weather, or war or any number of disasters that arrogant, greedy leaders bring forth upon the world, Mankind will prevail because people are intrinsically good and goodness will manifest itself in the end. Terence, the Roman poet, wrote," Nothing that is human is alien to me." English poet John Donne summed it up best when he reflected upon no man being an island, that whatever affects one person affects everyone, and ending, "And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls -- It tolls for thee." |
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