It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world; Thoughts on Georgia vs. Alabama
Introduction: I am going to begin with a statement concerning the great evils in life we are made conscious of each day as the news is recorded and published. Possibly the events of horror reported today have always been true over the world and modern technology has just made it more available and revealing to each of us.
As a personal example, each time my computer is turned on (“in the beginning” of the personal computer age, we termed the action of turning on as “booting up” the computer), I am greeted with the lead page of Yahoo, which is the service I use. This page has a long, long list of news items which might or might not be of interest to people. A quick survey of the topics does what it is supposed to do: It grabs the interest (maybe curiosity is a better word) of the viewer. If other people’s duties are similar to mine, they don’t have time to read and digest many of the news items.
I challenge your attention with a comment about the condition of the world in general: It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad, world: This topic description is borrowed from a 1963 movie by the same name. That movie was a comedy in the truest sense of the word. The famous stars displayed great performances in making people laugh. The movie was clean in both content and language. Names of all the big stars are too many to list here. What the movie did was reveal a true attitude of average people about money and the possession of riches; it gave meaning to the Apostle Paul’s statement that “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” (I Tim. 6:10)
Sadly, the “mad world” revealed in the listing of topics each day in the news or on the internet is not a matter of humor. It is the saddest and most disturbing of any commentary to be made of the world and all of us who live in it.
More recently is the topic of the search of the couple who tortured and killed their baby daughter. Multiple pictures of harm and death inflicted upon innocent little children are a common offering of the news industry of modern times. The mass murders by gunmen entering public gatherings are horrendous and reveal the madness revealed in the heading of this section.
An event of recent days tells of a Texas mother who killed her two playing for the Bulldogs. In addition to the players, local girls have made an impact on music and academic scenes in Athens. Also, Coach Kirby Smart is a great object of respect and admiration – both now and in the future.
Beginning with Riley Gunnels, a four-year starter, and an All-Pro for the Philadelphia Eagles, the cast continued with Henry Holland in the early 1960s. Players from Calhoun have made very positive impressions in the Georgia program over the years. At the risk of making grave mistakes or omissions I want to name a few, many of them in the recent years into the present. Articles and reports of Dr. Mitch Frix and his sons have been impressive and rewarding. As noted in last week’s column, Trent Frix followed in his dad’s and older brother’s footsteps as long snapper for the Bulldogs. Any reader who watched the game on Monday night saw the young man perform in a flawless manner. A great article of interest to local fans early in the week declared, “Frix family again close to a UGA national title.”
After an outstanding career at Calhoun High, Kris Durham continued as a great player for the Bulldogs. Durham continues to play professional ball today. Another local player to be admired is Clay Johnson. Clay performed in a steady and outstanding manner for the Bulldogs. I never think of anyone who defied the odds as did Rhett McGowan. As a middle school athlete, it was obvious the little fellow would never play on the high school level. How wrong can one person be? Rhett was not only a player but was an impact player in high school on both the football and basketball teams. The great story continued when Rhett went to Georgia and again proved his worth with solid and outstanding play.
I will not finish without mentioning a player from my coaching days. Chuck Goddard walked on at Georgia and stayed the course when lesser fellows would have fallen by the wayside. I do not hesitate to say there is a deep admiration for the young man in this old coach’s heart. Chuck did not abandon football upon graduation from college. His career has taken him into the coaching ranks.
Are there others? Yes, but time (space) has long expired. I did not win Monday’s game and neither did I lose. Too many wonderful relationships demanded allegiance and a desire for success to both teams.
When I was a child, I often heard the phrase “the love of money is the root of all evil.. I think this was meant for poor people to make them feel better about not having money.
In later years, someone came up with the phrase “the lack of money is the root of all evil.” I tend to like the latter better, but I really think that “evil is the root of all evil.”
Personally, I love having money, it makes it possible to do all the things I like to do. When I was 12 years old, I got a paper route and I have been earning money all my life. My philosophy about money is that “money is made to be spent.” I have always been a good money manager. I have managed to spend almost every penny that I have earned in my life.
I have a passion for travel and travel costs money. Anytime I needed money for my next trip, I took a part- time job to help pay for it.
I have friends who complain about not having enough money, yet they have never worked a second job. I had a career as a teacher, so I had plenty of holidays for travel. In the 1970’s, I would save up $ 500 for Christmas break and spend the holiday in Las Vegas. After Christmas, I would start saving for summer break. When I had saved $ 1500, I flew to Europe for a two or three week vacation. When I was younger, I wanted to see the world, but I fell in love with Europe and just keep going back.
There are so many ways to make money that I don’t understand how anyone can be broke. You can sell fruit and vegetables on the side of the road. You can sell stuff at flea markets, work arts and craft shows. I have a neighbor who washes cars in his driveway for many of his neighbors. After I retired from teaching, I became a wire craft jeweler. I decided that we would save my teacher retirement and live off the jewelry income. This arrangement worked out fine for a couple of years. We were doing up to 30 craft shows a year. One day I was sitting in a mall and said, “I don’t have to do this, I’m retired.” I told my wife, Sandra, that next year we will do 15 shows. We will live off the teacher retirement and the income from jewelry will be play money.
This has worked out great. For 25 years, we have spent the winter months in Key West, Florida. In the spring and fall, we take cruises. We just finished our 55th cruise. The rest of the time we just travel around the country, having fun.