What do skunks, bankers, and politicians have in common?

What do skunks, bankers, and politicians have in common? My Aunt Anzie had opinions of all three.

In the wisdom of Aunt Anzie, skunks stink. Don’t be foolish, she would say, run when you see a raised striped tail. In the opposite direction! Failure to do so will deplete your supply of canned tomato juice for the year.

My aunt had an opinion of politicians. She said more than once that if a politician was truly serving the people, they would not become wealthy and would be there only temporarily. They would remember where they came from and how they got there. And when they forgot that bit of fact, they should be “unelected.” They would do their duty and come home to tend their farm. She saw politicians as “servants of the public.” Can you imagine what she would think these days?

And I learned from her the importance of staying out of debt and never a borrower be. A daily Bible reader, she quoted Proverb 22:7 when it came to bankers, “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.”

Yet, she was a generous woman, often giving the last of her weekly food allowance to the hobos that frequented her modest home and the “Elder House” on White Street.

Again, as a student of the Bible, she noted, “Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.” Luke 6:30.

I learned much from her and my afternoon sittings on the porch of the Elder House.