Newspaper Page Text
4A Clje 1) eralb Tuesday, April 13,2021
Opinions
Ruffin's Renderings: Decisions, decisions
Researchers estimate
that a person makes
about 35,000 decisions
each day.
No, I don’t know how
they arrived at that num
ber. I do know that I just
made a quick decision
not to spend any time
trying to find out.
Yes, I think that
number is too high. I
mean, it must be, right?
But I don’t have enough
information to make a
decision on the figure’s
accuracy. It just feels
high to me. But we never
make decisions based on
our feelings rather than
on facts, do we?
Of course, we make
many decisions without
giving them any thought.
For example, I just
decided to rub my chin
thoughtfully. Ironically, I
did so without thinking
about it.
On one hand, such
decisions usually don’t
matter, so it usually
doesn’t matter that we
don’t think about them.
On the other hand, you
never know how differ
ently things might have
gone had you turned left
instead of right as you
drove out of the grocery
store parking lot last Fri
day or had you left work
at 5:32 rather than at 5:34
on that rainy Tuesday
fourteen years ago.
Still, it seems to me
that we too often make
big decisions without
thinking about
them.
Sometimes it
can’t be helped.
Situations can
develop quickly
or unexpectedly
that require us
to make a split-
second decision.
We can all think
of obvious ex
amples. If some
one suddenly
stops their car right in
front of you, you’re going
to stomp on your brake
pedal without thinking
about it.
Or maybe that’s not as
much of a split-second
decision as it seems.
Maybe it’s more ac
curate to say that your
split-second
decision is the
end result of
a lifetime of
driving experi
ence (not
to mention
a lifetime of
practicing self-
preservation).
Now that I
think about
it, I wonder
if a lot of the
decisions that we seem
to make without thinking
are actually the culmina
tion of a lifetime of think
ing, considering, experi
encing, and reacting.
Maybe we should keep
that in mind when have
a “the right response to
that is so obvious, I don’t
even have to think about
it” moment. Maybe we
should remember that it
is the sum total of our ex
periences that make that
“right” response seem so
obviously “right” to us.
Maybe we should consid
er that our experiences
can sometimes affect our
thinking and responding
in less than healthy ways.
Certainly we should
remember that not every
one has had experiences
that lead them to have
the same response that
we have.
Maybe we should con
sider the possibility that
we might be wrong—or
at least not totally right.
We can’t go back and
change our lives. We
can’t change our ex
periences. But we can
reflect on why we react
to events and occur
rences as we do. And we
can commit to paying
more attention to our
lives from this moment
forward. We can work on
having our character be
formed by principles and
commitments that will
cause us to have split-
second reactions that are
worthy expressions of a
life committed to—dare I
suggest the possibility—
love.
Mike Ruffin is a Barnesville native
who lives in Yatesville and works in
Macon. His new book, Praying with
Matthew, is available at helwys.com
and at Amazon.
Best things to see may
be close to home, folks
Election law not all good or all bad
KAV S. PEDR0TTI
kayspedrotti@gmail.com
Every now and then,
Bob and I take a notion
to go someplace or see
some
thing we
have yet
to expe
rience.
Macon,
Georgia,
is not
a place
with which we are not
familiar, nor is it a place
most people think of go
ing “on vacation;” but we
just got back from three
really fine days in our
neighboring Big City to
the South.
Macon is a strangely
eclectic city. There are
huge churches down
town which appear to
be trying to out-steeple
each other. Two historic
cemeteries include the
kind of statuary and
brick boundary fencing
that one does not see
much anymore; most
cemeteries now feature
few if any fascinating
sculptures or grave
markers that are “hard
to mow around.” At Rose
Hill, the fascination is
endless - but we mostly
wanted to visit the
gravesites of The Allman
Brothers, Duane and
Gregg. Also buried in the
high-fenced plot is Berry
Oakley, one member of
that famous band and
Butch Trucks.
Having been Allman
fans as long as we can
remember, we also had
never visited The Big
House, where the family
and some band members
lived. It’s now a museum
of extensive artifacts
from a custom-padded
amp to cancelled pay-
checks, publicity photos
to fantastic palette-knife
type paintings of the
band and some individ
ual members. We spent
too much money on stuff
for our children, who
also are fans.
Back to Macon itself:
we found nothing that
made us unhappy - not
even the extensive road
construction going on -
except the city’s parking-
meter system. After six
or seven unsuccessful
tries at paying the fee
with a credit card on
Poplar Street, a woman
with the right number
of quarters came to the
rescue. If a city wants to
charge for its space, for
the very good reason of
keeping people rotating
through town, then it
should invest enough in
the technology to make
it work accurately all the
time and according to
directions.
Macon has an abun
dance of beautiful
houses and buildings,
some right alongside
crumbling and moldy old
structures. One can see
there is major effort go
ing on in safe, attractive
and useful beautification,
but it’s enough to give
a zoning expert night
mares. The city’s charm
is certainly found in its
support of music and
the arts, given the rather
large number of famous
musicians associated
with Macon - Otis Red
ding for one, and guess
what - one of the medi
cal buildings is named
for Richard Penniman,
better known as Little
Richard. It goes against
my heart that the “pow
ers who were” killed the
Georgia Music Hall of
Fame, giving it to Ath
ens, and left the sports
museum.
We stayed in a won
derful hotel near the
Coliseum complex. My
husband’s amazing abil
ity to navigate kept us
going in the right direc
tion most of the time,
and just the Big House
would have been worth
the trip - but we also did
the Museum of Arts and
Sciences and its Planetar
ium. Next time we’ll go
to the Tubman Museum
and Hay House, two on
our list that we just ran
out of time to do.
Coincidentally, we
have discovered that
our offspring are irrevo
cably connected to the
Allman Brothers Band.
That band formed on the
day our daughter was
born in March of 1969;
Duane died in October
1971 within a week of the
birth of our first son. Vic
says he remembers be
ing attracted to the “Eat
a Peach” and “Fillmore
East” album photos and
drawings when he was
only two years old.
Visit Macon for some
thing you’ve never seen
or done - I’ll bet they
have it there. And the
food is outstanding!
Kay S. Pedrotti has spent some
50 years writing for newspapers.
She is active in the Lamar County
community and currently serves as
the president of Lamar Arts. She
lives in Milner with her husband Bob
Pedrotti.
EDITORIAL BOARD
THE TIMES, GAINESVILLE
Georgia is again at
the center of a political
maelstrom, and while
you would think by now
we were accustomed to
being in such a position,
knowing that the vitriol
being directed our way
is both unnecessary
and unjustified makes
it harder to accept the
black eye much of the
nation seems determined
to give us.
Unnecessary because
the election reforms that
have put the state in the
national crosshairs of
bad publicity were the re
sult of Donald Trump and
his supporters repeat
edly making false claims
about fraud that no one
was ever able to prove
existed.
Unjustified because
much of what is being
claimed about those
reforms is as inaccurate
as were the allegations
about the election made
by Trump and his legal
team, one of whom has
gone so far as to admit
that the claims she made
should not have been
believed by “reasonable
people.”
The angry drumbeat
of criticism is not likely
to be silenced any time
soon. Already there are
multiple lawsuits, which
will have to wend their
way through the courts
even as the state begins
to gear up for another
election cycle that will
see the governor, state
officials, a U.S. Senate
seat and every member
of the General Assembly
on the ballot next year.
What a mess.
Ironically, the most
significant change in
the election law is one
receiving little attention
by those determined to
have the reforms stricken
from the books by the
courts. While the talking
points grabbing attention
have been drop boxes,
absentee ballot identifica
tion, deadlines and water
bottles, the fact that the
legislation removes much
of the Secretary of State’s
authority to manage and
control elections and
shifts that power to a
position responsible to
the legislature has stayed
under the radar.
The new law removes
the Secretary of State
as the chairman of the
state’s board of elections
and replaces him with an
appointee of the General
Assembly. It goes on to
then empower the board
to step in and override
decisions made at the
local level related to how
elections are conducted,
which is a major and dra
matic shifting of power
related to the operation
of the voting process in
Georgia.
With the change, three
of the five members of
the board, including
the chairman, will be
appointed by the legis
lature, whose members
run for re-election more
often than most other
office holders in the state
thanks to their two-year
terms. References to
foxes and hen houses
might be appropriate.
If you only listened to
the one-sided theatrics of
its opponents, you would
believe the election
reform measure to be so
terribly skewed in intent
as to be an evil likely to
crack the foundations of
liberty that form the un
derpinnings of our state
government. It isn’t that.
But neither is it an elec
toral revision that was
delivered on the wings
of angels and is pure as
the driven snow, as some
of its supporters would
have you believe.
Elements of the bill
that have garnered atten
tion at the national level
have been misstated,
misrepresented and
misinterpreted by many
who have jumped on the
bandwagon to criticize
the law.
•Voter ID - The new
law requires those
SEE ELECTION LAW 5A
Letter printing guidelines
The Herald Gazette welcomes letters to the editor.
For a letter to be considered for publication, please
include the writer’s actual name, address and tele
phone number. Limit letters to 250 words or less. All
letters are subject to editing.
Send letters to RO. Box 220, Barnesville, 30204,
email it to news@barnesville.com or drop it by 509
Greenwood Street, Barnesville.
April 11-17
10 years ago
A powerful storm sys
tem packing devastating
straight line winds ham
mered the county April
5, downing trees and
inflicting heavy damage
on power lines. South
ern Rivers Energy had
6,588 homes without
power, about 35% of its
members. Three weeks
later, a much more
severe storm would hit
the community.
25 years ago
There was much
rejoicing as most of
the local guardsmen
deployed in the Persian
Gulf War were returning
to American soil. The
troops were assigned
to National Guard units
in Forsyth, Griffin and
Thomaston.
50 years ago
Benjamin Franklin
Martin, 40, an employee
of the Barnesville light
and water department,
was killed April 13 when
he came in contact with
a high voltage line at
the water works. Martin
was a native of Lamar
County, lived on Free
man Road and was a
veteran of the Korean
War. Services were held
at Calvary Baptist
Church with burial in
Lamar Memory Gar
dens.
100 years ago
Mr. H. A. Daniel of
Griffin recently became
the agent of the express
office in Barnesville, Mr.
W. H. Strickland having
gone to the agency at
East Point. Mr. Dan
iel has been with the
agency at Griffin and
is an experienced and
accommodating official.
He and his family, con
sisting of a wife and two
children, are at present
rooming in the Carriker
place on Zebulon Street
next to the Baptist
Church.
Zi)t Heraltr #a^tte
barnesville.com
770.358.NEWS
P.0. Box 220
Publishers
Staff
SUBSCRIBE
DEADLINES
509 Greenwood Street
Walter Geiger
Nolan George
$30 per year in Lamar and sur-
The deadline for public notices
Barnesville, Ga. 30204
Laura Geiger
Rachel McDaniel
rounding counties; $40 outside
is noon Thursdays; news and
770-358-NEWS
Tasha Webster
the local area.
advertising before noon Fridays.
barnesville.com
General Manager
Includes 24/7 access to
Early submission is appreciated.
E-mail: news@barnesville.com
Missy Ware
barnesville.com