OPINION: Is it time for another 'cuff?

Is it time for another 'cuff? Before we get into that, did you have as much trouble with the last 'cuff as I did when I read it in the paper? A confession is in order. It wasn't a typical "conglomeration" of words. I just said to myself, "What in the world is he trying to say?" I'd bet a quarter those same nine words went through your thinker's cap.

Didn't it start with a mention of foggy days and then there was something about a special message that arrived early this year. If that wasn't bad enough, it wandered from air conditioners to a nickel bag of popcorn at a movie house back in the good old days, and, finally, it ended up complaining it's time to enjoy the hot days of July and August. Remember all of that and did you wonder about a supposed message you probably did or didn't get?

By the way, there were lots of hot days in June before summer arrived on time according to the calendar. So didn't we all ignore the real start of summer because it arrived early according to Mother Nature's calendar? And, finally, it ended up by suggesting the real message going through the gray matter was, "We'll be throwing snowballs before we know it."

I'd bet another quarter or two you were wondering what is or was bugging him? Did he wade through a patch of chiggers and they grabbed him? Or maybe did a gnat get in his ear? Surely the fact might have been the tomato plants in that so-called postage stamp garden were dying from a wilt, or he was trying to adjust his suspenders. Or, worse still, has the heat got him or has he just lost it? Whew.

Sometimes, do all such little things often "bug" you? I hope know. Whoops, that was supposed to be "not," not a tangled word in a spelling bee. Must be it was probably a little bit of all such things and many more bouncing around in the gray matter such as, "I hope we aren't in for one of those real depression day summers when the temp hit a record 114 degrees on Aug. 11, 1936, when he celebrated his first birthday, which, of course, didn't bother him like a 114-degree temp bothered all the folks in Westside Eagle Observer country on July 13, 1953. How is that for pinpointing that people in those older days managed to get through the hot spots along dusty dirt streets, but today such heat will scorch the paws of your pets and mess up the paint on your car. So much for what we today call climate change. Wonder if they used that term back then?

But what about today? Didn't our minds clear up a bit a few days ago when we celebrated the birth of our country, the Fourth of July? Hopefully, citizens throughout the land escaped from all the confusion that seems to be an attempt to change or forget so many of the positive things of an earlier era. Could it be that the disease of "Meeoocism" created "meeoocists" whose actions have destroyed decency, patience and all other good-neighbor traits which guided our leaders for so many years when we were a Republic which drifted into what we call democracy and which is drifting further toward ... who knows what type of government will follow. This, plus that (Smith) Corona challenge, is enough to challenge any and all.

Did we fly our flags on the Fourth? Did we stop for a minute and breathe a word of thanks to those who have gone before us and who have sacrificed so much for the freedoms we enjoy? We have been warned that freedom is so often threatened and destroyed by "The Road to Serfdom," a book written four score years ago. (You've read about it often in the 'cuff), so Google that book title, and ... 'till next time.

Dodie Evans is the former owner and longtime publisher of The Gravette News Herald. Opinions expressed are those of the author.