Opinion

A couple of years ago I watched the late Robert Osborne interview the actress and singer, Liza Minnelli on Turner Classic Movies. Liza’s parents, as many know, were Judy Garland and the director, Vincent Minnelli.

If you met or were introduced to yourself, perhaps a clone, would you like that person? Would they be a good influence on you? Social media has provided a microphone to all users to express an opinion on everything, 24 hours a day. Long gone are the days of the adage, “If you can’t say anything good, don’t say anything at all.” These days many brag about the fact they have no filter. I’m all for people being themselves, but if being yourself means harming others with word or deed; I’m out.

My maternal grandparents, Bert, and Hilda McNew had a little farm out southeast of Houston, Mo, a few miles. I was born in their old farmhouse. They were wonderful people whom I dearly loved and still do. Scratching out a living with a few milk cows and chickens and a hog or two was a difficult thing in those days, so Grandma sold some eggs and milk and butter, tended a big garden, and canned and sewed a lot. Grandpa did a little work on the side when he could find it. One of the things he did for a while was pick up trash each Saturday morning from businesses along Main Street to haul to the city dump in his old faded red pickup.

This time of year, the days are long, and the weather is hot. Ahh, summer.

My uncle Norten has been gone for several years now but I came across this story recently that I thought today’s readers might enjoy. It is almost 20 years old.

I was sitting in the backyard, listening to the Royals losing again, taking a break from chores, and waiting for the fireflies. Here came a little green man.

Between the inked pages of any local newspaper and beyond news stories, there are stories of wins and losses, businesses and social doings, deaths and births and entertainment. There are advertisements, legal notices and in our paper, there are prayer requests. Our newspaper like others, are more important to a community than some might suspect.

In a field of milkweed, Rob Perez sits with Mary the Monarch Butterfly. Rob Perez: Mary, thank you for taking the time.