View Point - Editorial

It has been said that “assumption is the mother of all screwups.” That has been particularly true about society’s response to a teen culture struggling on the ragged edge of drugs, alcoholism, sex predators, promiscuity, and a host of other threats.
The problem with adults is that we assume we know where the kids are, behaviorally and geographically. That’s an assumption that has brought many a parent to grief. After over 20 years of polling, I have become convinced that most of us don’t have a clue about the opinions and attitudes of those around us.
As we launched each poll, I always foreknew what kind of answers would be coming out of the computer. More often then not, I was wrong — just like many parents these days who think they know their kids. (more…)

“Know thyself,” Socrates once said. Even though I missed that particular lecture, I accept the word of those who took the notes that day. He said it because there are some benefits to knowing ourselves. For example, if we knew ourselves to be aggressive drivers, we would carry an unusual amount of accident insurance. Or if we knew we had a weakness for chocolate cake, we would stock only custard. In other words, we could protect ourselves from ourselves.
It would be helpful if we could understand ourselves as a state. We would not go through the trauma of nursing great expectations of ourselves when history teaches us that great expectations are not us. And the best places to learn about ourselves as a state is the Legislature. (more…)

It must be admitted that the chokecherry people caught those of us who revere Juneberries off guard. Enthusiastic Williston 7th graders have teamed up with veteran Senator Stan Lyson to push a bill through the Legislature designating the chokecherry as the official “state fruit.”
We didn’t even know the title was available or we would have been seducing legislators with Juneberry muffins in the Great Hall. The chokecherry people couldn’t match that kind of political clout — chokecherry muffins have never been popular. Neither has chokecherry pie.
With all due respect to Senator Lyson and his powerful chokecherry lobby, I have chokecherries in my arboretum but I have never held them in high regard as fruit. In fact, it would have been more appropriate to name the chokecherry the official “state pit.” They are 98 percent pit, one percent meat and one percent skin. (more…)