By Barbara Morris
Fair or not fair, spring is on its way. Do we hear clapping? Well, even if you love the cold and the snow so much that you've chosen to save your applause, mark your calendar now for Thursday, March 10, 1900 Hours, (otherwise known as 7 p.m.), Performance Art Center At York College, 95-45 Guy R. Brewer Boulevard in Jamaica. There you will witness and clap, clap, clap for the performers of the first annual Police Talent Show presented by New York Police Department Patrol Borough Queens South. Admission is free. Tickets may be obtained by contacting community affairs at local precincts. Years ago our officers participated in talent shows held annually in Flushing. Those shows were not free, but the performances were played to a packed, appreciative house. Some say most people don't appreciate what is free, but in this case that would certainly be a very bad mistake. Having gone to those previous shows, I can tell you the talent then was as good as any, and better than many. I'm sure that will be the case March 10 as well. I will confess that I have begged Patrol Borough Queens South for the return of the talent shows ever since they stopped. I, for one, can tell you that I am really looking forward to seeing the show and you and your friends there, too. It promises to be a very good times. Appropriate now for this still fairly New Year of the Rooster, we expect it will be “something to crow about.” One more reason to have a Happy New Year. Lent also entered the lives of many in southeast Queens on Feb. 9, and will end March 27, Easter Sunday. It is a time when Christians have an added opportunity to pray, sacrifice and make worthy commitments.One of the wonderful things about being a volunteer is that so many of the volunteers you meet and work with are wonderful people who become good friends. They don't hesitate to make sacrifices and community commitments. We look for ways to help each other with projects. It is therefore difficult, when we suspect someone has some kind of a deep, personal problem, to abstain from offering what might well be unwanted, and probably ignored, advice. Many years ago one of the men who worked in the department where I worked, suddenly gained weight and turned from an affable, even-tempered, hardworking fellow into a bellowing bully. I didn't work closely with him, but my supervisor was one of his golfing friends. I told my boss I thought that man might be sickMy supervisor told him it was time for him to have a mandatory checkup with our company physician. The physician asked him why had he not gone for a physical as soon as his weight and attitudes had begun to change so precipitously. His delay had put him at risk for a major heart attack. His family and other friends had tried to warn him, but he thought he did not have any problems he could not fix himself. Unfortunately, he couldn't fix what was wrong …nor could the doctor. He died, in our office, as our office day began a couple of days later. It was a very sad, very upsetting event. I relate this because all these years later there just may be someone who reads this who might be willing during this Lenten season or New Year to look at the person in the mirror and say, “If I was my best friend, or a family member I love and I could save that person by giving good advice that would be taken, what advice would I give or what plea would I make?”I learned a great deal in that office where I worked. We had self-improvement reviews every six months and, although it may be a little unflattering to acknowledge, we could always find some way or another to improve ourselves and/or the way we do things. I hope you are in perfect health and have few if any problems, but I hope you will look into that mirror and give your best friend, (yourself) an honest assessment that may be early enough to fix whatever may be wrong to keep as many good people as possible healthy, wealthy and wise.
