Opinions

There is something exhilarating about facing tough odds while being in a hostile environment. Imagine heading on the road to play a college football game in Tuscaloosa or Baton Rouge after dark. Some might say the toughest place to be is at the Thanksgiving table as the only Conservative in the mix.

Good news is always welcome, and, while it is not nearly as fast in its travel as bad news, it is especially satisfying during the holidays. One is a national news story from just a few days ago. The others are local events that reflect well on the community.

When my 92-year-old aunt senses that matters in the family require immediate attention, she goes to her stationery drawer and begins writing. She has long embraced the theory that “the pen is mightier than the sword.” She uses her pen, in swordly fashion, to challenge lawmakers, to monitor her state’s retirement program and to chastise unscrupulous manufacturers for shoddy products.

One of the great joys in life is finding that which is lost.

When it comes to voting in America, it is highly doubtful that counting ballots has ever witnessed a completely clean election. Cheating surely happens far more often than we want to know.

If you don’t go to church, you won’t understand this column.

There are times when Life moves along at a pretty predictable pace--so much so that you get rocked into some sort of complacency about the goodness which surrounds you. When immersed in this complacency, you have time to look at that greener grass growing next door, or those Joneses who are retired and having a fabulous time in Hawaii, or that dear friend’s Christmas card where every relative is either a Harvard lawyer, found the cure for cancer, performed in the U.S. Olympics or painted a mural for the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In recent years, the city has made remarkable progress in rebuilding downtown. A decade after a tornado seriously damaged a number of buildings in the heart of town, individuals and leaders not only had a sense of vision for restoration, but they cast that vision to others.

Slogans are cute for insurance, but the element of truth in the jingle has many applications. Like the way we educate our children and teenagers.

I bring you today the sounds of a Thanksgiving dinner, translated-- as closely as possible--to paper, in order to prepare you for the upcoming holiday. Please tell me if you hear anything familiar.