I’ve heard it preached that America has become a land of self-seekers and “hedonists.” That a large segment of Americans have become like a nation of spoiled, selfish children that want self-gratification, comfort and pleasure at any cost, no matter how perverted and immoral.

That when electing a leader they wouldn’t want a just and virtuous person as a leader, but will support someone of nebulous character, espousing beliefs much like their own.

Last month I made a trip to Fort Riley, Kansas, for a very special reason.

Most of my previous trips were in connection with the wounds my son, Staff Sergeant Paul Jordan, received in his last tour in Iraq with the 1st Infantry Division. I spent five weeks in Kansas looking after my grandchildren, Stacey and Ellen, while Paul was recuperating at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Between their dad’s injury and a car wreck they were in a week after Paul and their mom, Dawn, arrived in San Antonio, we were all on an emotional roller coaster ride. It was a blessing that the kids weren’t in school during the time, but the disruption affected them greatly.

I am a product of the Great Depression and the stock market crash of 1929. All of my life I have been told that if you don’t need something, “don’t buy it.”

During my years as a boy and young man, my father attempted to instill in my thinking that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Today I stand in agreement with this saying.

It’s like a movie where the bad guy is so bad that you just want him to get run over by a car, or shot, or blown up by his own bomb, even if the good guy gets it, too.

The financial bailout just hits all the wrong buttons. A lot of people made a lot of money by selling overpriced homes to suckers — I mean, investors. And banks made money by giving them loans on the houses, then bundling the mortgages and selling them to other investors.

Pumpkins are OK, cooler weather feels good, but true autumn ecstasy comes from one source only: football. Eager guys, their egos exploding, and their wives swarm to the gridirons every Saturday.

There, the machos can get drunk on old buddies and old bragging while they watch the muscular youngsters swat, batter, crush and maul each other.

R.H. Montgomery Inc., charitable planned giving consultants, wrote: “Charitable planned giving (gifts) is popular because they could provide valuable tax benefits and/or income for life. But charitable gifts require planning before they are made.”

Gifts are usually bestowed on people without the recipients expecting gifts in return. Gifts are used to express friendship, admiration and affection. But when ordinary gifts are presented, that is usually the end of them. A high percentage of gift recipients do not bother to send thank-you notes or to acknowledgment gifts.

“I love South Carolina’s being a small state,” Walter Edgar says. “Having taught at USC for 37 years and given talks in most of the counties, I know that no matter if I’m in St. Matthews, Hartsville or Spartanburg, there’ll be somebody I know.”

Now a long time S.C. “adoptee,” this Mobile, Ala. native has become enmeshed in us. Every couple of summer weeks, he, his second wife Nela and some of their five grands load up the car and head to the cottage on Fishing Creek at Edisto Beach.

By JOHN RHENEY

The National Wild Turkey Federation is one of my favorite organizations. From the onset, when the NTWF hit Orangeburg, it was obvious they were a little different than most outdoor groups that compete for our dollars.

They actively encouraged women and children to attend the banquets and were more than successful recruiting for their Jakes and Women in the Outdoors subgroups.

Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston, in late 1966, enjoyed the success of the duet they recorded named, “It Takes Two.”

It was one of those songs that, once you heard it, it danced around in your head for days. The point of the song was that though one can get through life alone, it’s just a much better journey when there’s someone there to share it.

Paul Newman is gone, and several generations of women mourn the loss of the actor and philanthropist who was our standard bearer for “the perfect man.”

There was nothing phony about Paul Newman. We will never forget his piercing blue eyes, his gorgeous smile and his “bad boy” persona.