The News Opinion Perspectives
Perspectives (14)
Freedom of Expression?
A person can say anything they wish. He or she can even do so anonymously. All with no repercussions.
Freedom or Anarchy?
Our past has been built on independent thought. If a communication channel wished to share it with the world, it was printed, read, and entered into the public mainstream of thought.
We Must Examine Limits to Public Salaries And Benefits
This commentary will not earn me many friends--probably the exact opposite.
The subject is the salaries of those working for the taxpayers. Once these were very low; in fact, if there weren’t two incomes in the family, chances were good that a public employee’s family lived at or near the poverty level. Times, though, have changed.
Reconciliation—A Need for Calm
Strident advocacy for a point of view assuages only those who agree with it. Calm assertion of one’s opinion is fair, attracts a wider audience, and frequently carries the day.
While this seems to be a statement of the obvious, it does not reflect the tenor of today’s rhetoric. The War of Words is as real as the wars against terror and drugs.
What’s Brewing in Warrenville’s Future?
This is meant to be a fun column. One that allows your mind to roam, peering into the future, wondering what might be in our lives in a few years.
Sustainable community is a term that pops to mind. How about new housing patterns? Economic shifts is still another. What might these mean to us Warrenvillians?
Lots of polls are administered—rarely have I been contacted by one but it has happened.
Meanwhile, the heart and soul of what the American people are feeling and thinking appears to be understood by many and trumpeted liberally in the press.
Every possible thing is weighed against the available polling data and sense made of the “thing.” One wonders how much assuming has been applied in these instances.
Perspective—Lagging Indicators
Well at last the recession is over! Now everything will be just fine. It was bad when the recession was with us, but now we can get back to normal. Right?
Wrong!
To hear or view the media, you would think things will be hunky dory from now on. But wait, there are those nasty little tidbits known as lagging indicators.
Swinging Pendulums and their Targets
“For whom does the bell toll? It tolls for thee!” We thank Ernest Hemingway for that wise citation, but we will alter it to fit the times by replacing ‘bell’ and ‘toll’ with ‘pendulum’ and ‘aims.’ It would then read: For whom does the pendulum aim? It aims for thee!”
Now the why.
Excessive speech and over-reaction seem to be the norm of the day. This is especially true in arenas of public discussion. Pick any TV station, newspaper columnist, cable TV outlet, magazine, or blog—most are rife with verbal overkill.
Gifts And Other Aspects Of Mission And Service
A ray of light lands on the floor; it flitters a little, then moves several inches to the right. Suddenly a patch of glittering light comes into view high up on the wall. The same light?
On the subway not far from the Loop. Coming into another station, the blur slowing down now, coming into a moving horizontal focus. Posters, on the wall of the opposite track. Bright splashes of blue, magenta, and a dancing check-like shape in white, with rough uneven edges, sort of like a Nike symbol. Stunning. Breath is held. The color and the imperfect check-like thingy. The mind jitters.
Some people have asked about the street name, “Seraph Holmes Court,” right here in Warrenville, east of Route 59, off Batavia Rd.
It is a female’s name. It is pronounced SER’- UFF, with the accent on the first syllable (like Sarah with an extra uff) and not pronounced, ser-răff’.
Apparently, when the developer was building this eight-home subdivision, he was told he must choose from a historical name list for the street moniker. So he chose Seraph Holmes Court, who was the first female school teacher in Warrenville. She was a cousin to Colonel Julius Morton Warren who was one of the earliest settlers in DuPage County and credited with being the founding father of the ‘ville.
Possibilities are good things waiting to happen. Often they are born of a problem needing a solution. Then too they may arise out of an opportunity to develop a program benefiting many people. Sometimes it is a small thing; other times it’s huge.
For the latter, think of America’s exploration of the moon. It energized the nation, fueled enormous cooperation among competing business partners, and let loose a collaborative spirit that drove technological innovation for decades. Entire new industries were formed, new careers developed, and research created countless educational thrusts that took us to the new millennium.
