School Principal Fiasco at Stone Mountain, GA | Eastern North Carolina Now

    It seems major events of the last few days are making us think about how fearful the world has become and how we need to react to it.

       •  A jet has its main landing gear stuck and has to land anyway-safely, Thank God

       •  Earthquakes hit Nepal not once, but now twice - thousands dead

       •  Terrorism is all over and hate is growing as well

       •  The NFL is rocked by deflated footballs and a quarterback not admitting it

       •  TNT Academy in Stone Mountain, GA, has a graduation confrontation between Principal and students wanting to leave before it is over

    From the sublime to the ridiculous our media always focuses on the EXTREMES OF LIFE. That seems to be what gets them viewers and the ability to sell ads. The basic reality is people so busy only a dramatic tornado, wreck, fire, or other disaster gets their time and attention.

    Whatever happened to NORMAL LIVING?

    I have waked up this early morning with such running through my mind as I write quietly beside the Pamlico River whose waves are gently hitting the shore. Soon the sun will start to give some light, birds will start their peaceful noises, it will be time to turn on the news and see what happened on the world of ANGST overnight!

    Here are a few of my thoughts first thing today:

       •  Stone Mountain and DeKalb County are in a state of rapid invasion of non-white citizens of all kinds

       •  Rednecks have a hard time adjusting to the changes

       •  A more general problem is simple lack of manners on the part of all

       •  Cramming people into a crowded old rural area makes everyone want to put a gun in the car seat

       •  Few there know how to put on brakes and let the other driver in

       •  Most are so focused on getting to work fast --- when starting late --- those idiots text and apply makeup each day in the car

       •  Businesses competing for customers promise low prices to the point many are credit card broke

       •  The old country stores and open fields now have been replaced with fast food and little talk and social life

    I was raised there in the 50-60's and remember how rural it was. My graduating class at Clarkston High School had only 63 in it. Now that same school graduates about 400. My Sagewood Circle home was in the ONLY subdivision on E. Ponce de Leon Avenue between Clarkston and Stone Mountain. Metro Atlanta had not yet reached its first million residents and it was heavily populated only in Fulton County which surrounded downtown Atlanta. Now it encompasses some 8 Counties and they claim between 8-9 MILLION people and still growing. If the local news had a murder of robbery a day, it was BIG NEWS. Today they have a good solid 30 minutes of non-stop violence and mayhem with "more to see via our streaming video on your Internet / I-phone."

    I can get Atlanta news now here beside the Pamlico River. I choose not to worry with it. I now live near Bath, the oldest town in NC. It looks, in size and old schools, almost identical to Clarkston. You might say Brier Rabbit has landed in the briar patch after Brier Fox and Brier Bear tried to eat him after he got stuck in their Tar baby trap. That is an interesting Uncle Remus story made famous by Joel Chandler Harris of Georgia fame.

    Harris was the only white writer able to put the Geetchie dialect into writing. It is a strange word even my spellcheck does not recognize. It was the common dialect of the early slaves in the South. It is still spoken around Charleston, SC. It is hard to read at first, but it grows on you. At the Wren's Nest near Grant Park they have tours and --- in the spring --- a contest between children to see who can speak it best. No matter the child's color or nationality all are welcome to participate. Those who giggle while speaking can do the best!

    Walt Disney made Uncle Remus famous with his "Song of the South" animated movie. It showed the young white boy going to the old black man's shack for stories each day. NC Baptists have a great camp for boys near Asheboro. I was the Camp Pastor for a week years ago. My young son went with me so it was real to me how difficult it is to say something meaningful to piles of wiggle covered with young boy antsy skin. I told stories --- and the Tar Baby was the best for rapt attention.

    It seems Brier Rabbit was always trying to outsmart his arch enemies, Brier Fox and Brier Bear. He seemed to always come up with something in a pinch. That pinch was them wanting to hit him in the head and throw him in their big black cooking pot like my Grandmother used to wash clothes and my Granddaddy used to scald a fresh-killed pig. You could light a hot fire beneath it and bring it to a steaming boil. As a child I knew firsthand about the cooking pot!

    Fox and Bear came up with a brilliant idea how to trap that wily Rabbit. They took some black and gooey tar and made a baby out of it. It had a head and body of tar. They stuck some sticks in it for arms and legs. A couple of rocks made his eyes and mouth. They put it in the road where the rabbit was sure to pass in the early morning. That rabbit wanted to be friends with everybody and had to speak to that new creature. He knew to call him "Tar baby" from his looks and said, "How you be doing this mornin?" Thet tar baby say nutin'. "I says, 'HOW YOU BE DOING DIS MORNIN?' shouts the rabbit. The tar baby say nutin'. "If you don't talk to me, I gonna put my fist right in yo face, says the rabbit. The tar baby say nutin'.

    Brier Rabbit draws back and hit dat tar baby as hard as he can. His fist gets stuck in that tar and he yells, "LE ME GO or I gonna hit you wid my odder fist even harder!" Nothing from the tar baby so Brier Rabbit draws back and gets his udder fist stuck. Now he be really gettin' mad an he yells at the top of his lungs, "IF YOU DON LET ME GO, I GONNA PUTS BOF FEETS IN YO BELLY AN REALLY HURT YEW!" With that he is now stuck so hard he can't do nothin but yell at the top of his lungs fer help.

    Now the Fox and Bear come out to laugh and gloat. "We gonna put yew in da cookin pot and have dinner soon!" With that they pick him up and start toward their pot already boiling on the fire they lit as they made the tar baby. Brier Rabbit knows he in big trouble and starts to think hard. He says, "I know yew gonna eat me. I know dat hot water gonna hurt so bad I can't sand it, but PLEASE DON'T THROW ME IN THE BRIAR PATCH---PLEASE DON'T THROW ME IN THE BRAIR PATCH 'CAUSE IT GONNA HURT SO MUCH WORSE!"

    The Fox and Bear look at each other and wink 'cause they are right beside dat briar patch now. Dey takes off the tar baby and each one takes a front and back foot to throw dat rabbit in de briar patch as hard and as far as dey can. He sails through the air and hits with awful screams of "IT HURTS SO BAD. I KAINT STAND IT! OW---O-O-O-OUCH! Den the screams stop and all gets quiet. Brier Rabbit done been hurt worse and he be dead more dan de cooking pot.

    Brier Fox and Bear start to walk away patting each other on the back when dey hear de rabbit chuckle. "I WUS BON N' BRED IN DE BRIAR PATCH AN U DONE THROWED ME BACK WHERE I WAS BON!!!"

    Now you figure out how we solve the problems of urban angst and non-stop news to get you angry and upset. It is especially important as the Presidential Campaign heats up way much before it has ever done before.

    As for me and my kids---WE BE LOVIN' DE BRIAR PATCH BESIDES THE RIVER