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About The Commerce news. (Commerce, Ga.) 1???-current | View Entire Issue (June 22, 2016)
PAGE 4A THE BANKS COUNTY NEWS • THE COMMERCE NEWS WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22, 2016 Editorial Views No place for language of hatred On page 5 of this newspaper, you will see a letter to the editor from a local Presbyterian minister, and a rabbi and an imam, who are both from Athens. It’s in response to the Orlando terror attack and calls for solidarity among persons of faith. It also asks us to consider the implications of the “violence of words” that is so prevalent in Ameri ca today and calls for people of faith to speak out against the language of hate. We are in the midst of a presi dential campaign where the pre sumed Republican nominee — and the potential next president of the United States — has attracted a huge following in part by using such lan guage to appeal to frustrated, angry and fearful Americans. Donald Trump is not the originator of such language — it’s being used all across America, usually nuanced, but hate speech just the same, but when a leading public figure repeatedly uses language to denigrate virtually every minority, words and phrases that do not appear in polite company become part of the public lexicon and the evening news broadcast. Such language is inappropriate for a presidential candidate, but also for any American who professes to believe in God, whether he or she be Christian, Jew or Muslim. Those words, to some, give license to prejudicial action, even violence, based on race, gender, sexual orientation, political affilia tion or religion. They exacerbate existing tensions, become obstacles to understanding, unity and com passion, and they fertilize the “us versus them” mentality that perme ates our current political culture. The strength of America comes from people, who though diverse in every conceivable way, are nonetheless united as Americans — citizens of equal standing under the law and in the eyes of one another. When the language of hate becomes acceptable by our politicians or in our own conver sations and attitudes, we sow the seeds of our nation’s destruction. The right to voice hateful words and notions is guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Con stitution, but when that kind of language becomes widely accept ed we become little better than the warring factions that arise in the Middle East, Africa or Eastern Europe where blood is regularly shed over differences of religion or ethnicity. America was founded on the notion that all people are equal (notwithstanding the issue of slav ery at the time). Let our words and speech demonstrate that we still adhere to that principle and let us reject those who use the language of hatred and prejudice to inflame our passions and divide us for their own purposes. Unless otherwise noted, all editorials are written by Mark Beardsley. He can be reached at mark@mainstreetnews. com. The Commerce News ESTABLISHED IN 1875 USPS 125-320 P.O. Box 908 Jefferson, GA 30549 MIKE BUFFINGTON CoPublisher SCOTT BUFFINGTON Co-Publisher Mark Beardsley. Editor THE COMMERCE NEWS is the legal or gan of the city of Commerce and is pub lished every Wednesday by MainStreet Newspapers Inc. Periodical postage paid at Jefferson, Georgia 30549. Subscription Rates Per Year: $25 POSTMASTER send address changes to THE COMMERCE NEWS, P.O. Box 908, Jefferson, GA 30549. A bridge for Richard Chambers Next time you go to Banks Crossing on U.S. 441, you will cross over the Richard Chambers Bridge. The 441 bridge was rededicated last Sat urday morning in honor of a man who served his community with energy and distinction in a number of capacities. I got to know Richard when our yards abutted during the 70s and up to the mid-80s. I still have blueberry bushes grown from roots he cut for me from his big garden at his residence on Lakeview Drive across from what is now Commerce Primary School. In a brief ceremony Saturday morning, Jimmy Hooper, chairman of the Banks County Board of Commissioners, likened Richard to the Energizer Bunny made famous pushing Energizer batteries. It was an apt comparison. Chambers was the most energetic person I ever met, and most of his energy was directed at ser vice to others. Like the Energizer Bunny Richard never stopped. From a column I wrote after Richard died in 2011: “The first thing you noticed about Richard was that he had more energy than a classroom of toddlers after a sugar snack, and he applied that energy to everything — as an elementary school teacher, then principal, as associate superintendent of schools, as principal of Banks County High School.” It was not unusual to see Richard cutting the elementary school’s grass on his riding mower. He did whatever needed to be done. It's Gospel According To Mark By Mark Beardsley The Commerce Lions Club initiated the bridge-naming project. They got support from the Banks County Board of Commissioners, whose members had their own reason for hon oring Richard — he served as the Banks County High School principal for a number of years and served that school with the same energy with which he did everything else. He was also a faithful, energetic Lion. He initiated the aluminum can recycling project to aid the Lions Club’s sight conservation efforts. He could be seen visiting restaurants or the Deer Trail Country Club to collect cans, or picking cans up alongside roads. He’d crush them under his carport and take them to the Athens Recycling Center on behalf of the Lions Club, the proceeds going to buy glasses for people who could not afford glasses. He could be counted on to be out front when the Lions Club did its regular litter removal projects on Maysville Road. After he retired, Richard served as a mentor, including a stint helping two Russian-speaking immigrant children learn English. It’s hard to imagine him in a recliner, because he was in perpetual motion. Equally perpetual was his cheerful demeanor—if he ever had a bad day he never showed it. Richard and his wife, Anna, both served with Habitat for Humanity. Richard served on the Commerce Library Board and in his spare time wrote a book detailing all the cemeteries in Banks County. Richard died suddenly from a fall on icy pavement. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long. I think of him when I walk by his house on my regular walks — during which I pick up alumi num cans for the Commerce Lions Club, a passive salute to a friend, a former neighbor and a man who epitomized the word “service” in so many different ways. I don’t typically give much thought to the names I see on roads and bridges, but from now on, whenever I drive across Interstate 85 on U.S. 441 and see the sign, “Richard Cham bers Bridge,” I’ll flash back to various memories of a remarkable man whose tireless work made a difference in the lives of so many people. I’m sure those memories will make me smile. Mark Beardsley is the editor of The Com merce News. He lives in Commerce. A Father's Day afterglow I used to tell my dad that I was going to get a t-shirt made, with “THANK YOU, DAD!” written across the back, because I was forever saying those words to him after he’d done something for me — sort of calling them over my shoulder as I walked away—and he was forever doing things for me. It was “Thank you, Dad” for giving me a lawnmower, for example, and then for showing me how to put the right gasoline mixture in it, and how to start it without screwing up my bad shoulder, and then for not laughing at me when I couldn’t start it anyway and for not saying a word when he caught me swearing a blue streak as I kept trying and trying to start it. What does it take to be a dad? I thought about that when I was visiting my son Dan and watch ing him with his two little boys. He’s been a stay- at-home dad for three years, and says he’s loved it. And I felt, as I watched the three of them, that he was conscious of being a role model: aware that he was raising boys to become men. Dan’s an actor and a musician. He embarked on those career paths at the ages of 10 and 12, respectively. He loves to cook, and entered his first recipe contest at the age of 11 with a recipe for Jalapeno Chicken, which I copied down and still use. He’s a big guy with a deep, resonant voice, and he has a band, which will someday perhaps, seem cool to his boys. But the reason I A Few Facts, A Lot of By Susan Harper think he’s a great role model for his sons is that he is unapologetically his own self. That’s how my dad was, too. His interests, his passions in life, were aviation, gardening, and classical music — not, perhaps, ideal for my brother, who didn’t get taken to a baseball game until our uncle took him when he was 16. And yet my brother’s passions in life turned out to be painting, poetry and writing. So perhaps what we need from our dads is for them to be themselves, and be open with us, so that we can know them and learn about the things they love. As a parent, I wasn’t even thinking about rais ing boys to become men. I was thinking about raising children to be good people: concerned about others, willing to take risks, able to love, thankful for blessings, aware of beauty loving to laugh. They are all of that and much, much more, but when they tell me on Mothers Day that they were lucky to have me for a mom, I know that I was the lucky one. I do wish I’d gotten that t-shirt and surprised my dad, because it would have made him laugh. I go down to the cemetery now and thank him: for teaching me how to fix things, build things, plant things; for not treating me “like a girl.” For taking me on trips with him when I was little, and knowing how to take care of me even though I was a girl. For sharing with me his knowledge of the stars and con stellations, azaleas, Beethoven, and opera—for spangling my life with such riches. They not only last, but shine more brightly with every passing year. So to all you dads out there, I would say that nothing you do with or for your children is ever wasted (although it might seem so sometimes). Everything you do is really all about love, wrapped in generosity patience, and hope. You have the toughest, best, and most important job in the world: parenthood. God, I’m sure, can relate. Susan Harpe■ is a retired editor, lecturer, and local library director who currently serves on the Jackson County and Piedmont Regional library boards. Searching for middle ground Over the last few weeks, I’ve been reading Ernest Hemingway’s classic, “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” The story is a narrative of American volunteer Robert Jordan, who travels to Spain to fight in a Republican guerilla unit during the Spanish Civil War. The events and characters are fictional, but based on real events surrounding the conflict that engulfed the Iberian peninsula in the late 1930s. The novel presents a fascinating exploration of the themes of death, sacrifice, duty and camaraderie. But I found Hemingway’s motifs around political ideology and bigotry to be relatable to the partisan climate today in Amer ica. As I dove deeper into the novel, I began to research the Spanish Civil War - a topic largely ignored by my prep and college history classes. I find the conflict fascinating because it pri marily arose purely out of differences in political ideology. The war was fought between Republi cans loyal to the leftist democratic government and Nationalists - fascist rebels who aimed to overthrow the government in a conservative counter-revolution. Populism was rampant in Spain in the 1800s and early 1900s. Partisan rhetoric grew even greater after World War I and the Great Depres sion. A secular government clashed with the Catholic church, while rampant income inequal ity and classism led to civil unrest among the working class. Outside influences were also a factor. The rise of fascist governments in Ger many and Italy and the Bolshevik revolution in Russia poured gasoline on a flame already Writers In Rotation By Cameron Whitlock burning out of control. Finally a coup led by general and future dic tator Francisco Franco led to an almost “down- the-middle” division of the Spanish military along ideological lines. The people fighting one another were broth ers and sisters, cousins and in-laws, friends and co-workers. Yet, the Guerra Civil was a bloody massacre on both sides, with POWs being tor tured and entire villages of civilians executed in grotesque ways. The more I read about the war, the more par allels I began to draw between 1930s Spain and the current political climate in the U.S. It often seems that our society could easily collapse under the weight of partisan division. Our politicians refuse to compromise on any issue and rarely pass legislation of benefit to all Americans. The extreme rhetoric on both sides has led to an intense populist movement - giv ing rise to a fervent support of nationalist (and fascist) Donald Trump, and democratic socialist Bernie Sanders. Those populist voices are amplified by the wide-reach anonymity and of the web, allowing partisans to verbally abuse dissenters with little to no repercussion. The right has moved farther to the right - doubling down on racist rhetoric, religiosity and hawkish interventionism. The left has moved farther left - advocating wealth redistribution and creating a toxic climate of social justice, where free speech is sometimes trampled in the name of victimization. And the American who employs a nuanced view on individual topics is likely ostracized by both sides. Is the hate Americans seem to have for one another real, or an exaggeration embodied by confirmation-biased news sources and social media comment sections? It’s hard to say. But I believe the more divided we become, the more each side will dehumanize the other. Our division is more likely to lead to violent pro tests than an all out civil war. However, I do not believe this partisan schism is sustainable. Compromise is key to a civilized society - even if it’s simply acknowledg ing the humanity of the other side. Spain failed to do so, and suffered geatly. As Hemingway wrote, “To be bigoted you have to be absolutely sure that you are right and nothing makes that surety and righteousness like continence. Continence is the foe of here sy” Cameron Whitlock is a reporter for Main- Street Newspapers. Originally from Banks County, he lives in Athens.
