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by Bill Bennett
Here I sit poised to write another
editorial and realizing I really don’t have a specific
topic on which to write. There was Tuesday night’s
council meeting, but nothing particularly stellar or disgusting
happened (and you can read the articles to see that).
There’s this weekend’s Hawg Wild Dayz, but that
hasn’t happened yet and my experience with the event is
that it’s too noisy for me (I’m not a big fan of
noises louder than a BB gun at 20 paces). There’s also
the immigration debate (I think I’ll leave that one alone
for a while). So that leaves me with nothing in particular to
write about, except maybe the weather.
Now, what can be said about the weather?
Well, it’s been too windy and too much pollen—not
that pollen has much to do with the weather, but…
There’s also not been enough rain—well, ANY rain
would be more accurate. Our fire danger is at an all-time high
and there’s no relief from the “desert dry”
in sight, although I did hear on the news this week that we are
supposed to have a “wetter than normal” monsoon
season. We can only hope!
Speaking of the fire danger, have you
cleared the flammable yard waste, etc. from around your house?
As the fire department has pointed out, you need at least a
30-foot “no burn” area between your house and the
surrounding desert brush. Apparently a wildfire won’t
jump a 30-foot span, heck, I wouldn’t attempt it, but
then I guess you shouldn’t be worried about me jumping
that distance, just a fire. Not that I would consider myself in
good enough shape to brag about doing it.
Hmm…”good enough
shape”…what the heck does that mean? Who defines
what that means? I mean, I’m healthy, I have no problem
getting around, I don’t have any major aches &
pains…now I would never feign to call myself in
“model” shape, but, hey, I’m almost
50…I think I’m doin’ OK! Yeah, maybe I could
do better but I like having a life!
OK, there’s probably some who would
say I have no life. Spending most of my time working, too
little time sleeping and almost none having fun…now
THAT’S depressing! Aren’t we all supposed to have
some fun in our lives? OK, I do enjoy being out at the ranch
and running around there, but, as with all ranches,
there’s work to be done, so is it fun or is it work? I
still haven’t decided.
Don’t you just hate making decisions
sometimes? For me I have a hard time answering the question,
“What do you want for dinner?” Maybe I’m on
an “avoidance” track; y’know “If I
don’t make a decision, I don’t have to own up to
the decision I didn’t make.” Maybe that’s
just the coward’s way out…HEY, wait a
minute…I’m no coward!!
A coward backs down from adversity, right?
Well, I’m the editor of the local paper, how much more
“adverse” could that get? I take the opportunity to
tackle some tough issues and deal with people in a forthright,
honest manner. I guess my parents’ values rubbed off.
I’ve always felt that treating people the way I wanted to
be treated works well. I’m willing to give anyone respect
as long as they don’t prove to me that they don’t
deserve it. By the same token, I also expect people to treat me
in a forthright, honest manner. I don’t think anyone
needs to get the attitude of “if you don’t know why
I’m <insert the appropriate emotion here>,
I’m not going to tell you!” Don’t you just
hate when that happens?
There’s that word
“hate.” Have you ever really thought about that
word? Most people associate “hate” as the opposite
of “love.” From a purely scientific realm, however,
both of those emotions come from the same “brain
center” (OK, I don’t remember my high school
biology well enough [sorry, Mr. Shepard] to get technical
here). So, it has been decided (by whom, I don’t know)
that apathy is really the opposite of
“love”…does that mean that apathy would also
be the opposite of “hate”? There’s something
to ponder!!
Alright, I think I’ve spent enough
time writing about nothing…hopefully you’ll have a
better week and have something to talk about with your friends.