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Page 4A - Pike County Journal Reporter - Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Opinions
Ruffin’s Renderings: What the world needs now
BY MIKE RUFFIN
niffinml@gmail.com
Were my father, the
late great Champ Ruffin,
around to participate
in a discussion about
people refusing to get
vaccinated against CO-
VID, I imagine he would
tell one of his favorite
stories.
He’d say, “This fellow
wrote a letter to his
sweetheart. It said, ‘Dar
ling, 1 love you so much
that for you, I’d climb
the highest mountain, I’d
swim the deepest ocean,
and I’d cross the widest
desert. And I’ll see you
Saturday night - unless
it’s raining.’”
Then he’d cackle.
His story would have
made his point, which
is that love requires
more than nice words
and good intentions
- it causes us to demon
strate our love through
action. 1 want to make
the story’s lesson more
specific: love should
compel us to get the
COV1D vaccine. We can
and should demonstrate
our love for each other
by getting vaccinated.
1 will admit that 1
don’t always practice
what 1 preach, but this
time 1 have. 1 have re
ceived both doses of the
Pfizer COV1D vaccine.
If and when a booster
shot is recommended,
1 will take it too. Let me
add that 1 think that
everyone who doesn’t
have a legitimate medi
cal reason for not being
vaccinated should be. 1
say that out of concern
for you. 1 say it out of
concern for us - for all
of us.
1 think-1
hope - that 1
say this first
and foremost
as a Chris
tian. 1 try my
best to follow
Jesus. 1 often
fail. But 1 am
always aware
of and trying to
move toward
the goals that
Jesus and the writers of
the New Testament set
before me.
One of the basic goals
is that 1 am to love other
people. 1 am to put the
needs of others ahead
of my own needs. Jesus
doesn’t let me distin
guish between who does
and doesn’t deserve
my love. He says that
1 am to love even my
enemies.
So, let me
say to those of
you who will
regard me as
an enemy for
what I’m saying
here, 1 love you
too. Because 1
love you, I want
you to get vac
cinated. 1 don’t
want anyone
- family mem
bers, friends,
acquaintances, foes - to
catch a disease they
could have avoided or to
die before they have to.
But I also say what
I’m saying as a human
being. 1 suspect that 1
would have willingly got
ten vaccinated even if 1
weren’t a Christian. It’s
hard for me to think in
those terms when being
Christian is so basic to
my identity. But 1 think
that love should moti
vate all of us, no matter
our race, gender, or reli
gion, to get the vaccine.
You see, we are all
members of the same
community: the com
munity of humankind.
We are all connected to
each other. We are all in
this together. All indica
tions are that the best
chance we have to beat
this pandemic is for as
many people as possible
to be immunized.
We should do it be
cause we care about all
human beings, be they
our own family members
or people on the other
side of the world.
This is a situation
where what is best for
each of us- the vaccine
can protect us from get
ting sick or from getting
a serious case of COV1D
- is also best for all of us
- if all of us who get vac
cinated do so, we can
stem the spread of the
disease. Sometimes love
compels us to choose
what is best for others
over what is best for
ourselves. We don’t have
to make such a choice
in this case - getting
vaccinated is best for all
of us.
We hear some talk
about whether the vac
cine should be mandat
ed. Whether it should or
shouldn’t be is a compli
cated question.
But I’ll say this: if we
really love each other, it
shouldn’t have to be.
Mike Ruffin is a Barnesville native
who lives and works in Macon. His
new book, Praying with Matthew,
is available at helwys.com and at
Amazon.
LETTERS T«
THE EDITOR
How impatience and
lack of restraint got
us where are today
I read an article in
the July 18, 2021 issue
of Epoch Times titled
“Dear Next Genera
tion: Advice from our
readers to our young
people.”
Dwight B. Aden Jr.
wrote, “One day when
I was older, about 16 I
think, and had started
thinking about the fu
ture, my Dad said, “Son,
the best way to live
your life is to always
live below your means.
I’ve lived my life that
way, and it has served
our family well.”
My dad said some
thing similar, “Spend
less than you make.”
It would solve most of
the financial problems
of individuals, couples,
families, communities,
states, and nations.
So our words for this
week are patience and
restraint, two of LaR-
ed’s 40 principles for
success in business ...
and in life. They work
together; restraint is
the mother of patience!
Impatience and a
lack of restraint grow
right out of the garden
of Eden; Adam and Eve
were neither patient
nor restrained. Last
week we talked about
parameters as limits de
fining ethical and moral
behaviors. But when
God drew a line around
the tree of the knowl
edge good and evil,
Adam and Eve couldn’t
wait to cross that line
and eat the forbidden
fruit ... it’s not the only
story of impatience and
lack of restraint in the
Bible.
Our Scripture Les
son is from 2 Samuel
11:1-15 GNT, “[1] The
following spring, at
the time of the year
when kings usually go
to war, David sent out
Joab with his officers
and the Israelite army;
they defeated the Am
monites and besieged
the city of Rabbah. But
David himself stayed in
Jerusalem. [2] One day,
late in the afternoon,
David got up from his
nap and went to the pal
ace roof. As he walked
around up there, he
saw a woman taking a
bath in her house. She
was very beautiful.”
Now I’ve only given you
two of the 15 verses in
this story, but I’ll bet
you can guess the rest
of the story.
It’s human nature;
Robert Frost wrote,
“Something there is that
doesn’t love a wall.”...
or lines ... or limits ...
or rules. But his closing
line was, “Good fences
make good neighbors.”
The two critical signs of
maturity are restraint
and patience!
CHARLES WHATLEY
THINKING FOR A CHANGE
The truth is out there, part deux
BY ANTHONY VINSON
advkdv@att.net
Some
believe
that an
oversized
hairy
hominid
inhabits
the pine
forests of Pike County.
Perhaps. I mean, it can
not be ruled out, though
the available evidence is
sketchy at best, and that
is the problem with most
claims of the metaphysi
cal or conspiratorial
kind.
The late scientist,
teacher, and humanist,
Carl Sagan, postulated
what has become known
as the Sagan Standard:
Extraordinary claims
require extraordinary
evidence. To prove the
existence of a bona fide
Bigfoot in the woods of
Pike, we would need to
see, for example, hair
samples bearing unique
DNA identifying a spe
cies heretofore unknown
to science. Plaster casts
don’t cut it.
The recovery and col
lection of evidence must
adhere to strict proto
cols, or chains. Each step
of the process is cata
loged, every individual
involved is listed, and
copious logs maintained.
A misstep or mistake
anywhere in the process
can break the entire
chain, rendering any po
tential evidence useless.
At least for scientific or
evidentiary purposes.
No one would be
tickled more than I to
discover the existence of
Sasquatch in our county.
What a boon! We would
be inundated with biolo
gists, zoologists, anthro
pologists, sociologists
and more; the average IQ
of the county would rise
by orders of magnitude
with the arrival of so
many learned scientists.
Alas, the simultaneous in
flux of cryptozoologists,
kooks, talking heads,
and conspiracists would
drag it down to sub
basement level. Still, all
in all it would be a fun
time. Local businesses
would thrive, and enter
prising entrepreneurs
would set up sidewalk
shops selling everything
from genuine imitation
artifacts to bottled water,
healing crystals, and CBD
oil infused potions. We
could even adopt a new
county mascot, a big old
friendly-looking Bigfoot
named 01’ Zeb.
But as with most ex
traordinary claims, a ma
jority of the “evidence”
is specious and comes
nowhere near achiev
ing the Sagan Standard.
Eyewitness accounts
are among the weakest
forms of evidence, and
second-hand stories
even worse. Like the old
game of Rumor some of
us played as children,
stories are distorted and
reimagined in the retell
ing to the point of hilarity
and disappointment. Or,
as Jefferson Airplane so
plainly put it, “When the
truth is found to be lies,
and all the joy within you
dies.”
Some find skeptical
philosophy pessimistic
when in fact it is the
opposite. Most scien
tific skeptics would be
ecstatic to discover the
existence of strange
creatures or visiting
aliens from beyond our
solar system. But before
we believe we require
evidence, and so far, the
evidence for any such
critters is lacking. Same
can be said about an
other current popular
conspiracy
Terry Pratchett wrote,
“The trouble with having
an open mind, of course,
is that people will come
along and insist on
putting things in.” True
enough, and that is
where scientific skepti
cism shines. It serves
as - thanks again to Carl
Sagan - a baloney detec
tion kit. A set of tools by
which claims are rigor
ously evaluated rather
than accepted without
question. Dr. Sagan’s
wonderful book, The
Demon-Haunted World:
Science as a Candle in
the Dark, is a worthwhile
read and excellent prim
er for anyone wishing to
better understand scien
tific skepticism and the
scientific method. Read
it and adopt its concepts,
and you will never again
worry too much about
what anyone tries putting
into your open mind.
Think about it!
Anthony Vinson is a freelance
writer, speaker and humorist for hire.
He lives in Williamson, GA, and can be
reached at advkdv@att.net.
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AT PIKE
BY DWAIN W. PENN
100 YEARS AGO
August 19,1921: Mrs. J.E. Hays, president of the
Georgia Federation announced a contest to find a
song that would be submitted to the state legisla
ture to become the official “Georgia song.” Final
choices of submitted songs were sung by a chorus
at the state convention in Savannah in November.
75 YEARS AGO
August 22,1946: All students in Pike were re
quired to register for the ‘46-‘47 term on August 28.
This allowed teachers to know how many students
were in their grade prior to the first day of school.
50 YEARS AGO
August 20,1971: Joan Brandenburg of Concord
was selected as Pike County’s Homemaker of the Year
on the basis of leadership and contributions in the
fields of home, church, community and civic activi
ties. Brandenburg also competed for the Georgia title
on October 7 at the Southeastern Fair in Atlanta.
25 YEARS AGO
August 21, 1996: Caskets from two graves in
a remote county cemetery were unearthed and
opened as reported by cemetery caretakers this
week. From evidence found, the desecration was
believed to be part of a satanic ritual.