Okay, the last 'cuff played around with the questions, "Where are we?" and "Are we there yet?" So"Here we are," right at the end of April which has lived up to the old-fashioned saying, "April showers bring May flowers," just as March lived up to its banner efforts, "Wind, and lots of it." The big mess is that the two months seem to get together and share headliners aplenty about wind and rain. So ... May, here we come!
How about backing up a bit and thinking about today? "We are here!" This isn't going to be a weather 'cuff, though I might sneak in a thing or two. How about it's gonna be a look at where we are as a people, as a town, county, state, nation and even the world? Talk about a mixed-up mess! What are we supposed to do?
How about, "Just be yourself"? There are three million people in Arkansas, three hundred million in the good old USA and ... we'd run out of zeros to identify the billions in the world. "Be thyself"? How about asking a question or two? What makes me happy? What do I want to happen? What would I change to make things better? What do I miss from the good old days? (That is thrown in for old-timers like this old 'cuffer) and on and on and on.
Just turn on the tube or read the newspaper (even if it isn't paper) and your/my eyes bulge as the programs and news on the tubes and the headlines in the paper beg for answers on how the good old USA could revert, at least, to the good feelings that captured almost everyone's hearts and lives as time just moved along at a pace when a person knew what to expect tomorrow and how to clear up things that bothered lives down through the ages.
What is happening anyway? Aren't we in the middle of a fast-moving change, an event that doesn't or hasn't come along in most lifetimes? There's covid-19, a first-time virus that just hangs on and on; a madman in Europe who threatens to use nuclear weapons; a climate change mess that demands no more fossil usage to drive our cars or to heat or cool our homes and such a mixed-up mess in D.C. that who knows what or when anything good or bad will happen; when everybody in high places (well, maybe not everyone) calls everyone else who doesn't agree with him/her a liar or a bigot or who knows what; when the government picks subjects that parents don't approve, and on and on. Just remember that when the government assists with money, such as to our schools, there are requirements, good or bad or else. And there are even negative feelings close to home and within families.
So here we are trying to look forward but glancing backward toward daybreak, a time to look forward to the next twenty-four hours, a time when it was wise to save in a piggy bank but which every day loses value because of inflation. And what about our bulging national debt? Great-great-grands will take care of it.
Want to get back to some realism? Just wish it would stop raining enough so spading a little plot to plant some flowers could occur. That will happen and the grass will still need mowing even if the mower won't work.
Our churches and schools are positive; our communities are plugging forward, as is the county, and our state is making strides that are positive, much because the governor grew up along the Spavinaw bank just south of Gravette and our local, state and national representatives are giving their all to bring peace and progress in spite of ... Just remember it's time for us to go to the polls at the May 24 primary election. Maybe next 'cuff will get back on a late sweet gum ball story, or even how an old fisherman snagged his first big one not even in a creek. It's time to smile, to laugh and say "good morning" at the post office or wave to a passing auto ... whoops, that's another story. Yep -- we are still here!
Dodie Evans is the former owner and longtime editor of the Gravette News Herald. Opinions expressed are those of the author.