The Shadow
This is a complicated world. Remember when we were kids and our parents did all the worrying for us and all we had to do was find things to occupy ourselves and our parents did the rest? I am not so sure about the parents doing the worrying nowadays, but for the ones of us that have a few years on the calendar, it was true.
I am sure it was just as hard for our parents back then as it is today to find enough food, clothing and the “roof over our heads,” as they would say in days gone by. But our parents got through it and we will also!
Just last week members of the General Assembly went through the budget and had to cut many services and some jobs just to balance it, and this will really strike home to many that will lose their jobs or have to take a pay cut as many teachers will have to do.
At least they will still have a job and maybe with a little belt tightening they will get by.
The cuts will come on the new budget and not this year’s budget that ends July 1. So, many have a few days to get prepared for less.
Another thing that I know will happen, all these bright kids that will graduate in June from all the colleges will be out there competing for the few jobs that are coming up. Many young adults have been preparing for four years to find out that there are fewer jobs for the available graduates that have worked so hard for the special day, and let’s don’t forget the parents
that have done without to give their kids an education that they maybe did not have the chance to have.
One thing for sure, “there is no job security today.” I remember years ago if your dad worked at the paper mill or on the railroad, that is where you got your job, but that is not true now days.
I talked about the complicated world and now let’s try to find out when the present crisis will end. It will always be complicated for some of us, for the simple fact that some of us do not know how to handle complication or another way to put it, problems. I have always found this to work for me. I would take the idea that you do what you have to make it work, and that sometimes means that you have to work at some jobs even though it may be a job that you don’t really care for, but you work at it to survive. But many in this great society would rather go to the federal trough and draw unemployment rather then take a job below their status.
I don’t believe that Congress or the president have a quick cure for the financial mess we have in this country and it may take a “1929 style depression” to bring the country back to reality. No one wants to be poor, but the way some people, and especially young people, spend money, they think that money grows on trees. They use their their credit cards too much and build up debts and when foreclosure comes around, it is too late to back up and start again.
But like in the Great Depression of the 1930s, this country came out of it and many learned a lesson, but unfortunately ones that learned the lesson of being frugal, did not pass it along to their children and now the parents have passed away.
Now you also have on the other side of the coin some adults that if they see it and want it, they buy it and worry about paying for it later. Sooner or later they drown in their credit debt.
I know some of you that are reading this column are saying he is not talking about me, I pay my bills. I think that is great so maybe I’m talking about your neighbor.
Well, before we go too deep into what is going to happen with the new budget, the Assembly has come up with, lets step back and read the fine print, it may not be as bad as we think, but I will caution you not to hold your breath.
We do have one thing to look forward to and that is Easter and what it means to most Christians. To me it means that Christ rose from the death and is alive. This means that we too will have eternal life if we believe in Jesus and that He went to the cross and shed His blood for our sins. If it was not for Christmas and His birth and for Easter and His death on the cross, we would not have any hope for eternal life.
Each year The Announcers have their gospel sing at Alleghany High School on Easter eve and I can’t think of a better way to get you in the mood of the Easter season than attending the gospel sing that is free. This year it is April 3 at 7 p.m. and this is the 22nd year it will be presented.
Speaking of Easter, you always think of Spring and everything turning green, and your next thought is getting the lawn mower working and ready for the grass cutting that is sure to come, but because of the cold weather, it seems to be a little behind this year, and even the robins that normally stay around the house all summer have not arrived as yet but I have seen plenty that moved on.
Spring begins today so we should be seeing more green in the weeks ahead.
Here are a couple dates that you should mark down. If you are thinking about running for council in Clifton Forge, the deadline for getting 125 names on a petition to qualify to get your name on the ballot is June 8. The only person that I know is running in Clifton Forge so far is
Mayor Don Carter who is passing around his petition now. Two other members of council are up for reelection, vice Mayor Nellie Friel and Jimmie Houff, and both have said they have not made up their minds if they are going to run again.
I was talking to John Hayes, chairman of the Clifton Forge Shrine Club Fall Foliage Festival, and he said that this year’s festival is shaping up very well and the dates are October 15, 16, and 17. He said plans are up in the air about where the Fall festival will be held next year because of the proposed bridge construction on Main Street in front of the Masonic Theatre. I have a suggestion that the town and the Shriners can be thinking about. If the bridge is under construction, run the east bound traffic down Ridgeway Street like it is now and the west bound traffic down Church Street and across the Race Street parking lot back into Roxbury Street and into Ridgeway Street going west.
I personally think that the Shriners have at least two years or more, because the money that was going to be used for new construction by VDOT will be used just to maintain and repair the present roads in Virginia. I think the governor has mentioned that new construction will be placed on hold and the little money that VDOT has will be used to maintain the roads we now have and I might mention are in very poor shape with pot holes.
Here is another date to remember: Alleghany Railroad Heritage Festival will be held Saturday, May 8 at the Railroad Heritage Center with railroad folk song concert, live steam train rides, model trains, a caboose pulling competition, good food and lots of fun for all ages. Also the historic Masonic Theatre will have special entertainment on June 7, and June 8 that weekend.
We got our Census information in the mail earlier this week and my wife has already mailed our’s back in, and I hope you take the time to mail your’s back in also.
I have talked about many things that may or may not come to pass this week so we will just have to wait and see what unfolds in the next few weeks and months.
Out of space, time and coffee, see you next week and remember you always have one friend and His name is Jesus …
