Opinion

Many inventions and products have been discovered due to failed experiments that produced unintended results. Educators spend their careers teaching children that trying new things and failing is a part of the learning process. Learn. Unlearn. Relearn. The act of failing produces the most valuable lessons and solutions in life and in learning.

Canning season. It used to be fun for the first day, then it got to be old stuff when it interfered with playing with friends. I used to be the fruit jar washer because my hands were just the right size to get inside a glass fruit jar. I have washed tubs of fruit jars in one day – I didn’t come any ways near killing me but I never did learn to like it. I always wanted to trade jobs with someone else and get to put the food inside the jars. My mom used to dread canning season, more because of the fact that it heated up the house until it would be too hot to rest at night; I am talking back to the days of wood-burning cook stoves, no airconditioning and very few fans, other than cardboard ones made, mostly, from the kid of a shoe box or a school tablet back. A lot sweat was mopped away with an apron tail those days!

In times like these we need people who stand up for what is right, who are willing to clear the haze of misinformation and look out for others. It could be you going about your business in town wearing a mask to protect others. Just when you think there are few people who are willing to work for the good of others along comes someone like Misty Orphin. Misty’s work with virus data is detailed in a front page story in this edition of the Courier. Her work is invaluable in learning about the COVID-19 numbers for our county that the governor and Dr. Nate Smith do not have time to explain in their updates.