The Straight Story.

Friday, 5/5/17

There is so much that should be said about today’s readings, that I am going to take an easy way out.  I am going to speak about neither.

Jesus told Saul to seek out a man named Ananais living on Straight Street in Damascus, and that put me in mind about a recent movie about a man named Alvin Straight.

Alvin and his brother Lyle, born on a Iowa farm in the early 1920’s, used to sit on the ground on summer nights, looking up at the stars,  sharing deep thoughts.

The boys both fought in World War II, and they came back drinking and constantly quarreling. And, when their unpleasant behavior became too much, Lyle packed up, and took to farming 350 miles away in Wisconsin; and the two stopped contacting each other.

They were in their early seventies in 1985 when Alvin heard that Lyle had a stroke over in Wisconsin, and he decided on getting over there to renew their inter- dependence.

Alvin, with poor eyesight, and needing two canes for getting around, took off on his lawn mower tractor. The movie is called “The Straight Story,” and it recounts the troubles and  the help Alvin got on his three week ride on that lawn mower.

When he had sought out the shack where his brother was just getting around, he called out, “Lyle”

Saying just “Alvin,” Lyle came out, and the two of them sat together quietly on Lyle’s porch. And, it was like it  had been back in the 1920’s and 1930’s.