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BARROW NEWS-JOURNAL
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2020
Opinions
“Private opinion is weak, but public opinion is almost omnipotent. ”
- Henry Ward Beecher ~
The first gift of Christmas was a child
There are dozens of smiling faces in the com
munity this week, faces which mute the cynics
and renew the faithless.
Each Christmas, children take on a special
glow, a sense of wild-eyed wonder and antic
ipation. It is a time they will long remember, a
touchstone for the rest of their lives.
And for the adults, it’s more than
just the rush and madness; it’s also a
time of wonder, a time we will also
recall in the future.
Where but in the eyes of a child
can you see both the past — little
Tommy has granddad’s eyes, sister
Suzie has her mother’s hair — and
the future — Blake wants to be a
fireman, Jane a doctor.
Tomorrow is a memory of today
by the children, youngsters whose
innocence is our joy, whose faces
light up our homes and whose won
der keeps tradition alive.
Many cultures believe that it is the old who
keep traditions, who pass down the wisdom of
years and the touchstones of life. But it is the
young who are the torchbearers. Without a new
generation to teach, traditions mean very little.
It is that faith in the future and our collec
tive desire to pass the cultural torch that makes
Christmas a special season. It is a season of
faith, not only of religion, but also in our hu
manity.
Even with the kitsch and commer
cialism being blared around us, and
this year the tensions of a pandemic
and bitter political landscape, the
fundamental desire for “peace on
earth, good will to men’’ still rings
through.
Our social conventions may
sometimes be shallow, but some
how generation after generation will
touch the core of the Christmas spir
it and be renewed.
For some, it is a season of mixed
emotions. Amid all the gaiety, there
are the memories of friends and
family who are gone. The music, the
smell of a Christmas tree and the annual nesting
of families bring back the bittersweet thoughts.
For others, it will be the last Christmas to
gether. There are those who face the inevitable
end and even having lived a good and long life
is little consolation to the families who will
miss them. Never has that been more true than
today as a terrible virus works like a scythe
among our elderly, threatening a dark and som
ber winter.
But in the faces of their great-grandchildren
who laugh and play we see the faith that pulls
life forward. Without the laughter of children,
there would be an emptiness in their wake.
And so, the torch is passed and the traditions
continue, someday to be in the hands of those
who now play around the Christmas tree and
peek up the chimney.
The past and the future come together at
Christmas — the memories of our own child
hoods mixed with the new memories now being
formed by our own children. They will some
day look back at this special time and smile just
as we do at our own childhood memories.
And someday our children’s children will tug
at the Christmas tree ornaments and be amazed
by the shimmering Christmas lights along city
streets.
They will sing in church plays and perform in
school concerts.
They will sit on Santa’s knee and promise to
be good so they can get that new bike.
They will look at the nativity set and rear
range the pieces, always making a special place
for the Baby Jesus.
They will want to watch the tape of Rudolph
the Red Nose Reindeer until they know every
line by heart.
They will ask 1,000 questions about the
sleigh and reindeer.
They will leave milk and cookies because
Santa’s sure to be hungry.
They will check the stockings every day, just
in case.
They will eat too much candy and be happy
about it.
They will hope.
They will dream.
And they, too, will someday know that the
first gift of Christmas was a child.
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Main-
street Newspapers. This is his annual Christ
mas column, updated a little this year to reflect
the impact of the coronavirus on the season. He
can be reached at mike@mainstreetnews.com.
mike
buffington
Letters to the Editor
Loeffler, Perdue lack ethics
Dear Editor:
Martha Stewart went to prison for insider trading.
She used information not available to a regular person
like you or me. Her problem was that she was not a
senator. She had no committee conveniently willing
and able to officially proclaim her innocence and brush
her transgressions away. Stewart couldn’t escape her
ethical cloud of wrongdoing and paid a price for it.
Georgia’s two multimillionaire senators, however, got
a pass from a group of their own. They got cover for
engaging in actions that would've put regular folks like
Martha Stewart, you or me in jail.
When Senators Loeffler and Perdue argue that the
Senate Ethics Committee exonerated them and the Jus
tice Department found no evidence to prosecute them,
take their claims with a heaping tablespoon of salt. In
1,189 ethics cases heard from 2007-2019, the Senate
Ethics Committee found not one senator guilty of an
ethical breach. This group, composed of three Republi
cans and three Democrats, is the proverbial fox guard
ing the henhouse.
The same goes for any senatorial absolution by this
particular U.S. Justice Department. Remember that
outgoing Attorney General William Barr has publicly
shown himself to be, repeatedly, President Trump’s
loyal servant and enabler. Under Barr, there has been
no crime the president couldn’t commit and get away
with. By extension, our Georgia Republican senators
have proven their fealty is to Trump and their own po
litical and financial self-interests.
Come on, people. You know this stinks to high heav
en. Don’t waste your vote on people with little to no
ethics.
Harper Kindle
Statham
Ending the paralysis
of our national government
Dear Editor:
As we consider the four candidates in the all-im
portant runoff rlection for the U.S. Senate, the
choice has never been more important for all Geor
gians, regardless of political affiliation.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed
more than 300 bills in response to the biggest chal
lenges our republic faces, including desperately
needed COVID-19 relief, protecting access to af
fordable health care in a time of a deadly pandem
ic, providing unemployment relief for millions of
Georgians and protecting the right to vote.
Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate lead
er, has gleefully declared that he will be the “Grim
Reaper’’ who prevents these bills from being sub
mitted to the Senate, much less voted upon. Sadly,
and dangerously, senators Kelly Loeffler and David
Perdue have refused to end this willful embargo of
legislation. Our national government is paralyzed
and unable to enact legislation vital to the health
and well-being of all Georgians.
Senators Loeffler and Perdue are not running on
their records of putting the well-being of Georgians
first because they have no such records.
Perdue has focused on his stock portfolio, with
more than 2,500 transactions, many involving
companies which he is responsible for regulating.
Billionaire Loeffler, the richest member of the
U.S. Senate, has also been focused on increasing
her wealth. Even Loeffler’s professional basketball
team wears jerseys protesting her refusal to take a
stand against racial violence.
Neither Perdue nor Loeffler has prioritized help
ing Georgians. Indeed, both have supported actions
to deprive millions of Georgians from access to af
fordable health care.
Rev. Raphael Wamock has devoted his life to
fostering action to improve the lives of our citizens.
Jon Ossoff has dedicated his efforts to exposing
abuses and crimes so that they can be addressed.
Our beloved country cannot tolerate four more
years of selfish power plays preventing the Senate
from addressing our country’s needs.
We must end Senate gridlock. We must have two
senators who are committed to putting Georgia first.
We must elect Rev. Wamock and Ossoff as our
senators.
Bruce Menke
Athens
County Democratic Party: What’s at stake
Dear Editor:
Yes, Georgia is holding a runoff election with ear
ly voting started and ending Jan. 5. We in Georgia
have the task to seat two senators for this term and
Republicans have been couching their campaign
around maintaining a “balance of power.”
Our presidential vote count was not a dead heat;
indeed, Biden gleaned more than 7 million more
votes than Trump, as well as the same electoral
college tally that Trump declared “a landslide” four
years ago. Please, the people have spoken.
It’s hard to imagine that anyone has been spared
the barrage of negative TV campaigns ads on the
part of both senators Perdue and Loeffler. Ad-mak
ers are hoping that we voters are so thoughtless as to
blindly accept the taken-out-of-context sound bites.
These ads are made to scare the dickens out of us.
“Socialism” is when the process of production
is owned by the government. Ossoff and Wamock
do not advocate that. “Radical” is supporting the
extreme ends of a political party. Ossoff and War-
nock are nowhere near there. “Defund the police”
refers to funding alternative solutions to deal with
homelessness, substance abuse and mental illness,
not getting rid of police as our peacekeepers. Shame
on these spin doctors.
We are exhausted by the gridlock in Washing
ton D.C., which is what is occurring under Mitch
McConnell’s leadership. Our current senators have
denied our unemployed workers and small busi
nesses extended benefits in the pandemic and our
population is becoming more at risk for staying in
poverty and without healthcare. Jon Ossoff and Ra
phael Warnock are two men with serious programs
to help our pandemic situation and our economy,
including our agricultural sector (electjon.com/
policy and wamockforgeorgia.com/issues). We
believe they are the best choice for the U.S. Senate
in Georgia.
Both Perdue and Loeffler have been puppets to
their financial backers and both have insider trad
ing scandals hanging over their heads. They made
“well -timed” stock trades immediately after at
tending a classified meeting about the pandemic
and then told us that COVID as “no big deal.” In
stead of dealing with what comes next, they are in
fighting with Georgia Republicans and signing on
with lawsuits suing Georgia to help Trump undo
his defeat here.
WHAT? Forget “party over country,” they put
themselves over their own state. Georgians de
serve ethical and moral people representing them
in the Senate.
What matters in our rural counties is a focus on
accessible health care, educational opportunities,
good paying jobs, improved internet access and
healing all of our citizens so we find our common
ground and move forward. Perdue and Loeffler are
leftovers from the outgoing administration’s focus
on conflict, division and exclusion.
Both Ossoff and Wamock are backing an infra
structure program which will serve as the founda
tion for decades of sustainability in rural Georgia.
The choice is clear. Georgia needs senators of
faith and vision who have the citizens best inter
est in mind. Not multi-millionaires who have their
own power and financial self-interest in mind.
Vote Ossoff and Wamock.
Barrow County Democrats
Language is
always changing, isn’t it?
A phrase that once had meaning was
“store bought.” Long ago, something that
was bought at a store was an exception
to the rule. Many things were homemade
or homegrown, and “store bought” had
some distinction to it.
But then that changed, and something
made at home was more special. And
now “store bought” may actually have
new life, considering that online shop
ping is overwhelming retail.
Here are some other
thoughts on words and phras
es:
•Why is “fudge” associated
with dishonesty, but perhaps
not lying to a criminal extent,
as in “he fudged his weight?”
It would be inappropriate to
say Bemie Madoff “fudged
the numbers.” He did way
more than “fudge,” right?
Fudge is a sweet treat as a
noun, but an act of truth bend
ing as a verb. It’s also your
grandmother’s exasperated
“Oh fudge! I dropped the fudge!”
•While people refer to “y’all” as the
defining word of the South, I can think
of another word that’s equally Southern
— “fixin’,” such as: “I’m fixin’ to eat
supper.” This makes perfect sense to us.
“Fixin”’ means that you’re getting the
idea fixed in your head that you’re about
to take some action. “I’m fixin to leave,”
as in, I’m thinking of leaving, but I ha
ven’t put my shoes on. Of course, “fix”
also means to repair. It can also mean to
cheat, as in “the fix was in.”
•Growing up in Macon, I had never
heard of the car “boot.” But I’ve heard
people around here use this word for
the car trunk. I remember the first time
I heard “put it in the boot,” being really
puzzled, wondering what country foot
wear had to do with a hunk. Likewise,
I didn’t realize that people used to call
the car accelerator, “the foot feed.” Your
foot is getting fed? I don’t get it. But “hit
the gas” has always made sense to me
for speeding up. Also, why are gloves so
important that they get their own com
partment in your car? “Old paper receipt
compartment” is probably more appro
priate for my car.
•Whenever my friends and I would go
out on the town during my teenage years,
we’d say we were “going off’ together. A
guy and girl would “go out,” but friends
would “go off.” Apparently this was a
Macon colloquialism. Now, “going off’
sounds dangerous to me. I hope to never
“go off,” except perhaps in Macon where
“going off’ meant sharing some laughs
and good times. Not sure if that phrase is
still alive there.
•Here’s one phrase I’ve used a lot
over the years, particularly when I have
a problem with a computer or device or
maybe just the internet in general: “It’s
gone haywire.” But what does “haywire”
really mean? Well, according to James
Rogers’ “Dictionary of Cliches,” this
expression comes from Maine logging
camps, where workers saved the wire
from baled hay and used it for repairing
things and for makeshift tools. “A camp
that was notoriously poor in its equip
ment came to be known as a haywire
camp; and from this usage it spread to
mean broken, busted, sick, crazy, no-
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good and a score of other things, none of
them praiseworthy.”
•When we needed food, our family
would say we were “going to the gro
cery.” We never thought it was strange
to omit “store” from the phrase. But it’s
been pointed out to me that you wouldn’t
say you were “going to the hardware.”
But I stand firm on this one. “Going to
the grocery” is just fine.
•I’ve always found it pecu
liar that some people make
words plural for no apparent
reason, such as “we’re going
to Krogers.” That has to mean
you are stopping at one Kro
ger, then another, and perhaps
another, right?
•Whenever I used bad
grammar as a child, I was
always corrected by my par
ents. But over the years, I’ve
noticed, too, that bad gram
mar is used for dramatic emo
tional emphasis. For instance,
“you best behave” sounds a lot more im
posing than “you better behave.” “Best
behave” has a hint of crazy, wild eyes.
•Look online and you can find some
pretty interesting archaic words. Here are
some that I found: “mayhap =perhaps,”
“gardyloo=waming cry,” “eyne=eyes,”
“fain=happy” “gramercy=expression of
gratitude or surprise” and “ruth=pity, re
morse or sorrow.” Another word on the
“Forthright’s Forsoothery” list of archaic
words was “nary,” meaning “not a one
or not at all,” but I still hear “nary” from
time to time. “Did you see any deer?”
“No, nary a one.” Actually, that last sen
tence is false. Deer are everywhere!
New terms and phrases are always en
tering our language as others go. Think
of the new terms we’ve had related to
Covid or our political.. .wait, never mind.
Don’t. I don’t want to either.
Of course, if we stayed in exactly the
same place, but were transported far
enough in time, forward or backward,
we’d run into language barriers, because
the words and phrases we regularly use
are always evolving, even if we don’t re
ally perceive it.
If you stop and think about it, there are
all sorts of subtleties in the words we use.
And those little peculiarities, those little
nuances in speech, can tell us a lot about
our time and place.
Send me language thoughts if you feel
it. I’d like that a right smart.
Zach Mitcham is editor of The Madi
son County Journal, a sister newspaper
of the Barrow News-Journal. He can be
reached at zach@mainstreetnews.com.
The Barrow News-Journal
Winder. Barrow County. Ga.
www. B arrow J ournal.com
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher
Scott Thompson Editor
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disbelief,