Editorials on the fly
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YOUNG immigrants who were brought to this country when they were scarcely old enough to know what was going on aren’t the only Dreamers among us. And every one of them brought a priceless treasure: themselves. Complete with their hopes and dreams, talent and ambition. There was a time when this country embraced the kind of artists and achievers their native Russia had been foolish enough to exile. And soon enough this country’s orchestras, dance companies, medical faculties and business schools were overflowing with new red-white-andblue, star-spangled Americans contributing to their adopted country in every which way.
This can be a land of opportunity again so long as Lady Liberty holds her lamp aloft beside the golden door and keeps her gates open to the world’s exiles. Here’s just one case in point: Dorsa Derekhshani, a 19-year-old chess prodigy who was banned from competition in her native Iran because she dared appear without wearing an Islamic head covering at an international match in Gibraltar. Whereupon she was declared persona non grata by Tehran. It scarcely matters now because she’s accepted a scholarship at St. Louis University, so Iran’s loss turns out to be America’s gain. Welcome, fellow American!
The death of Bozo the Clown, aka Gary Weir, made for a headline in Arkansas’ Newspaper the other day and should have. For he entertained this state’s children and quite a few of its adults, too, as he interrogated and involved the kids for better than a decade by asking them questions like, “Do you walk to school or carry your lunch?” He should have been awarded an honorary doctorate or two in child psychology, for he certainly earned one. Or as Ron Sherman, the weatherman on the same show, recalled: “Moms and grandmas would stop him in restaurants” just to tell him how much they and their progeny loved him. The waiting list of kids who wanted to appear on his program (Bozo’s Big Top) went back some two years at one crowded point. When it was time to send in the clowns, Arkansas needed only one: Bozo!
It’s hard to beat the quick-change artistry and unstoppable patter of the one and only Wendell Griffen, who keeps making the news as circuit judge, plaintiff, recurrent entertainer and all of the above. Now he’s sued all seven members of the state’s highest court for daring to disqualify him from any and all cases involving this state’s death penalty, for he keeps stepping down from the bench and doffing his judicial robes in favor of priestly garments to address various political, moral and miscellaneous issues—and generally embarrassing himself, his state and whatever is left of the dignity of the law after he’s stopped playing with it. On balance, Bozo had much the better and far less harmful act.
The day’s news is always full of Bozos of one variety or another—good, bad and in-between. The genuine Bozos serve society well, for they hold a mirror up to its numerous faults and failings and let us see ourselves as others see us. They are saved from being solemn, know-it-all bores because they have a sense of humor—an invaluable quality the sober-sided specie of clown prince lacks, for he takes himself all too seriously.
It’s just a respectful suggestion, but maybe the Wendell Griffens of Arkansas and the world would do well to lighten up in order to merit what is really an honorable title when personified by a true artist: such as Bozo.