Reader's Digest USA 11.2020

Scout and messenger dogs patrolling a captured trail on Bougainville with Marines

InterIm ArchIves/Getty ImAGes all eight, but the incidents showed effort. Brothers Max, Morris, and Irv-
how vulnerable munitions factories ing Glazer of New York City owned
and other high-value operations were. Caesar, a purebred German shepherd.
Facing a shortage of men due to the Caesar was smart. The brothers could
war, Uncle Sam reluctantly realized buy a parcel at the butcher shop and
the country needed dogs to patrol tell him to “take it to Mom.” The dog
3,700 miles of coastline. Erlanger went would carry the package through the
to work. city blocks and to the door of the Glaz-
ers’ fourth-floor walk-up without try-
Soon, people from around the ing to eat the contents—even steak.
country—including actress Greer
Garson and crooner Rudy Vallee— When the war broke out, the Glazer
were enlisting their dogs for the war sons headed into the military, leaving

Rd.com 99

Reader’s Digest

Dogs participated in World
War I, as this poster shows, but
by World War II they had been

phased out of the military.

Caesar in their mother’s effort as well. Andy had impeccable DaviD Pollack/Getty imaGes
care. With the boys away, bone structure, but his penchant for
the dog grew morose. He scrapping with other dogs led to a
needed purpose. So, after mangled ear, which kept him off the
consulting with her sons, show-dog circuit. When the Marines
Mrs. Glazer signed the shep- began looking for dog recruits, Andy’s
herd up for the war effort. owners knew he was exactly what they
He soon shipped out to an were seeking—a strong, athletic, level-
Army camp for training. headed animal with an eight-foot leap.

On Long Island, Joseph All dogs went through a two-week
Verhaeghe was making his basic training, where they learned
own painful decision. As a commonplace commands like sit,
teenager during World War I, stay, and come, as well as how to ride
he had watched his infant
sister be killed when the
Germans invaded Belgium.
As a grown man, he moved
to the United States, married,
and had a son named Bobby.
Then war broke out again.
When he learned of Dogs
for Defense, he decided to enlist Jack,
the family’s Belgian sheepdog, a slinky
relative of the German shepherd. Jack
was a good boy with an ornery streak
who gulped down the ice cream of
neighborhood children when they
weren’t looking. Verhaeghe hesitated
to send the dog off until 11-year-old
Bobby tearfully announced, “Pop, if
Jack can save lives, I want him to go in.”

Meanwhile, a prim Doberman
named Andreas von Wiede-Hurst—
aka Andy—was about to join the war

100 November 2020

Drama in Real Life

in the back of trucks on bumpy roads. and Paul Castracane handled Jack,
They were also exposed to the sound the Verhaeghes’ sheepdog. “Jack is
of gunfire until they didn’t flinch. The really a second Rin Tin Tin. Boy, is he
majority became sentry dogs and coming swell!” Wortman wrote to his
were taught to growl or alert at the ap- parents. “However, I think that the of-
proach of strangers. ficers here have too big ideas for Jack
and me to carry out.” Rufus Mayo, an
Two more select classes of dogs Alabaman who had raised hunting
trained for combat duty. Over dogs, and Johnny Kleeman, a 17-year-
13 weeks, messenger dogs were drilled old from Philadelphia, handled Cae-
until they would run between two han- sar, the Glazer boys’ shepherd. And
dlers, dodging all obstacles in their Andy, the strapping Doberman, found
path to get their communication from a brave handler in Robert Lansley, a
one trainer to the other. They would be redhead nicknamed Daredevil for his
especially important in fighting in the eagerness to participate in combat.
South Pacific, as the best walkie-talkies
of the day had a reception range of For the three-week journey, the han-
just a quarter of a mile and experi- dlers and canines lived in their own
enced interference in the dense jungle. segregated village of dog huts and pee-
ing posts placed on deck. Most days,
The animals with the keenest noses they endured catcalls from veteran
and most stable temperaments be- Marine Raiders. “Everyone looked on
came scout dogs. They were trained us as a curiosity and wondered what
not to bark when they sensed danger we were supposed to do,” said Clyde
but rather to raise their hackles or lift Henderson, who was in charge of the
their tails. platoon. “We weren’t too sure our-
selves.” Some of the handlers were
In June 1943, a Liberty ship left San worried. Would the animals panic and
Diego carrying thousands of Marines forget their training under heavy fire,
to the South Pacific, including the as some critics thought? Would they be
24  dogs and 48 handlers of the 1st so shell-shocked they couldn’t work?
War Dog Platoon. Gordon Wortman

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Rd.com 101

Reader’s Digest

On the morning of November 1, 1943, their youth, but the bewilderment in
around 14,000 Allied troops attacked their eyes gave it away. The faint tick-
Bougainville, which was defended by tick-tick of the Japanese machine guns
45,000 seasoned Japanese forces. Dogs continued somewhere in the distance.
and men huddled aboard three Hig-
gins landing craft. Mortar shells rained The Doberman seemed happy to
down on them, almost capsizing one of follow the thin dirt track into the un-
the boats. They rushed onto the beach, known, but about 400 yards up the
dodging enemy fire on the way to the trail, Andy halted. He turned his head
tree line. slowly to the left, then to the right,
signaling some disturbance. Lansley
Hours after landing, Andy the scout made a gesture for M Company to halt.
dog and Caesar the messenger dog The Marines squatted down, fingers on
were called up for their first assign- the triggers of their rifles, their hearts
ments. The Marines needed to control in their throats. They waited. Silence.

JACK BOLTED OUT OF CAMP. AUTOMATIC FIRE
KICKED UP THE DIRT AT HIS HEELS.

the area surrounding the two main Finally Andy relaxed. It was probably
trails running through Bougainville: just a wild boar, Lansley told the com-
the Piva and Numa-Numa. Japanese mander. The commander’s confidence
soldiers riddled the dense forest sur- in the dog, already suspect, seemed
rounding them. Pillboxes with criss- shaken. M Company pushed on.
crossing machine guns dotted the
trails, and snipers in trees waited pa- Another 150 yards up the trail, Andy
tiently for Marine patrols to make it stopped again. He perked up his good
into their gunsights. The Japanese were ear and let out a low growl, pointing
experts at camouflage, and the inex- his muzzle slightly to the right. Lansley
perienced Americans’ vision would squatted down and patted the dog. He
be obscured by dense vegetation and could feel the tension in Andy’s mus-
smoke from artillery and guns. The cles. “Well, this is it,” Lansley told his
dogs would be their eyes and ears. fellow Marines. “There’s a sniper back
there, about 75 yards.”
Andy led a patrol of 250 Marines
into the steamy jungle. Robert Lansley The patrol leader sent Lansley and
looked at the men behind him. Really, another soldier forward, while Andy
they were kids, most about 20 years stayed back. In the distance, they saw
old. Some sported mustaches to hide what Andy had sensed: two camou-
flaged machine gun nests manned by

102 November 2020

Drama in Real Life

to Kleeman. Despite

Mayo’s advancing,

Caesar always found

him again. When the

Marines recovered

written plans from a

dead Japanese offi-

cer, it was Caesar who

raced with them to

camp. He made nine

runs the second day,

with sniper fire trail-

ing him each time.

When night fell,

the Marines hun-

kered down in place.

Jack, shown here with a handler, was commended for At dawn, Mayo was
“outstanding performance against the enemy.” bolted awake by

Caesar’s growling.

Japanese soldiers

the enemy. They unleashed a spray of had infiltrated the camp—and two of

gunfire, which was returned. M Com- them were now heading toward Mayo.

pany men hit the ground as shrap- Caesar leaped out of the foxhole to

nel flew overhead. The air filled with intercept them. Mayo called for his

smoke and dust and the rumble of companion and then watched the dog

machine guns—the Americans’ clack- falter, skitter sideways, and fall.

clack-clack and the Japanese’s tick-tick- In the confusion, with Japanese at-

tick. When he lost what little visibility tacking and Americans fighting them

he had, Lansley tossed two grenades off, Mayo lost track of Caesar. After

toward the Japanese. Their explosions the gunfire ceased, he found a trail of

rocked the earth. Silence fell. Dazed, blood leading into the jungle. Where

the Marines continued forward, past the red line ended, he found Caesar

Bettmann/Getty ImaGes the gutted machine gun nests. bleeding out in the bushes and barely

While Andy scouted out snipers, conscious. Mayo dropped to the

Caesar became the fastest means of ground and hugged the dog gently,

communication between the Ma- just like the Glazer boys must have

rines. Rufus Mayo would attach mes- when he was a pup.

sages about the company’s progress Th re e Ma r i n e s ju r y - r ig g e d a

to Caesar’s collar and send him back stretcher and carried Caesar to the

Rd.com 103

Reader’s Digest Drama in Real Life

regimental first aid station, where a With the war ending a few months earlier, beTTMAnn/geTTy iMAges
surgeon removed a slug from his hip. this lucky dog was going home.
The other bullet, in his shoulder, was
too close to his heart to chance taking headquarters at the feet of Paul Castra‑
out. The lead would stay, but the doc‑ cane. The Marine fished the message
tor believed the gutsy dog would pull out of Jack’s collar pouch, ran it to bat‑
through. Caesar remained in sick bay talion command, and then returned
recovering, with once skeptical raid‑ to carry Jack to the first aid tent. Soon,
ers sneaking him their C‑rations while reinforcements fought their way up the
the nurses weren’t looking. trail and stopped the Japanese assault.
Wortman and other casualties were
Jack, the Belgian sheepdog, replaced carried out on stretchers.
Caesar. A few days later, Jack and his
handler Gordon Wortman were work‑ In all, 423 Marines died capturing
ing a roadblock with E  Company Bougainville, yet no patrol with a dog
when the Japanese attacked. Wortman on point had lost a man. The survivors
took a round to the leg, and a bullet of Bougainville, including Caesar and
cut through the loose skin on Jack’s Jack, continued island‑hopping, serv‑
back. The Marine lay there in agony. ing in Saipan, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa.
Jack, gushing blood, leaned against
his handler, whimpering in pain. As When the war finally ended in Sep‑
the Japanese tightened the noose, the tember 1945, the Marine Corps had to
commanding officer said to Wortman, decide what to do with the 559 dogs
“Your dog is the only one we can send remaining in its service. An order went
for help. Can he make it?” out to euthanize the animals. The men
who fought alongside them wouldn’t
Wortman looked at his wounded hear of it. After being inundated with
dog, pain clouding Jack’s normally protests, the Marines agreed to de‑
intelligent eyes. “I think so.” Wortman train the dogs and return them to their
tucked a request for aid in Jack’s collar owners.
pouch. He stroked the dog and whis‑
pered, “We’re depending on you, old The war dogs were going home. RD
boy. Report to Paul!” Jack warily rose to
his feet and looked at Wortman. Then Truly*AdvenTurous (MArch 9, 2019), copyrighT
he turned his head toward the path © 2019 by Truly AdvenTurous, llc.
and bolted out of camp. Automatic fire
kicked up the dirt at Jack’s heels as the
dog zagged into the underbrush.

It was a long dash through the jun‑
gle before the bedraggled dog, caked
in blood and mud, appeared near

104 November 2020

Reader’s Digest

LAUGH LINES

It’s funny they call them Astronomer discovering
“unidentified flying objects.” an asteroid coming to
I could identify them right
destroy Earth: This will make
away. Those are UFOs. me famous but not for long.

— @dlicj — @brendohare

If aliens ever attack, The person who named
we will probably be fine the Sea of Tranquility on the
unless they realize how moon had to be a Realtor.
easily we are influenced
— @RachelNoise
by traffic cones.

— @seanforhire

RichVintage/getty images People who study In Your My review of
meteors are called Space our solar system:
weatherologists.
1 star.
— @gabrielroth — @ianabramson

Rd.com 105

THAT’S OUTRAGEOUS

K8P0V4L

106 November 2020

Reader’s Digest
Rd.com 107

Reader’s Digest That’s Outrageous

Think you know where your old significant way,” Lew Freeman, former previous spread: ivan Tsykunovich/alamy sTock phoTo
vice president of the industry’s lobby­
plastic ends up? ing group, the Society of the Plastics In­
dustry (SPI), now the Plastics Industry
Once a week, you dutifully set out Association, told NPR and Frontline.
your bin full of recyclables for col­
lection. You’re happy to do your part Though not much has changed
for the environment because plastic, since those reports were written, the
which is derived from fossil fuels, plastics industry continues to shovel
contributes to pollution and climate millions of dollars into promoting re­
change. And while it has its good cycling via ads and education. Why?
points—plastic is both lightweight Public relations. “If the public thinks
and durable, saving fuel in transport— the recycling is working, then they’re
the best thing about it is that it’s easily not going to be as concerned about
recycled. Now, about that ... the environment,” says Larry Thomas,
another former SPI executive.
In fact, over the past four decades,
less than 10 percent of all plastic in Communities have to do something
the United States has been recycled. with all that unrecycled plastic. That
Some items are reused more than oth­ often means burning it with the rest of
ers. We repurpose about 30 percent of the trash. “About six times more post­
used water, soda, shampoo, and bleach consumer plastic waste is burned in
bottles. But that still leaves 70 percent the United States than is domestically
piling up in dumps, or worse. China, recycled,” reports the Plastic Pollution
the biggest market for our old plas­ Coalition, while the Center for Inter­
tic, stopped importing it altogether in national Environmental Law points
2018. While consumers may well be out that producing and incinerating
ignorant of this fact, the plastics in­ plastics will add more than 850 mil­
dustry is not. NPR, working with the lion metric tons of greenhouse gases
PBS series Frontline, recently dug up to the atmosphere annually, “an
reports sent to industry executives that amount equal to the emissions from
called recycling plastic “costly ... dif­ 189 500­megawatt coal power plants.”
ficult ... infeasible.” And this was way
back in the 1970s and ’80s! “There was That’s probably not what you’re
never an enthusiastic belief that recy­ thinking when you haul your bottles
cling was ultimately going to work in a to the curb.

108 November 2020

MediaNews Group/The Mercury News via GeTTy iMaGes Some companies profited off a out. Not only that, but only a measly
5 percent of small businesses that ap-
pandemic. plied actually received loans.

You’re a small-business owner forced So who got the checks? Let’s see:
to shut down for a time during the Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Shake
COVID-19 pandemic. You’re worried Shack, AutoNation ... As it turns out,
about your employees. If you lay them 440 loans bypassed small businesses
off, how will they live? But then you and went to large publicly traded
hear that Washington has approved the corporations, many of which had the
Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). wherewithal to raise capital without a
It’s designed to provide an incentive for helping hand from the feds.
small businesses to keep paying their
workers’ salaries by lending the owners While those 440 loans accounted
money—which they don’t need to pay for only 1.5 percent of the 25,000 loans
back if the bulk is put toward payroll granted, many were for large sums—
and other costs. Perfect! for example, AutoNation was given
$77 million. Individual loans of over
At 12:01 a.m. on April 3, the very $2 million each sucked up a quarter
first minute of the program, you ap- of the total pool of money. A second
ply for a loan online and wait for the round of loans was more stringent.
check to come. And then you wait a Still, loans for $2 million–plus made
bit more. Until 13 days later, when you up 16 percent of the total sum.
discover that the $349 billion emer-
gency funding is completely tapped “It’s outrageous,” Amanda Ballantyne
of Main Street Alliance, an advocacy

Rd.com 109

group for small businesses, told the many Americans cooped up in their BraunS/Getty ImaGeS
New York Times. Countless small- homes,” says the New York Times.
business owners “have laid off all their
staff and will go bankrupt because of A similar program saw the Depart-
the problems with the way the PPP ment of Health and Human Services
was designed.” disburse billions to distressed hospi-
tals. Among the “distressed” hospitals
So how did this mess happen? To was Ascension Health, which operates
get the money to applicants quickly, 150 hospitals nationwide. It received
the government had the Small Busi- $211 million ... even though it oper-
ness Administration guarantee the ates its own venture capital fund.
loans, but banks distributed them.
The banks decided which compa- Hospitals that serve a greater pro-
nies got funding, and they often portion of wealthier, privately insured
favored their best customers. Accord- patients got twice as much relief as
ing to NPR, the average PPP loan those focused on low-income patients
at large banks was over $90,000. At with Medicaid or no coverage at all. In
small banks, it was $58,000. As a result, other words, the hospitals that needed
Escalade Sports, which makes Ping- the money most got the least. That
Pong tables, basketball hoops, and includes St. Claire HealthCare, the
the like, got $5.6 million even with a largest rural hospital system in east-
“$50 million credit line from JPMorgan ern Kentucky. The $3 million the hos-
Chase” and after reporting it saw “ris- pital received in April barely covered
ing demand for its products, with so two weeks of payroll, chief executive
Donald H. Lloyd II told the Times.

110 November 2020

That’s Outrageous Reader’s Digest

The loan, he said, “is just a Band-Aid.” discover that everything went great—
Taxpayer outrage triggered a game except that the hospital-assigned
anesthesiologist who put you under
of corporate mea culpa, resulting in is not in your insurance network and
69 large companies returning the loans. you are stuck paying his bill in full.
As of September 1, of the $1,390,298,467
doled out to publicly traded compa- Welcome to the Surprise Medical
nies, $436,477,630 had been returned, Bill. Actually, surprise might not be the
according to factsquared.com, a data right word, given that about 20 percent
analysis website. The first was Shake of all surgical patients will receive
Shack, which sent back its $10 million one. For them, the “surprise” can soar
check, followed by AutoNation, Ash- to around $14,000 in out-of-network
ford Hospitality Trust ($45.9 million), costs. No wonder 137 million Ameri-
and Ruth’s Hospitality Group, owners cans are mired in medical debt. The
of Ruth’s Chris ($20 million). infuriating factor here is that the ma-
jority of those folks (about 63 percent)
Still, most companies kept the had health insurance when treatment
money, citing the uncertain economy. began. Isn’t this why we have health
Which is just wrong, treasury secre- insurance—to pay the bills?
tary Steve Mnuchin said on CNBC.
Even though eventually most of the Studies from Yale and the Journal
small businesses that applied for PPP of the American Medical Association
loans ended up receiving them, “The have found that the surprise bills
purpose of this program was not so- come typically from anesthesiologists
cial welfare for big business.” and surgical assistants, specialists that
patients rarely select personally. They
The real pain comes after the operation. are brought in by the surgeons or the
You’re about to have minor surgery, hospital—the very ones who should
so of course you do your homework. know who or what is covered by a pa-
Nowadays that means you not only tient’s insurance. A Yale study found
make sure that your surgeon and that up to 12.3 percent of cases involv-
hospital have good track records; you ing a pathologist, an anesthesiologist,
make sure that they both take your in- an assistant surgeon, and a radiologist
surance too. were billed out of network. In con-
trast, orthopedists performing knee
You wake up from the procedure to replacements—a service for which

Rd.com 111

Reader’s Digest That’s Outrageous

a patient can choose an in-network Besides, the impressive job-placement
physician ahead of time—billed out of rate it boasts makes you optimistic that
network less than 1 percent of the time. you might just find that higher-paying
job. Then you graduate, and you dis-
“The ability to bill out of network cover that you may have been cheated.
allows specialists to negotiate inflated
in-network rates, which are passed on According to the Century Founda-
to consumers in the form of higher in- tion, a public-policy research institu-
surance premiums,” Zack Cooper, an tion, 98 percent of all fraud complaints
associate professor at the Yale School against colleges are brought against for-
of Public Health, told Yale News. profit schools. Among them is Career
Education Corporation (now called Per-
How much more? According doceo Education Corporation), which
to the journal Health Affairs, in- operates Colorado Technical University
network rates for assistant surgeons and American InterContinental Uni-
were 176  percent of the Medicare- versity. In 2019, the company agreed to
negotiated fee; for anesthesiologists it cancel $493.7 million in student debt
was 367 percent. The out-of-network for nearly 180,000 former students.
rates: 802 percent of the Medicare rate Forbes said investigations by states’
for anesthesiologists and 2,652 per- attorneys general and the U.S. Senate
cent for assistant surgeons. found that Career Education deceived
students about the total costs of en-
Last year, Congress proposed legis- rollment; misled students about the
lation allowing patients receiving care transferability of credits; and failed to
at in-network hospitals to pay only the disclose that certain programs lacked
in-network cost, even if an individual the necessary accreditation.
doctor is out of network. Patient ad-
vocates are eager to see it approved. The scandals didn’t start with Ca-
After all, it’s a clear matter of fairness. reer Education. In 2016, the largest for-
“You don’t pick these people. You profit educator, ITT Tech, was forced
don’t know them,” Karen Pollitz, a se- to close after it was learned that the
nior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foun- school had lured students with exag-
dation, told the Atlantic. “You learn gerated graduation and job-placement
their name when the bill comes.” figures. Dream Center Education
Holdings shut 41 campuses under the
An education on scams. names the Art Institutes and Argosy
You decide to enroll in a private for- University after improperly withhold-
profit college. The school is not as ing millions in financial aid from stu-
cheap as a public university, but dents, including veterans on the GI Bill.
its job-specific programs and flex-
ible schedule suit your work hours. At least these schools had teachers.
Reagan National University in Sioux

112 November 2020

Hill Street StudioS/getty imageS Falls, South Da- who defaulted on their federal loans.
kota, was accred- It’s no wonder that among the more
ited to teach in
2017, yet as of this than 1,230 campuses that closed over
past February, it the past five years, 88 percent were
had no students, operated by for-profit colleges. Ac-
no faculty, and no cording to the Chronicle of Higher
classrooms, ac- Education, roughly 450,000 displaced
cording to a joint for-profit college students, many of
report in USA To- whom are working adults living pay-
day and the Argus check to paycheck, had their hopes to
Leader. What it attain the American dream derailed.
does have is a link
to the University of Northern Virginia, “One class left,” read a quote in the
a suspected “visa mill” (a school that Chronicle from Lisa La More’s Face-
functions primarily to let foreign stu- book page after the Art Institute of
dents enter the United States). California’s San Diego campus shut
down recently. “Less than three weeks
It doesn’t get much better for stu- from my BS in Graphic and Web. Six
dents should they actually graduate. years of my life wasted. I am 48 years
As U.S. News & World Report points old, with teenage kids. What am I sup-
out, “degrees conferred by for-profit posed to do now?” RD
colleges often do not produce the
earning power graduates hope to
achieve” nor “the same educational
quality they may expect at nonprofit
colleges.” As such, students have dif-
ficulty finding jobs, let alone high-pay-
ing ones, which leads to trouble paying
off loans. The National Bureau of Eco-
nomic Research found that while only
6.7 percent of all college students were
enrolled in a for-profit school, they
made up 39 percent of college students

It’s What’s Inside That Counts
Ten out of one woman is a Russian nesting doll.

@meganamram

Rd.com 113

INSPIRATION

Why We
Should

Rest
on the
Sabbath

From Mother Ollie,
I learned that taking

time for yourself
is a divine rite too

By Margaret Renkl
AdApted from the new York times

My great-grandmother was
a lifelong Baptist. Mother
Ollie, as we called her, at-
tended Mass at my family’s Catho-
lic church in Birmingham, too, but
she never drifted from her quiet
adherence to the King James ways
of her youth.

114 November 2020 | rd.com

Reader’s Digest

Mother Ollie’s mementos
are reminders of a simpler,

slower time.

Photograph by EFirrisctRnayamneALnadstenrsaomne

Reader’s Digest

After church every Sunday, she papers to grade and lessons to plan.
went straight back to her room. On The peas in the basket on the back
other days, she was always busy— porch would not shell themselves.
shelling peas or snapping beans, Nevertheless, my people put work
crocheting or quilting or sewing. Her aside on Sunday to nap on a daybed or
foot-pedal Singer was in daily use sit on the porch and rock. They didn’t
until a few weeks before her death in ask themselves, as I do, whether they
1982, but she never sewed on Sunday. could “afford” to rest. God obliged
them to rest, and so they did.
When I went looking for her help
with a tatting project one Sunday af- WHAT IF RESTING,
ternoon, I found out why. Tatting is a ALL BY ITSELF,
kind of lace made of tiny knots tied in
very fine string. The trick is to tie the IS THE REAL ACT
right kind of knot without tangling OF HOLINESS?
the string into the wrong kind, but I
had made so many of the wrong knots Today, there are many people for
that I couldn’t even figure out how to whom this kind of Sabbath is not
unpick the tangle and start again. I an option. People who work double
found her sitting in a chair, her Bible shifts—or double jobs—truly can’t af-
in her lap. The book was very old, ford to rest. On the other hand, I could
with edges so worn they curved in- reorganize my life if I tried. I could
ward toward the pages, as soft as a focus on priorities, spend less time
puppy. I knocked on the open door. on things that matter little to me and
“Mother Ollie, can you help me with make more time for those that matter
this?” most. Yet somehow I have reached the
age of 57 without feeling any obliga-
“Not today, honey,” she said. “The tion to sit still.
Lord tells us not to work on the Sab-
bath.” And handwork, by definition, is That changed one day after I re-
work. turned home from a recent book tour.
I love meeting book people with all my
I don’t know anyone who takes heart, but by the end of the tour, all my
Sunday off anymore. If we aren’t do- body was in revolt.
ing professional work, we’re doing the
housework that won’t get done once I sat on the sofa with my laptop,
Monday comes. But it’s not as though planning to get started on the 90 mil-
the world stopped on Sunday back in lion e-mails that had piled up in my
Alabama either. The crops—and the absence, but instead I fell asleep. I
weeds—in my grandfather’s fields tried the wing chair next to the sofa
continued to grow, whatever the day.
My grandmother, a teacher, still had

116 November 2020

Inspiration

with no better results. When I found The next day, I didn’t even try to
myself looking at the one clear spot work. I took a walk around Radnor
on my desk as a good place to lay my Lake in Nashville, where I live, the
head, I gave up and went back to bed, best possible way to celebrate a day
rousing myself barely in time for sup- of rest. The temperatures had finally
per. Then I slept 11 hours more. dropped, the rains finally came, and
Middle Tennessee was serving up one
Nothing in the fourth command- fine October day after another.
ment identifies which day of the week
should be the Sabbath. It doesn’t even At Radnor, the beautyberries were
mention the need to attend church. Its gleaming in all their purple ripeness,
chief requirement is to rest. “Remem- and the asters and the snakeroots
ber the sabbath day, to keep it holy,” were still in bloom. Behind its mother,
reads Mother Ollie’s Bible. “Six days a fawn was foraging, its springtime
shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: spots just beginning to fade. A great
But the seventh day is the sabbath of blue heron was standing on a downed
the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not tree at the edge of the water, preening
do any work.” each damp, curling feather and sort-
ing it into place. A fallen log just off the
Reading those verses again made trail boasted a glorious crop of chicken
me wonder: What if resting, all by it- of the woods, and the seedpods of the
self, is the real act of holiness? What redbud trees were ripe and ready to
if honoring the gift of our only life burst. At the lake’s edge, the sound of
in this gorgeous world means tak- a lone cricket rose up from the skein
ing time every week to slow down? of vegetation next to one of the over-
To sleep? To breathe? The world has looks. Its song was as beautiful and as
never needed us more than it needs heart-lifting as any hymn. RD
us now, but we can’t be of much use
to it if we remain in a perpetual state New York Times (ocTober 21, 2019), copYrighT © 2019
of exhaustion and despair. bY New York Times, NYTimes.com.

Turkey Day Blues
If you’re ever feeling down on yourself, just remember how in 2018,
when I hosted Thanksgiving for my family, I told them to park in the wrong

spot and every single person’s car got towed.

@DXXNYA

My signature party dish is “The One I Realized I Totally Forgot to Put Out
After the Guests Were Gone.”

@copYmAmA

Rd.com 117

THE
GENIUS
SECTION

9 Pages to sharpen
Your Mind

118 November 2020

Reader’s Digest

YOUR BRAIN
WAS MADE FOR

WALKING

Creative inspiration is only a short stroll away

By Jeffrey Davis
From psychology today

Jarmo Piironen/Getty imaGes f a president, a legendary phi­ generating ideas. A Stanford Uni­
versity study found that participants
Ilosopher, and one of the best­ were 81 percent more creative when
selling authors of all time credited walking as opposed to sitting. Accord­
the same secret for their success, ing to the study, walking outside—
would you try to follow it too? versus on a treadmill—produces the
What if the secret was something you most novel and highest­quality analo­
already knew how to do? In fact, you gies in participants who walked and
probably do it every day. Here’s what then sat down to do creative work.
Friedrich Nietzsche wrote: “It is only Another famous­person example: As
ideas gained from walking that have part of his daily writing routine, Kurt
any worth.” Thomas Jefferson: “Walk­ Vonnegut would take a midmorning
ing is the best possible exercise. Ha­ break from his office to walk and then
bituate yourself to walk very far.” And swim before eventually returning to
Charles Dickens made his point with work. I would argue that this habit
uncharacteristic brevity: “If I could wasn’t just a habit but an intentional,
not walk far and fast, I think I should necessary element of his creative
just explode and perish.” process.

Are you still sitting there reading The movement aspect of walking
this? Get walking! It’s not just these is obviously key. You’ve probably
three great minds who made a case heard the phrase Exercise your creativ-
for it as a prime creativity booster. ity, which refers to the brain as mus­
Researchers have traced numerous cle. Our creative mindset is triggered
connections between walking and

Rd.com 119

Reader’s Digest The Genius Section

by physical movement, which is ex- ideas, to take in new sights, sounds,
actly why walking—with your dog, smells, and flavors. Shinrin-yoku, or
a friend, or alone—feeds creative “forest bathing,” is a common form
thinking. of relaxation and medicine in Japan.
It was developed in 1982, and recent
But the scenery is almost as impor- studies demonstrate that being in the
tant as the sweat. The National Hu- forest and walking among the trees
man Activity Pattern Survey reveals lowers your stress levels. The effects
that Americans spend 87 percent are so powerful that shinrin-yoku is
of their time indoors. Being inside, now a government-endorsed policy
you’re more prone to stagnation, the in Japan. But you don’t have to live
antithesis of energy. Without energy, near a forest to receive the psycho-
you can’t wonder or create. Disrupt- logical benefits. Research has shown
ing your routine with a walk can be that immersion in nature, and the cor-
a catalyst for garnering fresh insights responding disconnection from multi-
into problems or projects. Just by go- media and technology, increased
ing outside, you are stepping out of performance on a creative problem-
your habitual surroundings and your solving task by a full 50 percent in a
comfort zone, which is necessary if group of hikers.
you want to open your mind to new
possibilities. You can walk through So instead of setting a fitness goal,
a tree-filled neighborhood. You can why not set a creativity goal that starts
walk through a park and observe peo- with walking? Engage more closely
ple sauntering or birds singing. Even with your surroundings for the next
when you walk down a busy street, four weeks. Turn off your phone and
you can’t help but get distracted by give yourself the chance to be present
the sweet cinnamon smells wafting in the world, to hear conversations
from a food cart or the child pointing and natural sounds, to notice the way
to a building you hadn’t even noticed people move, the way the sun reflects
before. in a puddle. Walk not just for exercise.
Walk for wonder. RD
Our brains work harder to process
in different environments, so walking Psychology Today (december 28, 2018), coPyrighT
outside fosters our ability to glean new K 2018 by Jeffrey davis, PsychologyToday.com.

Did I Turn Off the Stove?
A journey of a thousand miles begins with running back

in the house for something you forgot.

@sTeveKoehler22

120 November 2020 | rd.com

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Reader’s Digest

BRAIN GAMES

3 1 2 4
6 5
Quick Crossword
easy In honor of Turkey 7
Day, put these parts of 8
the bird in the grid. 9

TAIL SNOOD
BEAK CROWN
SPUR WATTLE
KEEL CARUNCLE
BEARD FEATHERS

The Good Life

MediuM Each of five neighborhood dogs is enjoying one of the following activities.
Based on the clues, can you figure out what each pooch is doing?

Dogs Activities Sue Dohrin (The gooD life). noun projecT (DogS)
Saber Getting ears scratched
Ginger Playing catch
Nutmeg Taking a nap
Pepper Burying a chew toy
Bear Going for a walk

Clues:
✦ Pepper is either playing catch or

burying a chew toy.
✦ Neither Ginger nor Saber nor Bear is

on a walk.
✦ One of the dogs named after a spice is

getting her ears scratched (and loving it).
✦ A dog who is not named for a spice is

playing catch.
✦ Bear is getting some exercise.

122 November 2020

The Genius Section

Hidden Hues Cryptic Equations
Easy The names of six different colors are hidden MEDiuM Each letter (A–G)
between consecutive words in the silly story below. has one of the seven val-
Can you find them all? Example: Much art reuses ues listed below. No two
themes and motifs from previous eras. (chartreuse) letters have the same
value. Match each letter to
Sure, it’s fancy and all, but my brother’s car lets out a a number to make the
strange noise when you start it. I find I go too hard on him equations work.
sometimes, but he did waste a lot of money customizing
the exterior, only to leave the generic rims on it and forgo 2 4 5 6 7 8 11
all routine maintenance.
B+E= G
? ? ? ?? ? G −D = C
Jeff widderich (cogs). Marcel danesi (cryptic equations). eMily goodMan (hidden hues). noun proJect (car) F÷A=D
56 C − B=A
9
For more Brain Games,
8 go to rd.com
56 /crosswords.
8

7
Cogs
Difficult These four cogs are going to help you crack a safe. Naturally, when you turn
one cog, the other three move as well. Imagine you turn all four the number of notches
specified in the center of each cog in the direction indicated. The teeth that are then
positioned next to the circles reveal a four-digit safe combination. What is it?

78 2 78 1
13 92

34
1

9
45
1

9
2354

3 67 3 56
24 24

For answers, turn to page 127.

Rd.com 123

Reader’s Digest The Genius Section

WORD POWER 9. hyperbole n.
(hi-'per-buh-lee)
November is a bibliophile’s dream: A overstatement.
The National Book Award winners B understatement.
will be announced, and it’s National Novel C nonsense word.
Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo—no
kidding). Test your literacy with 10. elegy n.
these book-related words, then flip to ('el-uh-jee)
A scientific paper.
page 126 for answers. B mournful poem.
C beautiful quotation.
By Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon
11. tome n.
1. abridged adj. 5. omnibus n. (tohm)
(uh-'brijd) ('ahm-nih-bus) A horror story.
A adapted. A road atlas. B poetry slam.
B shortened. B collection. C large book.
C translated. C paperback.
12. vignette n.
2. riffle v. 6. scrivener n. (vin-'yet)
('rih-full) ('skrih-vuh-ner) A comedic play.
A skim. A critic. B short scene.
B brainstorm. B writer. C reading glasses.
C copy from. C bookbinder.
13. analogy n.
3. saga n. 7. stanza n. (uh-'nal-uh-jee)
('sah-guh) ('stan-zuh) A travel blog.
A beach read. A romance. B symbolism.
B memoir. B library shelf. C comparison.
C heroic tale. C poem part.
14. epigraph n.
4. prosaic adj. 8. lexicon n. ('eh-puh-graf)
(pro-'zay-ik) ('leks-ih-kahn) A opening quotation.
A uplifting. A dictionary. B illustrated guide.
B dull. B villain. C words said for the
C overly wordy. C twisty plot.
dead.

15. synopsis n.
(suh-'nop-suss)
A Greek drama.
B brief summary.
C cast of characters.

124 November 2020 | rd.com

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Reader’s Digest

When a Book Is a Bouquet

A collection of poems, essays, or stories is an anthology, from
the Greek anthos (flower) and logia (collection), perhaps referring
to the gathering of flowery verses into one volume. If you want to
feel fancy—and even more floral—you can also call such a book a
florilegium (from the Latin florilegus, meaning “culling flowers”).

Word Power Tim published his first 12. vignette (b) EskEmar/GEtty ImaGEs
bestseller in his fifties. short scene. The novel’s
ANSWERS central mystery is
7. stanza (c) poem part. revealed through a series
1. abridged (b) “What does the imagery of seemingly unrelated
shortened. Peter read an in the second stanza tell vignettes.
abridged version of War us?” the professor asked
and Peace right before the class. 13. analogy (c)
his book club meeting. comparison. As a long-
8. lexicon (a) dictionary. time football coach, my
2. riffle (a) skim. Armed with a bilingual dad often uses the sport
Work has been so busy, lexicon and a pot of as an analogy for life.
I’ve barely had time to coffee, Ginny spent all
riffle through my inbox. night cramming for her 14. epigraph (a)
French final. opening quotation. The
3. saga (c) heroic tale. book’s epigraph comes
The latest Avengers saga 9. hyperbole (a) from a Stevie Wonder
was a box office smash. overstatement. Since song.
you’re my only sibling,
4. prosaic (b) dull. In I can say without 15. synopsis (b) brief
her weekly newspaper hyperbole that you’re summary. Here’s a
column, Mina can make the best brother I’ve synopsis of Moby Dick:
even the most prosaic ever had! It’s about a whale.
subjects feel profound.
10. elegy (b) mournful Vocabulary Ratings
5. omnibus (b) collection. poem. Billy composed 9 & below: scribbler
Priya settled into an an elegy for Lee—his 10–12: wordsmith
armchair with an omni- dearly departed goldfish. 13–15: laureate
bus of medieval poetry.
11. tome (c) large book.
6. scrivener (b) writer. I can’t believe you’re
An amateur scrivener using my antique Tolkien
since middle school, tome as a doorstop.

126 November 2020

The Genius Section

BRAIN GAMES Make
ANSWERS Lauusgh!

See page 122.

Quick Crossword
ACROSS
2. BEAK
3. SPUR
5. CARUNCLE
6. SNOOD
8. WATTLE
9. KEEL

DOWN
1. CROWN
2. BEARD
4. FEATHERS
7. TAIL

The Good Life Caption Contest
Saber is taking a nap,
Ginger is getting her ears What’s your clever description for this
scratched, Nutmeg is picture? Submit your funniest line at
going for a walk, Pepper RD.COM/CAPTIONCONTEST. Winners will
is burying a chew toy, and appear in a future Photo Finish (PAGE 128).
Bear is playing catch.

anisah_priyadi/Getty imaGes Hidden Hues Reader’s Digest (ISSN 0034-0375) (USPS 865-820), (CPM Agreement# 40031457), Vol. 196, No.
cyan (fancy and), scarlet 1165, November 2020. © 2020. Published monthly, except bimonthly in July/August and
(brother’s car lets), December/January (subject to change without notice), by Trusted Media Brands, Inc., 44 South
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Rd.com 127

Reader’s Digest The Genius Section Brent HumpHreys/redux

PHOTO FINISH

Your Funniest captions

Winner
This month’s installment of “Who Wore It Best?”

—Sarah Sumsion Mapleton, Utah
Runners-Up

“How many times do I have to go over this, Karen? It’s kick, kick, twirl!”
—Ben Irvin Fort Collins, Colorado

“OK, one more time: When I say give me a p, I don’t mean that.”
—Ella Velthoen Modesto, California

To enter an upcoming caption contest, see the photo on page 127.
128 november 2020 | rd.com

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