Columns

Don’t put those sweaters away—according to old Punxsutawny Phil there’ll be six more weeks of winter.

On Feb. 2, I turned on the morning news and watched as reporters were on location just outside the groundhog’s hole. There they were standing around, whispering—waiting for the groundhog to emerge from his hollow home.

People often refer to the past as “the good ol’ days”—times when things moved slower, technology had less necessity in our lives, and neighbors called upon one another in times of need.

What has happened to that? Why is it in this fast-paced, technology-driven, I-don’t-have-to-acknowledge-you-because-something-electronic-is-flashing-in-my-hands era have we lost sight of one of the most basic human values?

It was an anti-climactic ending to a long, drawn-out media circus.

In last week’s Beacon, education reporter Kathryn Jacewicz wrote that the two parties in an ongoing, public feud over treatment of students in Brunswick County Schools reached a “confidential agreement” and agreed to have no further contact with each other.

Like most of the readers who have been following this debacle, I was annoyed by this conclusion.

If aliens from outer space were to drop in and cruise the Internet lately, they wouldn’t know we were in economic turmoil.

They wouldn’t think we face an uncertain future or fears about everything, including them.

No, they would think the biggest priority on our worry list is belly fat.

Have you noticed? How could you not?

It’s the unsightliest, most graphic advertisement ever to invade the World Wide Web—big, gloppy bellies protruding over waistlines, accompanied by headlines like, “One flat-belly rule: Obey.”