Author: Joe Class III
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Grieving
Thirteen years old. You aren’t old enough to drive a car. But this is the age where the seeds of freedom are being planted. You aren’t old enough to understand abstract thinking but are slowly moving there. Everything is black and white – kind of. Emotions are high, all over the map. Everything in your…
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Suzie’s Coffee Shop
“Right, right, right.” “Are you just agreeing with me?” “Why on earth would I do that?” “Um, I don’t know? To mess with me?” “Why would I want to mess with you?” I’d never seen this woman dressed in capris with red heels, a crème colored blouse, pearls around her neck, and a full-length thinly…
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Generosity
Thanksgiving. Christmas. Our thoughts turn to presents, good food, and company, all of which you’ve worked so diligently throughout the year. And, like it or not, Western culture typically thinks of generosity as giving from your wallet, in terms of cold, hard cash, or a lucrative donation. The simplest definition of the word generous is…
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How Can I Help You?
“What did you say?” Marcus blinked several times, not believing what he heard. “How can I help you?” Marcus looked down at the man. His clothes were well-worn, dirty, and greasy in spots from motor oil or some other substance. The shoes on his feet had a hole in one of the toes, and the…
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Change
We’re doing it my way. My opinion matters more because I am more educated than you. I’m more important than you. I have more wealth than you. I get to go first just because I am not you. Talk to your employer like that for a minute and see if you don’t immediately get…
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Creativity
I’m not sure I’m smart enough to understand how it works or what it is. I’m no scientist. I’m not a researcher. But I do know what creative thinking looks like. I know how my brain works, creating a solution from nothing. But can I paint like Michaelangelo? Not even if I wanted to! Can…
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Listening
“For fifteen years, I’ve lived out here. On the streets of Portland, Oregon, you can find any kind of substance or alcohol if you are willing to pay the price. I’d rather keep my mind free of all that garbage. They gave me meds once upon a time for schizophrenia, but the voices told me…
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Your Words Count
Words matter. Like more than you thought they did. Wrong words can do irreparable damage for however long you have left of your life. Kids don’t know what words have the potential to do by uttering the simplest of words and phrases. The more you think about it, the more you start to understand how…
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The Old Friend
“Well, well, well. I wondered if I would ever see you again, Zack.” I recognized the voice. Not the hair, makeup, and clothes. I closed my eyes, wondering if it might help me remember the perfume she wore. It didn’t. I must’ve looked like a deer caught in headlights standing at the valet station because…
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Barefoot
“Put what you want into the universe. It will come back to you.” Bracelets on both wrists jangled as she touched my nose with her index finger. “Promise.” The smile and her words warmed me. She stood before me, wearing a flowing broom skirt, her sliver-streaked hair touching her shoulders with a sunflower tucked behind…
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Where Were You?
Tuesday morning, June 4, 2014. It’s burned in my memory because I got a call at 8:17 A.M. interrupting a brief meeting with the senior pastor. Our discussion included the need to improve outreach, which started with building healthy relationships in our congregation. The voice on the other end of the phone sounded strange. Distraught.…
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Pier 39
San Francisco, Pier 39. In the late 1980s, as a junior in high school living in the suburbs of Dublin, California, this was the place to be. The things you saw downtown were edgy. Skinheads. Mohawks. Different colored hair. Piercings, similar to the ones you see today, were the norm. Ripped jeans. Leather jackets.…
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The Unusual Sounds
You expect certain sounds in Tualatin in the evening. Cars driving over the pavement, catching every uneven section with a thunk-thunk. The acceleration and deceleration of semi-trucks, some shifting up or down. It all depends on their speed. Whether or not they catch the beginning or end of a traffic light’s cycle will determine the…
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Why do I have to say sorry?
“Tamara.” Ms. Geri never raised her voice. “You owe her an apology.” “Do not!” The four-year-old girl shouted at her pre-K teacher. “She started it. Not me. She owes me an a-po-golly. Why do I have to say sorry when I’m not?” Tamara pulled on the braid her mom put in her hair. “I…
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The $300,000 Mistake
“You what?” “Let me say it again. I gave up.” “Gave up what, exactly, Stan?” “Everything.” I was puzzled by what Stan said to me. For the last two years, I watched Stan go through some of the hardest things I’ve seen one person deal with. The emotional trauma alone was enough to make me…
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Sergeant Blechle
Cape Girardeau, Southeast Missouri. It’s a quiet, quaint small town with big city aspirations. One thing not lacking in Cape. Restaurants. Cape’s got a little bit of everything. From fast food joints like Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Taco Bell to a few that are more nuanced, like Qdoba, Chick-fil-A, and Culvers. Then you have…
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Teaching English
For a spring day, it wasn’t that cold. The SEMO sweatshirt I was wearing kept me comfortable enough. Not too hot. Not too cold. Not just right. Adequate is more like it, but I could’ve cared less. Coming from an English class where the students thought they knew more than the instructor was scary.…
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What Would It Be Like
Thinking to myself, I wondered what it would be like. “Josh, I’m starting to think you might be a little bit, you know? Woohoo.” Travis put his finger to his temple and spun it in a circle, the universal sign of being insane. “That’s a little too out there.” “Why? Like you’ve never thought about…
