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Show A6 The Emery County Review, Tuesday, June 10, 2008 VIEWPOINT Opinion and Letters to the Editor EDITOR’S VIEW City Celebrations a Chance to Build Community James L. Davis Sometime after the parade for Orangeville Days was over it became painfully clear that the weather just wasn’t going to cooperate with the festivities planned for the annual city celebration. It was cold and getting colder and most of the visitors were wearing sweatshirts with their shorts or wishing for their jackets. City leaders, observing that in celebrations past the most popular events for children revolved around anything and everything having to do with water, had planned most of the events with a water theme. As gray clouds grew grayer the water games were abandoned before they ever had a chance to get started. Despite the weather, other games were held and children ran here or there taking their turns on the games that didn’t involve water play. On one of the games, an inflatable obstacle course, kept tripping the breaker in the park and was therefore pulled from one outlet to another while kids patiently (or not) waited for air to build. I attempted to keep the line of children from trampling each other by having them start the course in pairs. As soon as two sets of skinny legs flipped over the last obstacle I yelled out “ready, set, go” and let the next pair plow through the course. One boy, not much more than 6 years old, stood and watched the other kids run the course while waiting for his turn. He looked around the park at the water rides that had never been unrolled and then looked up at me. “This is lame,” he said and I couldn’t help but grin. Whether he was talking about the ride, the weather or the abbreviated celebration I wasn’t sure, but his sentiment is something most organizers of town celebrations fret over constantly: how to put together an event that gives a little something for everyone to enjoy…without being lame. It’s no easy feat and as with most things, no matter how hard you try there will be someone somewhere that finds the event less than spectacular. But if the measure of success for a town celebration is: did the residents of a town or city get to gather together, say hi to their neighbors, watch their children and grandchildren play, and sit down to a meal together, then every celebration should be considered a success. In the next few months every town in Emery County will host a celebration and the weekends will be packed with parades, barbecues, fun runs and fireworks. We will visit each others’ towns and help in the celebration and enjoy the entertainment organized by individual armies of volunteers working furiously with limited budgets to put together events that they hope will be memorable. With eight different celebrations to be had just in the communities of Emery County, the possibility of bottlenecks with a limited number of weekends quite often run event planners ragged. In years past as many as two or three towns had celebra- tions on the same day, and the competition for floats in the parade and the appearance by the Emery High band had one town competing with the other for events and attendance. Many of the towns, Orangeville among them, changed the dates for their celebrations in order to ease the bottleneck and try to let each town have its own weekend for a celebration. But there is still so much to do, so much to see and so little time, that events have a tendency to overlap. But despite the overlap of events, despite the dreary weather that might dampen the festivities, the chance for everyone to come together for a meal, a game, a spot on the lawn to catch up on old times, is perhaps the greatest reason for celebration and one of the blessings of living in a small town. And there’s nothing lame about that. Don’t Say Women’s Intuition Doesn’t Exist Kathy Ockey There are many odd and unexplainable things that happen in the world each day. Have you ever wondered why a buttered piece of bread always lands on the floor butter-side down? There are many remarkable things that surround us, but one of great value to the female gender is the gift of “women’s intuition.” You doubt it exists? Trust me, it really does. Defining female intuition is tricky, but it is basically a special sense a female gets, usually about the male gender, and his intentions. This intuition varies with each female, in some it is as loud as a cell phone ringing in church, and for others it is not as noticeable. But loud or soft, it seems to be a package deal that comes with female hormones. With this gift of intuition, you would think that women would be able to predict problems in relationships, car accidents, or children’s bad grades. But this is not always the case. Perhaps we sometimes are too caught up in cooking, laundry, going to work and parent-teacher’s conferences to stop and listen to this sixth sense. Maybe men and women are just wired differently. Have you heard the recent Brad Paisley song that begins with, “When you see a deer you see Bambi, and I see antlers on the wall.” The gift of female intuition may have started with Adam and Eve. When God told Adam not to eat of the fruit Adam, took it literally and obeyed Him. But perhaps Eve used her intuition to sense what God really wanted. Eve may have acted intuitively because that’s how she was created. When your wife told you she didn’t want anything for her birthday she really meant, “I don’t want to tell you what I want for my birthday. I want you to know what I want.” So to the men who don’t have this intuitive ability, always be sure to buy your wife something – even if it is wrong. Your wife may have to learn that you haven’t developed the sensory skills to read between the lines and know what she is really asking for but at least you gave it a try. This gift of intuition can also apply to the children of her home and could be expanded to a higher form of intuition. It is “Mother’s intuition.” This is why mothers can sense when her children are not telling the truth, why she knows they weren’t at the movies last night, and why they check on babies so often. I once made the mistake of not listening to my own mother’s intuition with my chil- dren and had to put out the fire in the old chicken coop. I never made that mistake again – nor did my children. To all children out there: Never try to fool your mother. She has ways of knowing where you are, who you are with, and what you are doing!” Women are equipped with well-defined emotional powers. They need these abilities to sense the moods and attitudes of others that could signal pain, hunger, or other basic needs. Generally, a woman/mother’s basic nature is to be nurturing and a man’s basic nature is to be practical and more physical. This leads to men thinking more and women feeling more. I suppose men could become more intuitive if they tried to develop it. Perhaps women could develop their logical side too. This way you could come across men who are very gentle and under- standing and women who are very good at solving engineering problems. Differences in men and women really do make the world a more interest place. To summarize the theory of women’s intuition: A woman’s brain makes her world full of feelings and emotions. She knows when she feels warm, wanted and when she is in love. She can sense her children’s hopes, fears and what they are thinking. A man is vaguely aware of some little people in his house. This is not because the males do not love or understand the females or their children; it is because you are a man. Don’t change. That is why we love you and you are the most important thing to your wife and your family. Have a very Happy Father’s Day. Thank You Notes Shouldn’t Become a Lost Art Lyndsay Reid It’s the season of weddings, graduations and the most important, but sometimes forgotten etiquette, the thank you. While a thank you can be said in person, on the phone, in a text message oran email, there is nothing more personal and thoughtful than a hand written letter received in a mailbox. As a child, my mom taught my sisters and me the thoughtful act of the thank you note. Every birthday I took on the daunting task of writing thank you letters to all my extended family members who sent birthday gifts and cards. At first I struggled with the idea of having to write all those letters, but I soon learned to enjoy the process of sealing my thank you with a fun sticker, and knowing that I was showing my appreciation. In the past two years, I have had the pleasure of being invited to several wedding receptions. I took the time and money to pick out perfect gifts, but then found myself months later, wondering if they ever received the present, or if they even liked it at all. I assume they do get the presents, considering we usually drop them off the Established January 2, 2007 James L. Davis, Publisher & Editor w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w w Colleen A. Davis, Co-Publisher, Office & Advertising Manager Josie Luke, Assistant Editor Lyndsay Reid, Advertising Design Charlotte Williams, Advertising Sales Kathy P. Ockey, Staff Journalist Casey Wood, Webmaster gift at the gift table or give it to them personally. Call me old fashion, but I’m a fan of sending and receiving thank you notes. This experience recently led me on a quest to find out the dos and don’ts of thank you notes. I learned that all thank you letters should be written promptly and in the case of a wedding, there is a grace period of three months. Thank you letters for get well gifts should be sent as soon as that person is well. Even though you may have said thank you personally, you should almost always write your appreciation in a letter as well. Situations that you should always send a thank you letter are for bridal showers, weddings, baby showers, for sympathy flowers and gifts, graduations, get well gifts, any type of donations or charities, and for the host or hostess of an event or party. While not required you may even consider showing your thanks to a friend or neighbor who may have shown you kindness. There are many other situations that I haven’t listed that aren’t considered required, but are highly recommended. There are plenty of sources online as well as books that can Our Vision To be a valued member of the communities we serve and to be trusted as an honest, truthful and reliable source of news. w w w Our Mission To inform, entertain and provide a public forum for the discussion of events impacting the people of the Emery County area and to inform with news and features relevant to those who call the Castle Valley area home w w w help with getting started on the dos and don’ts of thank you notes. Numerous sites include tips and samples on how to write the perfect letter. There are even entire sites dedicated to wedding etiquette rules and how to keep all those cards and presents organized. I’m sure there were times when I forgot to send a proper thank you, and I understand how busy our lives can be. If we all take a few minutes to take on the task that is so simple, yet so appreciated, we can all brighten someone’s day by showing how much their generosity meant to us. Our Principles We will be ethical in all of our efforts to provide information to the public. We will be unbiased in our reporting and will report the facts as we see them and do our best to focus on the good news of the county, its people, history and way of life. We will be strong and active members of the community and assist in any way that we are able. We will strive to provide the best quality product possible to our readers and advertisers...always. We will verify the details of news we are reporting and if a mistake is made on our part we will correct it immediately. We will always listen to suggestions on how to do our job better. Editorial Submission Guidelines The Emery County Review welcomes and invites letters to the editor and guest opinion articles on public policy or current events. We welcome letters of thanks to individuals who have helped make our community a better place to live, work and play. The editorial staff reserves the right to edit all submissions for space constraints, clarity and errors in fact. Submissions must include author’s name and contact information. Contact information will not be published. Letter’s and opinion articles can be sent to jldavis@theemerycountyreview.com, mailed to The Emery County Review, P.O. Box 487, Orangeville, UT. 84537 or faxed to 435-748-2543. |
