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Opinions

Even one is too many

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A man is eating ice cream in his home when he hears a stranger knock on the door. The man opens the door and is shot and dies in his doorway. A person concerned for the safety of their neighbor calls police to do a wellness check on that neighbor. An officer responds and shoots through a window killing the resident of the home he was supposed to be checking on.

Who do Americans trust least?

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Many make the list among people Americans do not like. Politicians rank at the top, with used car sales people, lawyers, people who drive slow in the left lane and members of the established media rising fast. I read somewhere recently the folks who make this group are known to lie, cheat, steal and lie again.

Brussels sprouts have terrific health benefits: who cares?

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After you’ve been to the grocery store a million times, you begin to long for a new animal to roam the earth before giving his life to provide sustenance for your family. Standing before the meat counter each week, I repeat the litany, “Beef, pork, chicken…. beef, pork, chicken.” Occasionally the family enjoys turkey or fish, but then the litany begins again: beef, pork, chicken. Next, I stand before the vegetables: lettuce, green beans and squash.

Taking things — or worse, people for granted

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The expression “to take for granted” is a centuries-old turn of phrase that describes the failure to appreciate the value or importance of something or someone in our lives. This

Random thoughts from the weekend

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Often times, I sit staring at the blank screen, and I wonder what I should write about this week. It is not that I don’t have ideas, I do. It

The influencers

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She’s 18 and has half a zillion followers on Instagram. Her posts are full of great pearls of wisdom like, “Somedays I feel pretty and somedays I don’t.” That bit

What is the people's business?

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To borrow from Andy Rooney, the late broadcaster of 60 Minutes fame, “You ever notice that when a politician gets in trouble, they always begin to scream about needing to do the ‘people’s business’ and stop the investigation? I sure have.”

With the state of education into how the government is supposed to run, it can be confusing what the people’s business is.

What's got college students so depressed?

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A growing trend that is building into a ground swell concerns the mental health of college students. Over the past two or three decades many have become as uptight as a long-tailed cat in a room of rocking chairs.

Their age used to be a time for discovery and freedom. Of course, with that comes the added responsibilities for education, preparing for adulthood, proving the ability to sustain oneself and plenty of critical areas that can sabotage one’s future if undisciplined.

Lunch, anyone?

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Although my commute to work is only seven minutes, I sometimes skip the trip back home for lunch and, thus, I land in the prayer garden at my church, with a salad and a glass of sweet tea. It’s funny how people interpret that, for I’ve invited others to join me. “Lunch in the prayer garden?” they repeat. “No, I’m good,” they say, declining the invitation. “No, I don’t want to interrupt,” another has admitted, as if I might chant or groan.

Hey, have you seen the hay downtown?

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EDITORIAL

Downtown Ennis has suddenly been overtaken with grass. No, not the kind that would drive Pivo, the Ennis police dog, crazy. Unless, of course, he is allergic to hay.

Hay is grass or other herbaceous plants that have been mowed and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder. Of course, we usually see it in its packaged form, those large round bales or the smaller, wired square bales. They are everywhere.