This story has been around for a long time, but it’s worth
repeating. There were two brothers. One was the eternal optimist, and the other
was never anything but a pessimist. The cheerful brother never fretted about the looming dark
clouds, while the same clouds always dumped rain on the pessimist. The optimist, without trying, drove the
pessimist nuts.
And that
unsinkable spirit drove the dark-cloud sibling to draft a scheme to pour rain
on his brother’s annual Christmas wish—a pony.
The happy-go-lucky brother, for as long as he could remember, had asked
Santa for a pony. The fact that a pony
hadn’t happened in the past didn’t stop him from dreaming about saddling up the
next Dec. 25.
With a
sinister smile, the pessimist went to a neighbor’s stable and loaded a washtub
of equine manure. After his brother had
gone to bed, “with sugar plums (and a pony) dancing in his head,” the pessimist
deposited the stinky pile by the Christmas tree. With a smirk, he said, “This should end all
of his pony foolishness.”
Long before
sunrise, the optimist’s eyes popped open.
He couldn’t wait to gallop downstairs to see whether Santa had granted
his wish, but he waited and waited
for the sound of his parents’ footsteps in the hall. And when he heard them tiptoeing past his
room, the optimist bounded out of bed. His brother, in the other bed, scrambled
up, too. The pessimist wasn’t about to
miss the anticipated frown on Sunny Boy’s face.
But this is
what he saw: His little brother was
dancing around the Christmas tree, yelling, “Yippeeeeeeee! With this much pony poo, there has to be a
pony around here somewhere!”
I am long
past putting a pony request on my letter to Santa, but I never want to lose my
optimistic outlook on life. Even when
the odds appear ugly, I believe there’s still hope. My parents preached, “Where there’s a will,
there’s a way.” The message took, and I
will always believe in the power of willpower.
They also quoted—with regularity—Proverbs 22:1: “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.”
The threat
of Republic’s plan to dump millions of tons of toxic coal ash in Broadhurst has
been a call to action and a test of
the willpower to remain optimistic. Twenty-three
months ago, you and I were told, “There’s
nothing you can do.” After all, the
largest shareholder in Republic Services Inc. is Bill Gates, the world’s
richest man.
Despite the
modern-day David-and-Goliath battle, I am determined to remain optimistic. I am grateful so many of you feel the same
way. Wayne County should not become a
sacrifice zone, courtesy of corporate greed.
Where are the ethics and fairness in solving the coal-ash problem of
others by creating an environmental problem for Coastal Georgia?
Some people
fear all this negative publicity will harm Wayne County’s growth
potential. How about this? If our community’s future claim to fame is
that we rolled over and let Republic turn us in to America’s biggest toxic
coal-ash depository, consider the downside of that possibility.
No, sir!
No, ma’am!
Wayne County doesn’t deserve those
mountainous piles of pony poo … errrr
… toxic coal ash on our good name.
dnesmith@cninewspapers.com
