November 2020 – Snyder's Soapbox

My friend, and coworker, Kurtis Kissel of the, “WritersShoppe” on etsy refurbishes, and sells vintage fountain pens in his spare time. We were talking, and the subject of fountain pens came up. I didn’t know that he restored vintage pens, and I hadn’t used one. I was bemoaning the fact that there are no more truly American pen companies making pens in America. He offered to give me a refurbished pen in exchange for a review of his work, and the quality of the pens. I’m not going to turn away a free pen. Sheesh! Who does that?

When Kurt came to visit, he brought me two pens made in America during the 1950’s. One was a maroon colored, hooded nib, vacumatic, Parker pen. The other was a grey colored, Esterbrook, lever filled pen.

The deal was, I review the two pens, and keep the one I liked the most as payment. After using the two pens, I offered to pay him for the other one. I liked both pens. I don’t have beautiful handwriting, but I’ve included a couple of pictures of some writing so you can see how wet/dry the pens write, and how broad/fine the nibs are. The Parker seems to write a bit more wet, and the nib has some flex to it. It has a bit more give to it as you write. The line width can vary with pressure.

The Esterbrook was a finer nib, that is significantly more rigid. They were both pretty light weight, and small compared to some modern pens. It was only a bit scratchy on certain papers. On my Apica notebook it was smooth. I enjoyed the aesthetics of the Esterbrook the most.

Both pens were cleaned, and repaired so that they functioned properly. They reminded me of the era in history when they were made, and most likely used. I thought about the soldiers who came home from WWII using the pen to sign a mortgage, write letters, sign checks for bills, and otherwise communicate in a pre-internet world. Back then a person wouldn’t call long distance unless it was necessary. It cost extra to call long distance. There were no smart phones, no text messaging, no social media. You had to put pen to paper, and use the mail.

Most pens from this era are all scratched us, and dented, or missing the cap, or clip. These pens are complete. The Esterbrook’s hardware shows its age, but is fully functioning, and does add to the history of the pen.

You can see some additional pictures here. If you’d like to shop for your own piece of history go visit my friend’s shop the, “WritersShoppe” “The art of personal expression” If you have never used a fountain pen, and are wondering what all the interest is about lately, ask your question in the comments section. There is something about putting down your own notes, experimenting with expression through handwriting, or connecting with history, that enriches the human experience. I encourage you, if you have the means, to give it a try. There are also many different colors, and types of ink to try.

Here is a copy of an e-mail I sent to some coworkers, and friends who are Christian. Maybe it will help you.

As many of you already know, the death rate is far lower than originally projected. Many of us know someone, or know of someone who has died of the virus. Several of us have had the virus. I want to give you a little ray of sunshine. If you look at the numbers as of today, 10,513,068 people in America have tested positive since they started keeping track almost a year ago. This is not the number of active cases, even though that is how it seems to be presented by the media. The total number of deaths in America has been listed as 242,527. We know that this number has been inflated, and is actually lower. How much lower, I do not know. To give the doom, and gloom squad the benefit of the doubt, we’ll use that number. The next number we will look at is the number of Americans who have recovered from the virus. As we know, this number is dramatically under-reported by the media. In reality, you either recover, or die within a month. So it is obvious they have not kept pace with all the recoveries. For some reason they don’t track, or report accurately on the number of recovered cases. Perhaps it would seem to lead to a different narrative than the one we are being presented?

In my house, when I had the virus, I was the only one tested. After I came down with it, I promptly infected everyone else. My wife, 32 year old son, and 20 year old daughter all caught it. Since they weren’t tested, their numbers didn’t get recorded, or added to the total number of confirmed cases. The clinic would not test them. They told them to stay home and quarantine. I understand that this is pretty typical. Also, around 50% of the people are asymptomatic. If you take these factors into consideration, the real number of people who had the virus is more likely 3 times the official amount, and the government knows it. That would be approximately 31,539,204 people who have had the virus. If we divide the number of people who have died, by the number of people who have had the virus, we get .76% mortality rate. In other words, 99.24% of all people, in all age groups, with all kinds of diseases, and pre-existing conditions survive the virus. Tell me again why we are going through all of this? Why are we shutting down jobs, and families? Why are we wearing useless masks? Don’t get me started on masks. Have you seen what kind of gear they wear in labs that work on viruses?

Don’t let your emotions, and fear take over. Trust God. Even during the bubonic plague when mortality rates were around 50% Christians still went into sick homes, and ministered to dying people. This virus is not the same, but Christians should have the same message. God is sovereign. He is in control. Even this is in His will. We all are guilty sinners, and deserve suffering, death, and hell. If He has determined to bring me home by catching a virus, so be it. It doesn’t change the fact that people need to hear the gospel. They need to be warned, they are sinners, just like you and I. We will stand before God on judgment day. We will have no excuse for our sins. We must repent, and trust the justifying work of Jesus, His life, death, and resurrection. Be found in Christ on the day of your judgment, and live with Him in glory. Don’t fear the virus, fear God, and live!

“The way to Heaven is ascending; we must be content to travel uphill, though it be hard and tiresome, and contrary to the natural bias of our flesh.” ― Jonathan Edwards