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PAGE 4A - THE COMMERCE (GA) NEWS, WEDNESDAY. TANUARY 14, 2009
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Editorial Views
Recession: Have Faith,
Patience, Be Prudent
The new year comes in with the weakest
economy since the Great Depression, amid
news of employee layoffs, business closings,
mortgage foreclosures and tumbling financial
markets. It is an unsettling time.
It is also a time for renewed faith and cour
age, a time for strong resolve and unbending
commitment. It is likely that 2009 will test
us all, but just as our parents or grandparents
made it through the Great Depression, we too
will come out the other side of this economic
turmoil — and wiser and more focused for it.
It is clear that much of our economy was
built on the shifting sands of questionable
financial practices, from the sub-prime mort
gages to the encouragement of unhealthy
amounts of both public and private debt. The
Great Depression taught America the value of
thrift; this recession may do the same, and it's
a reminder we need as individual citizens and
as a nation.
Midway through the first month of the year,
it's anybody's guess as to how the recession
will pan out, whether it will bottom out this
summer or grow deeper throughout the year.
What is certain is whether sooner or later, it
will end — there will be a recovery.
Our task is to not give into the negativity,
but to adapt to the changing climate with
what humor and grace we can muster. The
United States has gone through a time of
plenty, where consumer spending was virtual
ly unlimited, and materialism ran unchecked.
Even today, with gloom settled in over the
financial markets, Americans are better off
than any other nation, richer than any.
Today's climate calls for patience and pru
dence as we work our way through the reces
sion. When it's over, the economy will be
stronger and more stable, and we will have a
much greater respect for fiscal responsibility.
40 Years Later, Dr.
King Would Be Proud
How appropriate that the swearing in of
America's first African-American president
happens just the day after the anniversary
of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
King would no doubt be pleased to see
this fruit of his labor. Certainly he envi
sioned a time when his nation might look
beyond one's race or gender in an elec
tion, and many Americans did just that in
electing Barack Obama.
Of course some did not. Obama doubt
lessly won many votes because he is
black and lost others for the same reason.
Prejudice, not just racial, but all kinds,
will always exist, but Obama's election
shows that American voters are open to
all possibilities. Voters looked at the ideas
and felt the inspiration of the Illinois
senator. He won because more voters
bought into his message than into that of
his opponent.
Forty years after his death, Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr. would be proud. The
election of an African-American neither
solves the nations problems nor ends
racial discrimination, but it would make
America's most beloved civil rights fig
ure happy to see how far his nation has
progressed.
Editorials, unless otherwise noted, are written
by Mark Beardsley. He can be reached at mark@
mainstreetnews. com
The Commerce News
ESTABLISHED IN 1875
USPS 125-320
1672 South Broad Street
Commerce, Georgia 30529
MIKE BUFFINGTON Co-Publisher
SCOTT BUFFINGTON Co-Publisher
MARK BEARDSLEY..Editor/General Manager
JUSTIN POOLE Sports Editor
TERESA MARSHALL Office Manager
MERRILL BAGWELL Cartoonist
THE COMMERCE NEWS is the legal organ
of the city of Commerce and is published
every Wednesday by MainStreet Newspapers
Inc. Periodical postage paid at Jefferson, Georgia
30549.
Subscription Rates Per Year: Jackson, Banks
and Madison counties, $19.75; State of
Georgia, $38.85; out-of-state, $44.50. Most
rates discounted $2 for senior citizens.
POSTMASTER send address changes to THE
COMMERCE NEWS. P.O. Box 908, Jefferson. GA.
30549.
After dropping from more than $4 a gallon, gasoline prices
are inching their way up again. I can't stand being teased.
A Way To Make A Difference
A writer I knew went
away on vacation with
her family, and I was
stunned to hear, a
week later, that while
they were away, her
husband was suddenly
stricken with kidney
failure. Happily, he
was able to find a
donor very quickly;
he had a kidney trans
plant and has been fine ever since.
Kidney transplantation was one of
the great medical success stories of
the 20th century, partly because we're
born with a spare. We only need one
kidney, but we arrive with two, and if
we don't need that extra one, we can
now give it away and restore someone
to health.
Chances are, you know someone
who has been given a reprieve in
this way. Our local eye specialist, Jon
Milford, is now the longest-living kid
ney transplant recipient in Georgia. A
young woman named Tashia, whom
many of us met when she worked in a
local restaurant, learned that she had
terminal kidney disease, went looking
for a donor, and discovered that her
best friend from childhood was a per
fect match. We worried while Tashia
searched for a donor, celebrated when
her friend came forward, and watched
with amazement as Tashia's health
and vitality came rushing back after
the transplant.
Now another of our local folks is
looking for a donor. At 52, Kathy is a
lively, lovely woman with bright eyes
and a ready laugh. It's hard to believe
that she's been dealing with heredi
tary kidney disease for five years. Last
July she was placed on the transplant
list, and she's been doing a delicate
balancing act ever since, trying to
A Few
Facts, A
Lot Of
Gossip 2
BY SUSAN HARPER
postpone dialysis for
as long as possible
and still stay healthy
enough to qualify for
transplant surgery.
/ jt Kathy could have
K expected that her
- 1 ® congenital disease, if
it came, would wait
until she was in her
70s, but a back injury
in her late teens dam
aged both kidneys and started the ball
rolling early.
A donor who turns out to be a
match for her would enable Kathy
to have a transplant right away and
get on with her life as a wife, mother
and grandmother. There are about
20,000 kidney transplants performed
each year in the U.S. (out of the more
than 75,000 people waiting and hop
ing for transplants), and more than a
third of the transplanted kidneys now
come from living donors. (The rest are
from people who have passed away,
and have stipulated that they wish to
donate their organs when they die.)
Typically, living-donor kidney trans
plants are entirely without complica
tions, and a living donor gives the
recipient a slightly better shot at an
excellent recovery (98 percent as com
pared with 95 percent) — not to men
tion cutting the waiting time to zero.
If you would like the experience of
offering someone a new lease on life,
please contact me at the library or at
706-335-9461. I'll put you in touch
with Kathy, and you can have a blood
test to see if you might be a match for
her. Giving the gift of life and health
is a way to make a difference, big-
time!
Susan Harper is the director of the
Commerce Public Library.
Let Dr. M.L. King Guide Us
Viewpoints
In
Rotation
As we enter the
second full week of
January, our New
Year's resolutions
are either becoming
more of a certainty or
an ever-fading ambi
tion. Whether you
decided it was time
to lose a few pounds,
quit smoking, become
more active in your
church, synagogue or mosque, or
simply just be more respectful of your
relationships at work and at home,
we all have things we'd like to change
about ourselves and our surroundings.
New Year's resolutions are not only a
wonderful phenomenon for gym own
ers, nicotine gum manufacturers and
self-help book publishers, but for the
American public as a whole. Each year,
we're given a chance to correct some
thing in our personal and professional
lives that we feel is in need of adjust
ment. New Year's resolutions occur
at exactly the right time. No, not at
the start of the year, but instead right
before we honor Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr., a champion who showed us
how to pick a worthy personal and
professional resolution and stick with
it.
As we prepare for the observation of
the national holiday commemorating
the life and achievements of Dr. King,
BY HASCO CRAVER
it's entirely appropri
ate to set aside a day
to remember and
reflect upon his teach
ings and sacrifices.
King embodied what
it meant to seriously
consider changing
our lives and the lives
around us. As we pre
pare to remember a
true American hero,
let's not forget the many leaders and
foot soldiers that battled for racial and
social justice beside him: those with
a New Year's resolution most of us
couldn't even fathom undertaking.
How many of us could have stayed
the course while facing such horrible
acts of injustice? While it may be dif
ficult to stay away from Grandma's
diet-killing pies, can you imagine fac
ing genuine hatred and remaining
committed to your goal?
I do not mean to trivialize King's
selfless acts by drawing comparisons
to our simple New Year's resolutions,
but I find it interesting that the silly
things we consume ourselves with
nowadays fuel an ever-egotistical and
selfish regard for societal growth while
there remain well-engrained misfor
tunes that keep a great number of
our fellow citizens from realizing the
Please Turn to Page 5A
Gospel
According
To Mark
BY MARK BEARDSLEY
'09 Could Be
The Year He
Goes Cellular
This year could be the year
that I go wireless and become
the last adult male in America
to own a cellular telephone.
I've resisted the idea of never
being beyond reach of a tele
phone ever since I found out
how handy it is to have your cell
phone number. A cell phone
number is a reporter's best
friend. I can call you at home,
weekends, nights, and in spite
of Caller ID, the vast majority
of people will take a cell phone
call even while on the golf
course, on vacation at the beach
or undergoing a colonoscopy. I
don't want you to be able to do
the same to me.
Barbara's had a cell phone for
years. We got it because she has
a long commute, and it would
be provident in an "emer
gency." The biggest emergency
I remember was a call to tell
me to take the chicken out of
the freezer but, admittedly, the
phone is often handy.
My second fear after you
being able to reach me is that I
might like having a cell phone
and, like you, have it at my ear
24/7 — while grocery shop
ping, driving, or reeling in a
12-pound bass. I have enough
bad habits without being addict
ed to the ability to be in touch
with someone all the time.
Also, my suspicion is that 99
percent of all cell phone conver
sations are valueless.
"Hi, whatcha doing?"
"Taking a walk, how about
you?"
"I'm talking to you on my cell
phone."
"What a coincidence! I'm talk
ing to you on my cell phone
too!"
I concede some functionality.
A landline is not always at hand
when you need to call 911 to
report a domestic dispute, have
engine trouble on 1-85 or finally
remember that urgent-sounding
message from your cardiologist.
Also, what better way to break
the tedium of a nine-hour trip
than to start a 16-vehicle wreck
by texting as you drive?
A couple of occasions have
arisen recently to remind me
that there are times when a cell
phone is especially handy. For
example, last fall on my annual
fishing trip to Tennessee, upon
arrival I sought a pay phone
to call and let Barbara know
she needn't hunt up my life
insurance policy. There is not a
single remaining pay phone in
Dover, TN.
Point taken.
Still, one can scarcely attend
church, a funeral or wedding, a
movie, play or meeting without
hearing someone's phone ring
— usually with an annoying
ring tone that tells too much
about the callee. Telephone
calls should be private, but the
preeminence of cell phones too
often means others hear at least
one side of the conversation.
"Hi, whatcha doing?"
Pause.
"I'm talking to you on my cell
phone."
2009 might be the year.
Mark Beardsley is editor of The
Commerce News. He can be reached
at mark@mainstreetnews.com