Behind the Lines: by David Heiller

David Heiller Alice Dracy, Bruno, called the American office last Friday to tell about her son, Steve, and her daughter, Diane, and something they now share. The story is worth sharing, too. Steven Dracy, lifted from the newspaper. On Jan. 12, Steven, who lives in Sandstone, donated one of his kidneys to his sister, Diane Dracy Buehre, at the Methodist Hospital in Rochester. “Diane was diagnosed with kidney disease as a child and her condition had progressed to the point that a transplant was necessary,” Mrs. Dracy said. Her kidneys were removed on November 22. Diane’s three brothers, Steve, Dennis, and Ron, all volunteered to donate a kidney to their sister. (Doctors prefer donated kidneys from living relatives when possible.) Tests of the three brothers showed perfect compatibility between Diane and Steve. “I was like an identical twin, seven years later,” said Steve, 29. “Our chromosomes were a 100 percent match.” Steve admitted that he was startled about the o...

David Heiller “All right, that’s enough.” The top Tupperware drawer wouldn’t close. Plastic lids and dishes of all description lay in a jumbled heap. Some had fallen onto the fl oor. I pulled out the drawer, set it on the counter and took everything out. I put the round dishes together, and the square ones together, the rectangular and rhomboid ones together too. The lids, few of which seemed to match the shapes of said containers, went into a large bin of their own. Then it was the same with the bottom drawer. Bottles were rejoined with their lids and placed in the back. Old Rubbermaid friends were reunited. Everything went back in place. The drawers miraculously had a lot of room to spare, and they shut just fine. The whole process took about five minutes. “Wow, thanks,” Cindy said with true appreciation in her voice. Nuts and screw and bolts and what-not: Davids organizational bug-a-boo. Something was going on here, I thought to myself. Just one late-December day...

David Heiller National politics usually has no place in a weekly editor’s repertoire, but the past week of testimony from Oliver North before a Congressional committee in Washington offers a good reason. Excuse me while I rant and rave. Oliver North is not a hero to me, despite the telegrams stacked in front of him and his glittering uniform. Despite his “telegenic” personality, his erect back and direct stares, despite his sincerity and tenacity, I don’t think he will stay an American hero for long, if at all. A friend of mine perhaps said it best Monday at lunch: “If people think Oliver North is a hero, they’d better take a refresher course in civics.” North’s actions, and the actions of the covert operation he belonged to, challenge our government just two months before the 200th anniversary of our Constitution. The Constitution, to refresh a few memories, is the document that set up our framework of government, dividing it into the executive, congressional, and judicia...

David Heiller A friend asked me on New Year’s Eve if I had any New Year’s resolutions. An old Polaroid shot from Morocco, 1978 “No,” I answered. I told him sincerely that New Year’s resolutions don’t make sense to me. They are promises made to be broken. If something really needs changing, then change it for the right reason. Don’t base the change on a calendar date. That isn’t the right motivation. It has to come from a much deeper place.  That’s what I told my friend, in so many words. Making a New Year’s resolution and then breaking it can do more harm than good. It can discourage you from trying to fix something that needs fixing. “Well, that resolution didn’t work. Might as well forget about it.” But New Year’s resolutions do serve a purpose in that they can get us thinking about things that need to be worked on, and things that we value. A little later at the same New Year’s Eve party, I was telling our friends about how some knick-knacks in the bedroom...