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Send a letter to the editor to P.O. Box 1600, Dawsonville, GA 30534; fax (706) 265-3276; or email to editor@dawsonnews.com.
DawsonOpinion
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3, 2019
This is a page of opinion — ours, yours and
others. Signed columns and cartoons are the
opinions of the writers and artists, and they
may not reflect our views.
Explaining life to
someone with
icing on their
face is not easy
I sat down recently for a chat with my
twin great-granddaughters, Hadley Ann
Yarbrough and Harper Grace Yarbrough, on
the occasion of their first birthday. I thought
this would be a good time to share some of
my life experiences and to gain some per
spective on what their generation is think
ing about the world in which they find
themselves.
The conversa
tion was delayed
briefly while
they smeared
birthday cake
icing on their
faces and
chewed on their
presents, some
of which were not intended to be chewable
but, hey, that’s the younger generation for
you.
After a few spit-ups and a couple of
poops, the twins were ready to get down to
business. I wanted to take it slow. As bril
liant as these two seem to be, it is obvious
they have much work to do before they
master the English language. This is a chal
lenge they share with their great-grandfa
ther, who is still grappling with who-vs-
whom and that “I-before-E” stuff.
I asked the twins how they viewed Donald
Trump’s performance as president. Hadley
Ann was ready for that one. “Blah! Blah!
Blah!” she said with icing on her face. An
interesting observation from one so young,
however, when you think about the amount
of time the Leader of the Free World spends
on his Tweet machine obsessing over what
some irrelevant jerk in Hollywood thinks
about him, “Blah! Blah! Blah!” does seems
appropriate. Out of the mouth of babes.
We were treading on dangerous territory
here. President Trump’s supporters aren’t
overly endowed with a sense of humor and
take any perceived criticism of the man up-
close and personal. “Pfft!” Harper Grace
said and then spit up. They can’t say I
didn’t warn them.
Admittedly, while they do have a few years
before they can register to vote — and there is
that whole learning to read and write thing
that awaits them — lam curious as to what
their political leanings might be. Hopefully,
they won’t be wild-eyed, fire-breathing wing-
nuts on either side of the political spectrum.
I told them that I am not beloved by
either side because I don’t like illegal aliens
traipsing into our country like they own the
place and making us learn to speak their
language instead of learning ours. At the
same time, I don’t like guns everywhere
except under the Gold Dome or private
school vouchers because legislators are too
lazy to fix the problems surrounding public
schools. I’m just not a wingnut kind of guy.
My all-time political hero is the late Gov.
Carl Sanders, a Democrat. I also admire
former Sen. Sam Nunn, another Democrat,
as well as the late Sen. Paul Coverdell, a
Republican, and Zell Miller, who started
out as a staunch Democrat but ended up
acting like a Republican. Clearly, my politi
cal tastes are ecumenical.
As I extolled the virtues of these great
men, Hadley Ann smeared more icing on
her face and Harper Grace began chewing
on some of the gift-wrapping paper. I got
the feeling they were not listening to what I
was trying to tell them. I hope this doesn’t
mean we are raising a couple of potential
wingnuts in the Yarbrough household with a
propensity for smearing icing on their faces
and eating gift-wrapping paper. Wingnuts
can be weird. You should see my mail.
I said my middle-of-the-road approach to
politics should serve as an exemplary stan
dard by which to shape their own political
philosophy. They could certainly do worse
than having their great-grandfather as their
role model. “Blah! Blah! Blah!” Hadley Ann
said as she applied more birthday cake icing
to her face. “Pfft!” said Harper Grace. I take
this to mean they have yet to be convinced.
As they were crawling across the floor to
parts unknown, I reminded them that the
future of the world rests on them and their
generation. This is a staggering responsibility
and one they should take very seriously. Life
is about more than smearing birthday cake
icing and eating gift-wrapping paper. They
should thank their lucky stars they have a
great-grandfather around to guide them on the
perilous journey that lies ahead of them.
“Blah! Blah! Blah!” said Hadley Ann. “Pfft!”
said Harper Grace, who promptly spit up.
The twins may think they know it all
right now, but just wait. One of these days
they are going to have to deal with who-vs-
whom and all that “I before E” stuff. Then
they will discover the old man had been
right all along. Pfft!
You can reach Dick Yarbrough atdick@dickyar-
brough.com; at P.O. Box 725373, Atlanta, GA
31139; online at dickyarbrough.com or on
Facebook at www.facebook.com/dickyarb.
"Look! The birds are back, the
flowers are blooming! Isn't spring grand?!!"
Sometimes too much
is never really too much
It seems like for the majori
ty of my life, I have had a
hard time fitting in.
Maybe ‘fitting in’ is the
wrong term.
I have just always felt like
at times I was out of place.
A feeling of just being the
odd one out or somewhat
slightly different.
It may stem from child
hood, being overweight in a
sea of skinny kids and always
being a little bit different than
the other kids in some way.
In addition to my shortcom
ings and inadequacies, there
have always been moments
where I have been accused of
being too much of something.
Too mouthy.
Too independent.
Too stubborn.
Too loud.
Too quiet.
Practically every personali
ty trait you can imagine was
reduced to being an annoying
characteristic.
Some of these things I
couldn’t even control.
I couldn’t stop being inde
pendent; it was the only way I
knew how to be.
Stubborn was part of my
nature; being loud came from
having a grandfather who was
partially deaf. My normal
inside voice was probably two
octaves above someone at a
SUDIE CROUCH
Columnist
sporting event.
Being too quiet was only
mentioned in cases where I
didn’t like someone or felt
even more self-conscious of
my environment.
Needless to say, being
accused of being too much
anything has made me feel
like I don’t fit in even more.
“It’s okay to be too much,”
Mama told me one day.
“I don’t know about that,” I
replied.
“It is,” she said. “You come
from a line of women that
have been too much. I could
be too much where you were
concerned. Or when things
were unfair at work. Being
too much is perfectly fine
when you are making sure
everyone is being treated fair
ly or being the voice for those
who can’t stand up for them
selves.
And Granny, as you are
aware, was always too much.
She was too strident and too
harsh at times, but only when
she needed to be.”
Mama was right in both of
those regards. She had the
juxtaposition of being too
nice at times to be too scary
when it was necessary.
Granny’s personality was best
described as strong and for
midable because she was too
independent.
“I feel like I can’t be
myself, though,” I said.
I didn’t. I have felt like I
can’t say what I really think
sometimes because I will be
called too much of a shrew.
I have shrunk myself down
to where I want to be invisi
ble, so no one will notice
what I do — or do wrong —
so I can hide from the con
stant criticism.
“How does that make you
feel?” Mama asked.
“Horrible,” I told her.
“Then why do you do it?”
she asked.
Why? Well, there are lots of
reasons. I hold my tongue, so
I don’t tick someone off. I try
to be polite and accommodat
ing, even when I am the one
being wronged.
I seek to keep the peace
instead of rocking the boat.
“How’s that working for
you?” Mama asked.
“Don’t Dr. Phil me,” I tell
her.
“I’m not. I just wonder how
that is making you feel.”
Awful. I felt weak and sti
fled.
Mama agreed. “Well, look
back over things. I think you
will see, life was better when
you stood up for yourself and
were too much. God didn’t
make you a shy, quiet person.
He made you stubborn and
persistent because He knew
you know how to use those
gifts.”
Maybe she was right.
I had felt like my life had
been stuck and was it maybe
because I was going against
my nature and not being
myself?
It was, however, a time the
too was used to amplify
another word.
But, maybe it was time to
stop living small and safe and
to start living too much.
The world doesn’t need us
to shrink ourselves or be less
than who we are. That’s a dis
service to the world and us.
If anything, we need to stop
diluting ourselves and start
living life full strength and be
proud to be called too much.
Sudie Crouch is an award
winning humor columnist and
author of the recently e-pub-
lished novel, "The Dahlman
Files: A Tony Dahlman
Paranormal Mystery."
'Stubborn was part of my nature; being loud came from having a
grandfather who was partially deaf. My normal inside voice was prob
ably two octaves above someone at a sporting event.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Security here at home
I believe that we are entering a peri
od of increasing risks to our normal
peace and tranquility here in the foot
hills. Our situation is changing. I wish
that I am wrong but the winds of
change are blowing now and the sta
tistics say that crime is on the rise
around here everywhere we look.
There is the increasing risk of crime
to each one of us and there is a larger
national threat to the unity of the
country.
We should begin to think about how
best to prepare for that growing possi
bility that things will get a lot worse.
There is clear evidence that the slowly
gathering storm of drugs, big money
associated with drugs and the violence
and theft associated with that culture
is following the flow of growth into
our once isolated community.
We are already spending, per citi
zen, a comparatively high amount on
security and yet we need to spend
even more.
We need to provide more money to
our sheriff so that he may field more
patrol officers. Our sheriff should do
everything possible to make sure that
he puts as many officers in the field as
is possible every day.
More spending on the security func
tion does not automatically mean
higher taxes. We could shift our
spending from other areas toward the
sheriff.
I have reluctantly come to this hard
conclusion that we need to shift
because our security risks are chang
ing for the worse as they are changing
all over the U.S.A. Drugs provided to
our children, sex crimes, theft and
crimes of violence are all getting
worse. Given the national mindset
about these manifest evils, I see little
chance that we will reverse those
trends. All we can do is try and be
prepared and make sure we have
enough deputies in our communities
to try and suppress it as much as we
can. We need more deputies’ boots on
the ground and that will cost.
Many of you will find this sugges
tion troubling and many will not want
to change how we do things. But
change is upon us now and we must
look and focus on the things that real
ly matter. General security is that
thing above all others.
Tell your elected commissioners
what you think we should do.
Gary Pichon
Marble Hill
