There’s a new event happening in Tyler this summer and it has the potential to draw a lot of attendees. It doesn’t happen until July 3rd but it’s the kind of thing I don’t often find out about until the morning of, so I thought this time I’d get out in front of this one. Of course I’m alluding to the “Wing’s Over Tyler Air Show.
The last few years the Historical Aviation Memorial Museum (HAMM) has sponsored what they call a static air show, which is essentially vintage and current military aircraft on display for the public. As fascinating as those shows were, this year’s show is complete with actual aeronautical and acrobatic performances by an assortment of pilots and aircraft. Now I’ve had the opportunity to attend some fairly major air shows in Houston and New Orleans, and I don’t expect this show to be on the scale of those larger events. However, it promises to be a tremendous occasion for our area. It’s also wonderfully timed coming on the weekend of the fourth of July. I find this to be a far more interesting and educational way to celebrate the nation’s independence, than simply pilling in the back of a truck and heading up to Lindsey Field to take in the fireworks. Not that there’s anything wrong with fireworks, but they do tend to lose their luster as I get older. I know my son and I are already looking forward to attending the air show.
There are a number of area groups sponsoring the show, including: the City of Tyler, the Chamber of Commerce, the Historical Aviation Memorial Museum, the Tyler Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Tyler Jet Center. There are also opportunities for other businesses to get in on the sponsorships. Gates will open at nine, but performances won’t actually kickoff until one. For more information on this great new event, visit the Wings Over Tyler, webpage at http://www.wingsovertylerairshow.com
Our society has become more and more transient. Fewer people today actually live or stay in the town in which they were born or grew up. In my parent’s generation, men worked for a single company their entire lives in the hopes of retiring and “getting the gold watch.” Today no one seems to work for the same company for much more than five to ten years before deciding it’s time to advance their career elsewhere. The internet, smart phones, lap top computers, ipads and innumerable other technologies have added to our increased mobility. We are a society more on the go than ever before. This mobility (which is both good and bad I think) has even impacted our religious life. It used to be that parishioners were generally life- long members of a particular church. Members were baptized, married and had their children baptized in the same communities. Historically church records have recorded the stories of families for generations. Unfortunately this too is changing. Today people change churches like they do jobs. The effect is often that newer younger churches offer a watered down message in favor of increased music or greater media content. Unfortunately, age old traditions, and important doctrines are often lost to younger Christians. Overall the church (meaning the church universal encompassing all denominations) has done a poor job teaching younger Christians the faith.