Opinions are like belly buttons, everybody should have one. Here’s mine on some articles in the Salisbury Post.

“Two Ways to Learn,” from Roger Hull, gave us a good quote from “The Righteous Mind” by Jonathan Haidt. When I read it, I thought about the flag flappers and balloon releasers. It was a good quote and a good story and reminded me of this quote from one of my heroes, Bubba. He said, “Sometimes when you think you’re thinking, you might not be thinking.”

“A Better Way,” by Roger Barbee, was a better “good” story. I met Tim way back in the ’80s, but his name was Sam, not Tim. He was a doctor, not a maintenance supervisor. He was the greatest human being I ever met. Bubba and Dr. Sam were born in 1919, so they had 30 years on me before I got here. They had the dots connected.

How ironic that on the same day both Rogers had good stories on page 8A, a headline on Page 1A read, “Spencer to consider adding ‘In God We Trust’ to government cars and buildings.” Richard Lanier stated, “It is absolutely legal, absolutely permitted.” So is releasing balloons, but it is absolutely wrong.

George Jones sang “A Good Year for Roses,” and I say it was a good day for the Rogers. That Spencer story made theirs even better.

I was at the barber shop the other day and this ol’ boy said he heard Landis was thinkin’ about puttin’ something on their buildings, “In Bezzlers We Cuss.”

The best “good” story was by Luke Hamaty – “No Flag Needed at Bell Tower Green.” Many thanks, Luke. I was talking to a friend at Harris-Teeter about Luke’s letter. He said, “It was very impressive, but he might want to dumb-down his next one. I don’t think very many people in Rowan County could comprehend what he was saying.”

Now for the bad. “We,” myself, my brother, Jeff, and our friend Tony from South End are gonna rally around Ronnie Smith.

“We” don’t need you, or anybody else, to speak on our behalf. “We” all went to South Rowan High School, so “we” are all very capable of speaking for ourselves.

Have you ever heard the old saying “Two wrongs don’t make a right?” How about the new saying, “My Bad”? That was for “Wild Bill” Corriher’s letter. Where were you “Wild Bill” when RoCo came out with their silliness, “Be an original”? It didn’t mean to “Be an obedient.”

You want a better example to support our country? Go out and pick up other people’s trash and don’t tell anybody about it.

Now, Ronnie and “Wild Bill” are you ready for some ugly?

Rally around a record player and dust off your old Johnny Cash records, and play “The Ballad of Ira Hayes.” If that ain’t ugly enough for you, rally around a DVD player and watch the PBS special, “The Blinding of Isaac Woodard.” If you still need to rally, rally around these questions.

How many flags will you have to wave to put out the fires in California?

How many flag poles will you have to erect to keep another house from sliding off a mountain in eastern Kentucky?

How many, how many, I wonder, but I really don’t want to know. Thank you, Eddy Arnold for that line.

Some people can’t see the trees for the balloons.

Some people can’t see the balloons for the flags.

And some people can’t see anything except what other people tell them to see.

So take a good look at them flags you are so proud of and see of any of ’em was “Made in China.”

By the way, here goes a new motto for RoCO, “We Tolerate In toxicate.”

No need to thank me. You’re welcome. Keep on Smilin’.

 

Whitey Harwood lives in Rowan County.