Writer's experience right out of Griffith episode
Posted: 7/7/2009
By James Mulcahy
As expected, I got a couple of letters after Gary Steinhilber's column in the May edition of Shelby County Life. I'm not going to publish them because I don't publish anonymous letters. I will, however, address the writers' concerns in case there are others who feel the same way but didn't write a letter. Both letter writers were upset by the article (One-dog massacre ...) and astounded that this magazine would publish the column.
To recap briefly, Gary wrote about how, at age 12, peer pressure caused him to do the unthinkable, and he has regretted it since.
When I got the column months ago and started reading, I, too, was aghast. But after I had read it completely, I saw a tragedy turned into a fabulous lesson. The tragedy can't be undone, but if we can use it to better ourselves, then it's not in vain. I compare it to the Andy Griffith Show episode where a very young Opie shot a mother bird with his slingshot. The shot was fatal and Opie had to deal with the consequences: he had to raise the baby birds until they could leave the nest, and he had to deal with tremendous guilt. That episode, like all the Andy Griffith Show episodes, carried a valuable lesson.
The 12-year-old Gary Steinhilber is our Opie. He did something very wrong and had to deal with the inevitable shame and guilt. I believe the incident changed him for life. He's a very kind and gentle man who wouldn't dare hurt an animal today.
I hope readers see the value in the story and not concentrate on the incident itself, which we all agree was atrocious. I bet all of us have something in our lives that we'd rather forget, and it probably stems from peer pressure. I wonder, though, if we would have the courage to bare our souls like Gary did.
----
Even though I don't log the results for any kind of study, I have been paying attention to a few things. These are merely observations, very unscientific, and admittedly trivial. Some might contain slight exaggerations, which will be clearly marked by a double asterisk.
First, I've noticed a trend I have dubbed the AOP -- Alphabetical Obituary Phenomenon -- in the Louisville Courier-Journal. Notice the daily list of Kentucky people who died. The hometowns are alphabetized -- i.e. Albany, then Bedford, then Columbia and so on. With more and more frequency -- and it should be coincidental -- the list doesn't go beyond the letter M.
So here are my questions:
Are the people who live in, say, Shelbyville, generally safer than if they lived in Danville (speaking hypothetically and alphabetically, of course)?
Does the C-J run out of space and editors simply decide to stop? I picture some digital paste-up guy shouting, "No more obits after Munfordville."
Is this a government plot?
Could there possibly be anything more idiotic to think about at the breakfast table?
Observation #2: Today's common house plugs are polarized, meaning one prong is larger than the other so the plug can go in only one way. As I see it, a person inserting a two-prong plug into an outlet has a 50-50 shot of getting the prongs turned correctly. I wonder why I almost never get it right. No, it really doesn't matter; just an observation.
Observation #3: Grocery lines. If I'm in it, you can bet there will be some sort of issue to cause a large delay: price check, out of receipt paper, the cashier just went into labor, whatever. Here's fair warning: DON'T GET BEHIND ME IN THE CHECKOUT LINE! The last time I went to the grocery, the person in line in front of me in the express lane split her buggy into four orders of 15 items or less -- an obvious misuse of the express privilege -- and created a backup of irritated shoppers. Not only that, my milk expired before I made it to the cashier.
Observation #4: A yellow light means absolutely nothing to the majority of Shelby County drivers.
-----
If you frequent downtown, you surely know Tom Waggener, who owns Main Street Bikes and is co-owner of Sixth and Main Coffeehouse.
And if you know Tom, you know that he is a great supporter of Shelbyville, and especially downtown Shelbyville.
Tom and Teresa Powell were married May 24, and their wedding, like their future, had a downtown Shelbyville theme. They were married in the "little cubbyhole" beside Dottie's Beauty Shop on 6th Street; Flowers by Sharon was the florist; and they were registered at downtown businesses Tracy's Home Furnishings, Weeds & Things, The Keepsake Shop and Ruby Rooster. In lieu of a gift, friends were able to donate to the Dorman Center, one of their favorite causes.
The reception was at Shelby County Community Theatre.
Teresa, an attorney for Kentucky Refugee Ministries in Louisville, met Tom at the coffee shop, he said, "and that's where we became friends."
Although they're not Shelbyville natives, Tom said they wanted to commit not only to each other, but to the community as well.
"We plan to continue to live downtown," he said. "We just wanted to keep it all as local as possible. We wanted to support the other businesses downtown."
Whether it's downtown Shelbyville or Simpsonville or Waddy or Bagdad, we should all be more like Tom and Teresa, and support our local businesses all we can.
To recap briefly, Gary wrote about how, at age 12, peer pressure caused him to do the unthinkable, and he has regretted it since.
When I got the column months ago and started reading, I, too, was aghast. But after I had read it completely, I saw a tragedy turned into a fabulous lesson. The tragedy can't be undone, but if we can use it to better ourselves, then it's not in vain. I compare it to the Andy Griffith Show episode where a very young Opie shot a mother bird with his slingshot. The shot was fatal and Opie had to deal with the consequences: he had to raise the baby birds until they could leave the nest, and he had to deal with tremendous guilt. That episode, like all the Andy Griffith Show episodes, carried a valuable lesson.
The 12-year-old Gary Steinhilber is our Opie. He did something very wrong and had to deal with the inevitable shame and guilt. I believe the incident changed him for life. He's a very kind and gentle man who wouldn't dare hurt an animal today.
I hope readers see the value in the story and not concentrate on the incident itself, which we all agree was atrocious. I bet all of us have something in our lives that we'd rather forget, and it probably stems from peer pressure. I wonder, though, if we would have the courage to bare our souls like Gary did.
----
Even though I don't log the results for any kind of study, I have been paying attention to a few things. These are merely observations, very unscientific, and admittedly trivial. Some might contain slight exaggerations, which will be clearly marked by a double asterisk.
First, I've noticed a trend I have dubbed the AOP -- Alphabetical Obituary Phenomenon -- in the Louisville Courier-Journal. Notice the daily list of Kentucky people who died. The hometowns are alphabetized -- i.e. Albany, then Bedford, then Columbia and so on. With more and more frequency -- and it should be coincidental -- the list doesn't go beyond the letter M.
So here are my questions:
Are the people who live in, say, Shelbyville, generally safer than if they lived in Danville (speaking hypothetically and alphabetically, of course)?
Does the C-J run out of space and editors simply decide to stop? I picture some digital paste-up guy shouting, "No more obits after Munfordville."
Is this a government plot?
Could there possibly be anything more idiotic to think about at the breakfast table?
Observation #2: Today's common house plugs are polarized, meaning one prong is larger than the other so the plug can go in only one way. As I see it, a person inserting a two-prong plug into an outlet has a 50-50 shot of getting the prongs turned correctly. I wonder why I almost never get it right. No, it really doesn't matter; just an observation.
Observation #3: Grocery lines. If I'm in it, you can bet there will be some sort of issue to cause a large delay: price check, out of receipt paper, the cashier just went into labor, whatever. Here's fair warning: DON'T GET BEHIND ME IN THE CHECKOUT LINE! The last time I went to the grocery, the person in line in front of me in the express lane split her buggy into four orders of 15 items or less -- an obvious misuse of the express privilege -- and created a backup of irritated shoppers. Not only that, my milk expired before I made it to the cashier.
Observation #4: A yellow light means absolutely nothing to the majority of Shelby County drivers.
-----
If you frequent downtown, you surely know Tom Waggener, who owns Main Street Bikes and is co-owner of Sixth and Main Coffeehouse.
And if you know Tom, you know that he is a great supporter of Shelbyville, and especially downtown Shelbyville.
Tom and Teresa Powell were married May 24, and their wedding, like their future, had a downtown Shelbyville theme. They were married in the "little cubbyhole" beside Dottie's Beauty Shop on 6th Street; Flowers by Sharon was the florist; and they were registered at downtown businesses Tracy's Home Furnishings, Weeds & Things, The Keepsake Shop and Ruby Rooster. In lieu of a gift, friends were able to donate to the Dorman Center, one of their favorite causes.
The reception was at Shelby County Community Theatre.
Teresa, an attorney for Kentucky Refugee Ministries in Louisville, met Tom at the coffee shop, he said, "and that's where we became friends."
Although they're not Shelbyville natives, Tom said they wanted to commit not only to each other, but to the community as well.
"We plan to continue to live downtown," he said. "We just wanted to keep it all as local as possible. We wanted to support the other businesses downtown."
Whether it's downtown Shelbyville or Simpsonville or Waddy or Bagdad, we should all be more like Tom and Teresa, and support our local businesses all we can.
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