Idle American: Never say never - sometimes

Whoops! I almost used the age-old idiom about never saying never. First in print back in the 14th century, it was featured in 2020 as background music for the popular movie, The Karate Kid. It is familiar to the masses, and that’s well and good for most of us. But not all.

Brian Janak, my friend of some 40 years, may choose a condensed version of the idiom, feeling that his circumstances warrant at least one mulligan. He maintains that “sometimes say never” may be a more accurate claim for him, and later in the column, we’ll understand why.

It’s perfectly understandable why a person would be shaken to the core as he was recently upon learning (from a half-brother he didn’t know previously) the REAL cause of his mother’s death. She fell victim to her husband’s alcoholic rage 57 years ago when Brian was only 19 months old.

Basically without love or direction during formative years, Brian and his half-sister, who is eight years older, were buddies until she fled the scene to join the army when he was 10 years old. Evicted with their dad from a shabby apartment, they once lived for 60 days was a self-storage rental, him thinking his mom had died of liver cancer. Adversity awaited at every turn. Most meals taken at home for several years were simple - ketchup on bread.

Here’s where I want to introduce one of his several “never say never” claims. Remember, they are subject to change, now and later.

“I’ll never eat ketchup again,” was his solemn pledge for almost 50 years.

That was then, then is NOW.

Married to a woman who was a middle school classmate, he and Hanh have two children, both highly successful in their educational pursuits.

Son Nathan, now a student at the University of Southern California, already has been approved for admission to the university’s masters degree program in public policy, and daughter Kyla, who graduated with a 3.7 grade point average last year from The University of Texas, is now employed by Kraft Heinz, on the fast track of the company’s training program.

Uh oh! The Heinz part of the company has the lion’s share of ketchup sales worldwide, and Kyla, currently immersed in mayonnaise research, likely will later delve into ketchup’s contents.

Fearing that his denigration of ketchup might become known, Brian has altered his views on it, and now he’s working hard to develop an appreciation that was disrupted a long time ago when ketchup was bread’s only companion for too many meals.

Now, he splashes ketchup on most dishes. After all, he wants to make his daughter proud!

To keep ketchup front and center, he’s likely to unpack some old lines about it. One short poem by the late Richard Armour reads: “Shake it, shake it, ketchup bottle. None will come, and then a lot’ll.”

And how about this challenge? Let us all strive to be like green tomatoes. As long as we’re green, we grow. It’s when we think that we’re ripe that we start to get rotten.

Clearly, he’s serious about changing his views of “never say never,” now believing that a 180-degree pivot is in order.

Though he’s put aside his former dislike for ketchup, he’s still making strong pledges. Now knowing the impact of alcoholism that rocked all of the lives of his family, he says that alcohol will never again cross his lips.

Never formerly more than a social drinker, Brian is a wonderful citizen, husband and father, totally committed to his Christian faith. He runs deep. I believe that he’ll embrace ketchup and forego using alcohol in all forms for the rest of the way. He does have a request for his final meal, a simple

sandwich, with Heinz ketchup, of course.

Dr. Newbury, longtime president of Howard Payne University, lives in the Metroplex with Brenda, his wife of 60 years. Website: www.speakerdoc.com. Phone: 817-447-3872.

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