Whatcha Watchin’ – Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Wisdom from an unexpected place

November 18, 2025

It is often referred to as the Boob Tube. This is for a good reason. Many have lost themselves in the surreal pastime of watching TV and have not allowed their minds to expand by experiencing the world around them. The crazes of cell phones, Pokémon Go, and numerous selfie accidents demonstrate how easily video devices can turn normally intelligent beings into stumbling and falling imbeciles.

Have you had incidents where you gained wisdom from this most unexpected source? When you are my age, and every time you go into the hospital, they give you yellow socks, and you start to feel your age. The wisdom I have gained over these decades enables me to tell the doctors no when they ask if I’ve fallen in the last three months.

We learn from our mistakes is an old saying. I am not sure that the generations following me have learned from the errors committed by my age group. Just as many teenagers started smoking as did when I was there. I watched an older brother throw up the first time he took a drag. I said that it was not for me.

I had friends in high school who stayed out drinking because their parents did not pay attention to what they were doing. Mine did, and I knew not to try it. The punishment would fit the crime.

I drove fast, but because I wasn’t smoking or drinking, I was able to stay undistracted. I did date, and that made it hard to keep my mind on the road. But because the parents of the girls I dated told me to be careful, I was.

When I graduated from high school, I thought I was smart. Then I got married and we had children, and I realized I did not know anything. There is a quotation by Mark Twain that says the same thing. I never realized how smart Uncle Sam was.

Wisdom comes from the Lord according to the Bible. I believe he uses everyday situations to teach us, if we pay attention. Some of us are too poor to pay attention. Think about it. You will get the joke, eventually.

Messing things up is part of the human experience. Just be sure that when you do, you live through it. I’ve been fortunate. I’ve survived my own and others’ mistakes as well. Some were easy to identify as near misses, while most are things that I will never know about.

Listen to your elders and watch for signs. I mean street signs, road signs like speed limits, and avoid running red lights. Like driving drunk, these things will catch up with you, and others’ problems may catch you as well.

Love in thirty days

October 31, 2025

We just watched another Christmas rom-com in which a couple who start out disagreeing about everything decide they are in love in thirty days or less. This is not reality, or is it? Some believe in love at first sight. There is also the concept of “falling in love.”

Cindy and I began dating in October. By the time I left in June of the next year, we were engaged. That was fifty years ago. Was it love at first sight? No. I realized I loved her after a few weeks and asked her to marry me because I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her.

I asked her out because I liked her. I guess you could say it was like at first sight. The more I got to know her, the more I enjoyed being with her. I decided to love her because I could not imagine my life without her in it. That took longer than thirty days. Not much more, that may be true.

We did not start fighting or disliking each other. We have our squabbles and disagreements from time to time. I learned this from living in a family where love was exhibited every day. Mom and Dad also had disagreements. I remember Mom throwing dishes at my father once.

Romantic comedies, either in movies, TV, or books, must include certain elements of storytelling. Real life may be your story, but it does not have the plot points and character traits that we include in fiction. Life is life, and fiction is fiction. Romance is not necessarily what an author or script writer thinks that it is.

Love is what a couple desires it to be between themselves. What you consider romantic or loving in your relationships may be different from what others would call these descriptors. Dr. Gary Chapman defined five love languages in his books. These methods of communicating love are not accepted by everyone.

Some show love by words of affirmation, receiving gifts, quality time, acts of service, or physical touch. There have been jokes made about what a love language is. Portuguese is not a love language mentioned by Dr. Chapman.

You and your spouse may have a different story from ours. If you believe that you “fell in love” at “first sight,” I would like to hear your story. Comment below to share it with me. If you do not wish to share it with my readers, include that in your comment, and I will not release it to anyone else.

Just $19.00 per month

May 19, 2025

That is the price to help children at two different hospital groups. Many veterans’ organizations also ask for this amount to help their clients. I will not list these. You might think I am telling you not to support these groups. I am sure many of the ads asking you for these monthly contributions are doing a great deal of good.

The problem is that not all television ads and very few internet requests are investigated by anyone to determine where these funds are going. The amounts are not always under twenty dollars. You are targeted online for organizations like the ones you may currently be supporting.

I want to show you how to confirm that you are helping not-for-profit groups that are good stewards of your money. When I say good stewardship, I mean doing everything to use the money donated effectively for the purpose for which they state they collect money.

Many charities have been investigated over the years and have been found to have outrageous benefits for staff. Some have used funds for types of services that do not match what they advertise.

I remember years ago hearing of a major organization that paid their CEO millions of dollars a year and continued to advertise for volunteers and donors telling the public that they needed money to help others. When this information came out the group lost workers, funding, and respect.

If they had been upfront and honest with those who supported them, they would not have had the problems they did. Other nonprofits were formed around the country to provide the same services they had. Locals believed they could not trust national businesses that were disconnected from them.

Many of these grassroots groups are still thriving. The original company is distrusted by many of us. I am one of many who still remember this and other scandals.

There have also been para-church ministries that were involved in bad publicity of a similar nature. Whenever I see an advertisement for assisting any group of people or other types of good deeds, I am suspicious. Before I send money to anyone, I need to know who they are and where my money is going.

I have recently heard on the news about a person who created a GoFundMe page to collect money for people who had been through a tragedy. They were given a small portion of the money contributed. She is now being forced to pay them the money she wasted.

Once again, I must remind you that I would send no money to anyone I do not know personally. I contribute directly to those who need assistance. I will not allow money to be taken from my debit or credit card for a retailer that has a foundation that does something. If they want to fund a foundation, take the money out of their profits.

Be watching for a column that is related to this. I am entitling it “The Man with the Twisted Lip.” It also deals with how you might want to use your money. The title is based on a Sherlock Holmes story. I hope you will watch out for it.

It’s in the book

October 22, 2024

There was an old radio skit by one of those comedians seldom mentioned anymore. His name is Johhny Standley. His fame came in 1952 with the release of his recording, “It’s in the book.” I remember hearing it on the radio as a child. You know the type of story. Wayne Glenn played it on “The Old Record Collector” on Saturday mornings on KTXR radio in the 80s and 90s.

Andy Griffith became famous when he told us, “What it was was football.” This was in 1953. He followed Johnny Standley’s format as a comedian and told a tale from the viewpoint of a country boy. Standley took the persona of an old-time preacher complete with closing song. Deacon Andy went on to become famous as Andy Taylor and then as Ben Matlock. Last week I saw a new Matlock show. Life is a progression and that is what this column is about.

In the 1950’s almost everyone responded to these epic comedy records because they came from what we knew. It was familiar to us. Today it appears strange. Everyone knows “Little Bo-Peep” and football. Why were these skits popular? They were funny. They were different from what they heard before.

Television was new and this type of humor converted from radio and recordings to TV with little difficulty. When I retired my ministry changed from the workplace to the internet and instead of talking to dozens of people in a day, I now write to a potential audience of thousands. At least a couple of hundred. I hope.

Your life and experience are changing. Can you go with the flow? All you must do is be flexible. Do not get pushed around by the crowd as young Andy did. Be a leader or a follower and do not let others force you into a path you do not want to take.

In 1970, I got my driver’s license. I dropped Mom at home and went to Dog ‘N Suds drive-in to see Frank Costello about a job. He said they had no openings. As I was leaving, he asked why I had come there. My response was that he had employed my brother three years before. When he heard I was Sam’s brother, I filled out an application and started two days later. I was a fry cook. I became the best fry cook I could.

Three years later I became the best screw installer I could be. I worked on final line five at Zenith Radio Corporation in Springfield, Missouri and helped build console televisions. I was in manufacturing. All I did was install five screws and hang a tuner. I hated it. At the end of eighty-nine days, I turned in my resignation and went back to college determined to never work in a factory again.

A year later my dream of becoming a reporter became a desire to become a minister and I transferred to Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, Missouri from Southwest Missouri State University. My plan had been to go to the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia. That was what I thought I wanted.

God wanted me to spend my next two years learning to study His word and how to lead others to learn what He wanted them to do. Fifty years ago, I began that journey. He opened many opportunities for me. I have served as a student pastor, salesman, purchasing agent, manager, teacher, husband, father, guide, friend, and mentor.

Now I have time to share all my experience with you, dear reader. I hope you realize the potential that God has given to you to be what He wants you to become. The possibilities are endless and yes, the saying is still true. It’s in the book. Join me as we explore it.

Lying in politics

October 18, 2024

You know the old saying, “How can you tell when a politician is lying. His mouth is moving.” Yes, that was a lawyer. I know this is probably a century or more old. Certain people seem predisposed to lying. They do not belong to any one group as we may view them. There are politicians, businesspeople, used car salespeople, and every conceivable profession that will be honest or not.

I can point out a few men and women who are running in the election who have or are openly lying about themselves. We all believe that our opinions about the issues are correct. I will not argue those opinions. I am talking about statements and claims made by these candidates.

One claimed he was not a politician during the first election he ran in. The definition of a politician is one involved in politics. Specifically running for an elected office makes you a politician. He also promised us that he was not and would never be a professional politician. He ran for a second position before his first term was completed. These are two lies.

Check the promises that are being made. Some want you to accept that they will do things that we all want them to. Stating that you want these things accomplished is wonderful. Claiming you can do them the first day you are in the office is a lie. Either they know this is a lie or they are not smart enough to represent us.

Another has been convicted of crimes. This must be part of his strategy to be elected so that he can pardon himself if his appeals fail. Whether or not I think that this candidate is guilty is not the point

I am not telling you their names because the ones I know about are not the only candidates spreading falsehoods. I am sorry if you support these liars. I hope you will look at each candidate you intend to vote for. Remember that the general election is on the fifth of November. Our time is running out to decide how to vote before then.

In Missouri, we will also have many issues on our ballot. My best advice on this is for you to find the bill or amendment as it is written. Do not listen to those who support or oppose any amendment or item. They also seem to not be able to tell the truth. They want you to view their “facts” as true.

I’ll give you a couple of examples. In Missouri where I live, Amendment 3 to our constitution will make all abortions legal. Proponents claim that currently, doctors cannot help women who are having problem pregnancies. Some OBs say this is correct. Others have stated that they continue to care for their patients as they always have. Ladies, ask your doctor what they believe. They are the ones to whom you should listen.

Two other amendments are about gambling. One small city wants its own casino boat, which is legal in this state. They want to change our constitution to allow this. My reading of the original wording of the amendment makes me believe that it will open the door for many more casinos than are currently allowed by our existing statutes. This is Amendment 5 on our ballot.

The other gambling bill is Amendment 2. This will allow sports betting not just at our few casinos, but online. The supporters of this issue claim we will see ten million dollars for our schools in the first five years. The casino owners oppose this and claim our schools will receive nothing. Both gambling proponents are lying. If you want to bet on athletic events or go to a casino, vote for these bills.

Do not believe that our teachers, schools, or students will benefit from taxes on this. Three other times voters have approved gambling that was supposed to benefit not-for-profit organizations or schools and the exorbitant claims were found to be incorrect. I believe those who accept these statements will determine how they were duped within the five years for which the prediction has been made.

Check all the facts. Read the legislation and the claims of the candidates. Those who have been in office should find it easy to verify their claims. The difficult ones are those like our current senior senator who ran for auditor eight years ago on a platform of not being a politician. He failed to complete that term because he won the nomination to oppose a sitting senator who was running for her third term.

Remember that I am a non-partisan voter. I will not vote for a bad candidate when his or her party wants to force me to accept someone who shows themselves to be a liar. I will not accept who you choose. If your party does not nominate a decent candidate, I will find a qualified person elsewhere. This may be the election that more folks who are not Republicrats or Demicans will fill the positions. See you at the polls.

Feel Good Ads

August 20, 2024

I’ve written about commercials that I find stupid or offensive. I would like to tell you about some of my favorites that promote happiness and health. Have you seen the Jardiance spots that promote this diabetes medication? They are an old-style musical song and dance production. If you don’t like musicals, you will not enjoy them.

Another good one is the Make-A-Wish advertisement with the little girl roping and pulling a star. She takes it to a window in a hospital room. She wants the star to grant the wish for another kid who needs hope and encouragement.

One thing that makes me feel good is music. I like a good advertising jingle or an old familiar song used in a new way. I am not talking about the mattress commercial that uses three words “all night long” from a song. I mean the songs that I grew up with. If an ad uses music from the sixties or seventies, it gets my attention.

That is what they are trying to do. Get our attention. Sell their products. We have a free economy. You can sell someone a rock and call it a pet. You can make a doll, give it a name and a birth certificate, and sell it for ten times what it costs to make. Don’t sell people stock certificates to a company that doesn’t exist. You might go to jail for that.

Advertising and propaganda are the same thing. Advertising is good. Propaganda is bad. They attempt to do the same things. Convince you that you need something they have. Propaganda sells ideologies. Advertising sells products.

Political commercials are propaganda. They want you to believe the half-truths and misinformation that they spread. That guy is a communist. He voted for higher taxes. No one wants higher taxes. We all hate commies, or is it anarchists this week? Put an old song in the background and we might listen to your commercial.

I need another song. I need to stop writing about what some commercials want me to believe and just relax and listen to the Beach Boys, Elvis, or the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. I think I need a new mattress. All night long.

Someone Please Love Me

March 27, 2024

When it debuted in 1974 my family watched “Little House on the Prairie” because Laura’s stories were some of my mother’s favorites. Between Zane Grey and Laura Ingles Wilder, I don’t think she could decide which she liked best. Grey wrote more prolifically than Mrs. Wilder. Mom had all the Little House books in her collection. She was always finding a new Grey Western that she did not remember having read.

I remember her telling me about a couple of books she had found that were new. She told me that as she started reading, they were the same stories she read before with different names.

Michael Landon produced the TV series and even wrote some of the episodes. Many were not original tales by Laura. I just watched this episode. IMDB shows it from season one, episode twenty-two. The synopsis says: “While out of town to buy horses, Charles Ingalls boards with Brett Harper, a man who is emotionally withdrawn from his unhappy family and trying to lose himself in work and whiskey, blaming himself for the accidental death of his oldest son in a riding accident four years earlier.”

This episode first aired on March 5^th, 1979. I have never seen it before. Why did God make me wait over forty-five years before he chose to show me some of His truths that are reflected in this story? Michael Landon is the screenwriter and as I said previously this was not one of Laura’s memories that she had recorded.

The theme is love. The love of a man for his wife and children and a woman for her husband and children. The death of a child often drives a couple apart and that is the plot here. This story would at first seem to be one where Charles is put in a dangerous situation.

Brett Harper is a horse breeder. Charles is sent to him to purchase ten horses by a very tight-fisted man. These characters are completely new to the series. We see none of the other regulars in the series in this episode. Michael used four main characters to draw from Charles Ingalls what we all know and love about him. He is a good and understanding man, a good father, and a friend even to strangers.

Mr. Harper invites Mr. Ingalls into his home while his crew gathers over a thousand horses for the army. Laura’s dad gets the best of that group. Of course, that means he stays with them for a few days. As you watch he becomes a surrogate father to this man’s kids. He comments on the wife’s pretty hands.

After his compliment, she sees him as a possible replacement for her grieving husband. Landon maneuvers his tale to sweetly point her back to the man that she knows she still loves if he will only give her the chance to help him. After four years of running from the anger at himself for the death of his oldest son, he decides that he will try again to let her help him gain control over alcohol and depression.

The wife is going to leave with Charles to move her children to town away from her husband. Ingalls decides that their leaving is not best for her husband. He escorts her back into the house and takes the kids from the wagon. As Laura’s father drives away, we hear in Melissa Gilbert’s voice the telling of a letter that was received two years later. A fourth child was born to the couple. A son they named Charles.

As a writer, I learned much from this script. You can start your plot the way others have before you. How your characters act must be consistent with who they are. The way the story concludes is yours. That is what I want you to hear today. You may have made bad choices in your life. It is still yours and you can change it.

Friends and family

February 28, 2024

I want to talk to you about some things today. The first is family and friends. I am fortunate that I have had a lot of family all my life. I have two older brothers and a younger sister thanks to my mom and dad. In addition, there was an abundance of aunts, uncles, and cousins. Many are now gone, but each generation is larger than the last.

The truth is that we are not as close as we once were. We have family reunions and attend funerals and sometimes even weddings. Not like we used to. The youngest generation doesn’t seem to marry as often as we did. Some of my cousins got married two or three times each. We all just tend to die once and recently we are living longer. I know it isn’t due to healthy living.

What brought on this wave of nostalgia? A commercial about one of these delivery services. A lady is lying in her bed and there is some unidentifiable noise and movement around her. The camera pans back and her bed is caught between two automatic doors. The voice-over says, “If you can’t take your bed to the store” then they will bring whatever you need to you.

Guess what, isn’t that what friends and family are for? In the bad old days before smartphone apps, you just picked up the phone plugged into the wall and called family or a friend to bring you what you needed.

We are suffering from violence, attacks, and other crimes on more people than ever. There seems to be no way to avoid this. My wife and I seldom leave our home at night. We have a security system at our place, and we know our neighbors. We feel secure in our home.

Do we need to have random strangers coming to our homes bringing groceries, medications, and prepared foods? There are cases where these random strangers return later, and you are no longer safe. If I do not know you, I won’t invite you into my home.

We go out to pick up carry-out. We do not choose Door Ditch, Pan Handle Pete, or Consta Cart to bring things to us. We occasionally ask our pharmacy to deliver prescriptions. We used to call the pizza place for delivery until the drivers looked like the perps on Blue Bloods or the undercover cops from Chicago PD. We have taken medicines to our kids for their kids or themselves. Especially when they were quarantined during the COVID-19 crisis.

Have you seen the original Crocodile Dundee movie? You know, the one named “Crocodile Dundee.” There is a scene in it where Dundee is told that the reporter, he is visiting in New York needs to go to a therapist. Mick doesn’t understand. He asks, “Don’t you have any mates?”

Friends and family or mates used to help each other out. They still do in some communities. Our neighbors, church community, and close family still do. I’ve been called by cousins and friends to officiate at weddings and funerals as well as get someone to a doctor or take food to them when they are ill. It costs us money not to have people we trust and on whom we can depend.

The next time you need something and can’t go get it for yourself, stop and think of whom you can call to bring it to you. Can’t think of anyone? How about one of those that you did the same thing for last week? It’s been a while since you helped someone else? Maybe that is the problem?

Sunday night

February 12, 2023

My wife and I are planning to have a nice evening at home tonight. We will prepare cashew chicken, watch television, not football, and not watch a half-time show. As far as I am concerned, there is no football game being aired.

I am not a football fan, as you can tell. Actually, I do not like any sports. I have two older brothers that watched baseball and thought talking about sports was a manly thing to do. I never cared about that, and I dislike all the babble about the stupid bowl that has been going on for two weeks.

They were forced to take me along with them when they went out to play. I was always picked last for any team. That was never an enjoyable time.

My brothers were Cardinal fans. In 1969 I predicted that the New York Mets would win the world series. They told me that I was crazy. I was right. I must admit that I had made that prediction for several years because the Mets were in the basement. I did it just to make them angry.

If you are a football or sports fan, that is all right for you. Don’t expect me to get all warm and fuzzy about grown men playing games and making money doing it. Let’s find common ground between us.

If I had to choose a team to win THE BIG GAME, it would be the Eagles. It is not that I like that team better than the other one. I like eagles. I like all kinds of eagles. I collect them. I have photographs, stuffed toys, figurines, and even paintings of eagles. I just like eagles. Not the Philadelphia Eagles.

What do I do for fun? I am doing it now. I enjoy writing and expressing my creativity in this manner. You may find that to be strange. I am fine with that. Do what you want to do and let me do the same and we will get along fine.

Enjoy the game and the commercials tonight. I hope the team that you support wins even if it is the Chiefs. Don’t forget to enjoy the game day snacks. That is something where my wife and I will join you.

A Smile

December 28, 2022

Ideas may be hard for some of us to come up with. I know that is not proper grammar. Give me a break, please. I am watching a movie on the Hallmark Channel. It gave me an idea for this column.

The name of the show is “A Smile as big as the Moon.” It is taken from a book of the same name by Mike Kersjes. This is not fiction. The book is a memoir because the teacher of a special education class wrote it. It is his story of what happened to them.

The football coach teacher is spurred on by one student who wants to go to Space Camp. He is a Down syndrome student. Many of his classmates have other handicaps or problems with discipline or learning disabilities.

At the time, Space Camp did not have a program for special needs students. The story is about how to convince the administration at the camp to take a chance on children that are not considered even normal. They are usually thought of as difficult to deal with.

Handling problems for these young people is not easy. Frustration, disappointment, and conflict force them to treat each other as friends and equals. One student does not believe his being in this class is fair. He was a normally well-achieving scholar who endured some setbacks in his grades.

Life is not always fair. To make a story work you must have conflicts. Real life makes for some thrilling times even in a movie script or book. This story has protagonists and antagonists. The teacher and the principal have difficulties as do the administration at Space Camp and that same special education teacher.

I have heard of space camp and am glad that they now have programs for all students and adults. I grew up during the race for space and witnessed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon for the first time in 1969. I have always attempted to follow NASA and the others pushing beyond our atmosphere.

My takeaway from this movie is that we should all share a smile with everyone that we meet every day. Kindness has no better technique for being spread than a spontaneous smile.

Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

Walk With a Servant

Category: Whatcha Watchin’