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Page 4A - Pike County Journal Reporter - Wednesday, March 17, 2021
Opinions
Ruffin’s Renderings: The piano recital
BY MIKE RUFFIN
niffinml@gmail.com
The Women’s Club
house in Barnesville is
undergoing renovation.
This is a good thing. But
hearing about it brought
up a bad memory for
me.
It was the early 1970s.
1 had been taking piano
lessons for a couple
of years. Ted Lashley
was my teacher. He was
a fine pianist and an
excellent teacher, even
though he was young—
he wasn’t out of high
school yet. Ted was also
a magician. Unfortu
nately, he wasn’t able to
work any magic on my
piano-playing, mainly
because of my practice
technique, which can
best be described as
“not doing it.”
So you can imagine
my excitement when
Ted informed me and his
other students that we
were going to have a re
cital. You can also imag
ine how my excitement
grew when he said that
we had to memorize our
songs. Memorization
requires practice, which
I’ve already admitted
wasn’t my strong point.
But Ted went right
ahead and assigned
two songs that I was to
learn, memorize, and
perform. In public. In
front of people. At the
Women’s Clubhouse.
1 don’t remember
how much time passed
between the scheduling
of the recital and the
event. 1 do remember
that it wasn’t nearly
long enough. 1 used
some of that time trying
to convince my par
ents that, for reasons
I couldn’t articulate,
my being compelled to
participate in
the recital
constituted
a great injus
tice. 1 used
more of that
time listening
to my parents
delivering elo
quent speech
es on personal
responsibility
that boiled
down to, “You
have to do it
and you’re go
ing to do it.” I used most
of the time doing any
thing besides practicing
the piano.
I don’t know what
I thought was going
to happen. Maybe 1
thought my parents
would come around
to my way of think
ing (which experience
should have taught me
had less than a zero per
cent chance of happen
ing). Maybe
1 thought the
Lord would
have mercy
and strike
me with
pestilence
that would
require my
being quar
antined (the
Lord didn’t).
1 think that
may have
been the first
of many times
that 1 prayed, “God, if
you’re going to send Je
sus back anytime soon,
now would be a good
time” (Jesus stayed at
the Father’s right hand).
I’ve already told you
that this is a bad memo
ry, so you know the sto
ry doesn’t have a happy
ending. To put it bluntly,
1 bombed. 1 bombed big
time. 1 bombed so badly,
1 wouldn’t be surprised
if the crew renovating
the Women’s Clubhouse
found the crater.
To this day 1 don’t un
derstand how 1 deluded
myself into thinking that
somehow the situation
confronting me would
just magically go away
if 1 buried my head in
the sand and ignored
the impending crisis.
But 1 did delude myself.
1 did ignore the impend
ing crisis. It did not go
away. Fortunately, the
only price 1 paid was
embarrassment.
1 did learn some valu
able lessons from that
humiliating experience.
First, trying to deal with
an impending crisis by
hoping it will somehow
just go away isn’t help
ful and can be harmful.
Second, the first and
most vital step in deal
ing with reality is to
acknowledge it. Third,
once you acknowledge
reality, you should then
develop a plan to deal
with it.
This of course leads
me to make some relat
ed observations about
our political leaders. 1
appreciate the ones who
recognize the reality of
the genuine problems
we face, who commit to
trying to do something
about them, and who
work to implement pos
sible solutions. I don’t
appreciate those who
ignore reality, who don’t
try to address it, or who
obstruct progress on
possible solutions.
May they all learn and
apply the lessons of the
piano recital.
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.
LETTERS T
THE EDITOR
ON THE ANCIENT PATH
What I would do to destroy a nation
Help PCES students
learn as they float
the Flint River
Help give Pike Coun
ty Elementary School
students an amazing
Flint River Fall Line
experience! Elemen
tary school kiddos love
being outside. PCES
teachers also love being
outside. Sunshine (Vita
min D) has scientifically
been proven to increase
the brain’s release
of a hormone called
serotonin. Serotonin is
associated with boost
ing mood and helping
a person feel calm and
focused. Who doesn’t
want their teachers and
kids calm and focused?
What is even better
than being outside is
being outside on a body
of water. The nearest
river source to Pike is
the fantastic Flint River.
PCES fifth graders are
learning about earth’s
surfaces, constructive
and destructive pro
cesses and how water
sheds are affected by
pollution, drought and
water scarcity issues.
Think about the first
time you went exploring
the Flint. Wouldn’t you
love to help our stu
dents have that experi
ence also?
PCES fifth grade
Program Challenge
students have an amaz
ing opportunity to
explore the Flint River
with our own personal
guides (way better than
virtual). Flint Fall Line
Guide services will
take 30 students for an
all-day float on the Flint!
Students will have the
opportunity to tour our
Piedmont ecosystems,
gather and test water
samples, ID native plant
and animal species,
net invertebrates and
maybe even see some
big daddy shoal bass!
We are hoping to
raise $3,500 to help
cover the guided trip
and bus transport for
30 students. Donations
can be sent to PCES c/o
Ginger Walker, made
online at gofund.me/
f6ad6d54 or mailed to
Flint River Trip, 607
Pirate Drive, Zebulon,
GA 30295.
Thank you for your
support of getting our
students outside and
learning about our Pied
mont ecosystems!
MANDI WOOD
AND ASHLEY WRIGHT,
PCESTEACHERS
BY BEVERLY BRISENDINE
beverly.brisendine@gmail.com
To
destroy a
nation, the
first thing
1 would do
would be to
pit one race
against an
other causing more and
more conflict to inspire
hatred and division. You
see 1 know a house di
vided against itself shall
not stand.
I would rewrite the
history of the nation in
the textbooks so that
children would not
revere their forefathers
and the documents they
penned but would hold
them in contempt.
1 would devalue the
importance of the mar
riage covenant and the
sanctity of life within
the womb. 1 would label
moral values and convic
tions as old-fashioned,
legalistic, and out of
touch with today’s cul
ture.
1 would spend money
that the nation did
not have causing it to
spiral downward in
overwhelming debt. 1
would open wide the
borders surrounding the
nation so that over
whelming numbers of
people would infiltrate
the nation expecting
free housing, food, and
healthcare. Citizenship
would be a right and no
longer a privilege.
1 would cut off the
nation’s fuel supply so
that it would be depen
dent on other unfriendly
nations for its much
needed supply of oil. 1
know the importance
of energy indepen
dence and that must be
stripped away immedi
ately.
1 would propagate so
much fear of an unseen
virus that the nation
would be willing to give
up its freedoms to as
semble and to run its
own businesses. 1 would
cause the people to
become accustomed to
being told what they can
and cannot do even in
their own homes.
1 would propose a bill
that would take elec
tions of federal positions
out of the jurisdiction
of the states therein
beginning the viola
tion of the Constitution
which would eventually
be discarded totally.
Without any absolutes
the nation can then be
easily destroyed.
Deception is my strat
egy. It has worked for
thousands of years. My
only concern is those
people within the nation
who are discerning what
1 am trying to do. 1 will
silence and degrade
them that will dare to
speak out against my
plans. 1 will label them
as a threat to our soci
ety and give them no
platform to speak. Some
are bolder than others
with compelling passion
and zeal for what they
call the Truth. Others in
the past like these have
even given their lives for
this Truth. This puzzles
me for 1 see them on
their knees and read
ing from the same book
frequently. 1 know they
will not be able to stop
me or will they?
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Pike County
Journal
Reporter
www.pikecountygeorgia.com
P.O. Box 789
16026 Barnesville St.
Zebulon, Ga. 30295
770.567.3446
The Pike County Journal
Reporter is the official
organ of Pike County, the
cities of Zebulon, Moiena,
Meansville, Williamson
and Concord. It is
published weekly by
Hometown Newspapers
Inc. Second class
postage is paid at the
Zebulon, Ga Post Office.
Publishers: Walter and
Laura Geiger; staff:
Jennifer Taylor,
Brenda Sanchez and
Rachel McDaniel.
AT PIKE
BY DWAIN W. PENN
100 YEARS AGO
March 18, 1921: A meeting of Pike County
teachers was held Friday at the Zebulon High
School with 40 teachers present. Later that night,
the school hosted the play “An Old Fashioned
Mother” for a very large audience.
75 YEARS AGO
March 21, 1946: Sgt. Joel Mathews, son of Mr.
and Mrs. C.W. Mathews of Meansville, missing in
action since Aug. 25, 1944, was declared dead. A
crew member of a B-24, he never returned from a
bombing mission over Koror Town, Palau Islands.
50 YEARS AGO
March 18, 1971: Pike County High School
hosted the Region 7-B literary contest with visiting
schools of Stockbridge, Hapeville and St. Joseph.
Pike students competed in categories of essay,
declaration, piano solo, girls’ trio and typing.
25 YEARS AGO
March 20, 1996: Pro-Lift Services on County
Farm Road in Zebulon was destroyed by a fire and
apparent explosion. Three local men rushed to the
scene after hearing the explosion and saw billow
ing smoke rising from the building.