With all the current discussion about what government should or should not do, as well as about the responsibilities of citizens, you may or may not have noticed the following quote from a distinguished commentator.
The person’s identity is given at the end of this column. Please think hard before peeking.
“The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest [we] become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”
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With the above said, certainly anyone following the financial and business news of Delaware is aware of what a tough economic situation we are in, a plight which has suddenly become even worse with GM pulling out of the state.
And as this happens we see published news stories about the high salaries earned by state officials in the education field.
Indeed they do seem high compared with the responsibilities of other top officials in state government, and State Auditor Tom Wagner again has done something with his comments and financial reports which may win praise from the public at large but no doubt is being greeted with the opposite reaction from those directly affected.
It should be noted, however, that the salaries and benefits received by those high in education circles reflect the decisions of school boards and trustees. The recipients of these compensations don’t decide by themselves what they receive. They get what the boards give them.
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At this point it is appropriate to mention how the public gets information like the above in detail. It’s not from broadcast media, including blogs and every other avenue through the atmosphere involving news and comments of various kinds. Some magazines contribute information, it is true, but it is largely newspapers that provide the current detailed news which is so necessary to the functioning of our representative republic.
It should also be said that while weekly newspapers are a factor in this essential spreading of information, it is daily newspapers which carry the major load.
Print journalism may be evolving, and perhaps that is a good thing. But it also is necessary if the electorate is to be informed. We need newspapers of all kinds, and better newspapers. The times may be “a-changing,” as that old song goes, but the broad scope of information carried in newspapers is even more important in these fast-changing times.
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On a much more mundane note, we had a recent experience in a local restaurant that made us wonder whether or not it is worth mentioning some minor problem with the meal served.
Mary and I ordered an appetizer. It turned out to be not quite what we had expected. I mentioned this to the waiter, who was sympathetic to the observation. He said the manager would be interested. I demurred, saying we did not want to make an issue of it. But at about the time we finished the meal the manager came by and indicated that he understood we were not satisfied.
I told him our reaction. He listened, not that sympathetically, we thought. That was the end of it.
Will we go back to that restaurant? Probably. The food is generally very good. But if someone who is normally pleased with the service and food makes a mild adverse, comment you would think the person in charge would understand the value of getting a mild response.
We did not ask for a reduction in the bill nor did we get one.
Any thoughts on this?
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To go from the mundane to the close to silly, I happened to have a brief conversation last week with a small flock of turkeys.
We were driving down a long lane over on Maryland’s Eastern Shore when we saw six or seven domestic turkeys of the free range kind beside the lane. I slowed down. The turkeys stayed in place. I inched closer. The turkeys held their ground. Finally we were opposite them and I lowered the car window.
Then I gobbled as best I could.
It must have been pretty close to the real thing. Immediately all the turkeys gobbled back.
I tried it again. Same reaction.
A couple of more tries and I thought we had pretty well exhausted our comments to each other and we moved on.
It was the first time I could remember being sure that birds heard what I was doing although there have been a couple of times when I think a great horned owl has answered back.
Years ago, the arrival of Canada geese from the north was an anticipated and welcome event in the fall. It’s not the same now, when so many of these beautiful birds simply stay through the summer, I used to try honking as flocks arrived. No response, which was perhaps understandable because a goose honk isn’t that easy to imitate, at least for me.
Now that I have found some birds being reasonable about the attempts of a human being to make vocal contact, I’ll keep a watch out for more opportunities.
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“Your name and place of birth?” the nurse asked the patient.
“They call me Jersey City. I was born in Newark.”
“Why didn’t they call you Newark?”
“What kind of a name is that for a boy?”
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(Answer to the question at the top of the column: Cicero, in 55 B.C. The finder of this gem is Jim DeLeo, who sprung it on members of the Dover Rotary Club.)
Statewide, Del. —
