Well, you know there’s an old sayin’, “careful what you wish for.” Well, for years I’ve heard people claim that they were really tired of career politicians in the White House. Well, guess what? We got what we asked for! And now that we have a guy with no political experience, it seems all we hear is how much disarray the president-elect is in, with cabinet appointments and all the different advisers that go with the position.
But even though I was, or am, very reluctant to think this situation is the answer to our problems in America, I think that maybe we ought to hold a turn just a bit and see how everything is going to unfold. It might indeed be total chaos, or maybe just what the doctor ordered! Either way we need to relax just a bit and let things unfold. After all, it’s Washington. Ever see things move rapidly in government? If you did, it wasn’t our government! We need to take a deep breath and realize that about half of what we read or hear on television is accurate, or basically it’s what the national media wants us to see or hear. Can anybody say bias?
On the local scene we recently had two horrific and tragic accidents involving pickups and big trucks, where there were fatalities. And in both cases a pickup pulled out directly in front of a tractor-trailer that had nowhere to go. Now folks, I just want to emphasize just a bit, a loaded truck traveling at 55 mph takes 275 feet to stop safely. That’s almost the length of a football field, or about as far as a Brady-to-Gronk completion can be! With that I would ask that we look twice and once more before pulling into traffic, and maybe give the other guy a chance. Is it worth the ultimate sacrifice to get there 10 seconds sooner?
One thing that came up just recently in our town was the continued topic of restrooms in the back parking lot. As I said before, nothing moves quickly in politics, as our town fathers have beat this and the parking situation around since I was a kid baggin’ groceries at First National, which is now Reny’s Underground.
And I can only assume, and we all know what happens when you do that, that the priorities have not been direct toward either of these issues in the past. Well I for one think it’s about time we asked, as it doesn’t seem appropriate or fair that the shopkeepers should have to provide facilities, and for what they are paying for rents and taxes in town, they should have first dibs on decent parking! If we want to keep town prospering, which is a good thing, let’s get behind these important developments and get progressing!
It’s turkey weekend and I want to wish all the best, but please be aware that there will be visitors around who don’t know the lay of the land as well as we do, so give ’em a little extra space and take a few extra seconds to give that trucker a chance. Thanks again and have a great week!
(Larry Sidelinger lives in Damariscotta, where he owns and operates Yankee Pride Transport.)
