The Scribes
The Great Rooster Fight
View from the Top of the World
By Stephen L. Wilmeth
If enough
water passes under the bridge, the great divide is recognized by more than
wrinkles.
So, it was
this week when I was looking at some poorer doing calves that our youngest
granddaughter is tending. She has done a great job and her mama talks about
hearing her opening the gate into her little set of corrals and banging the
bucket on the feeder as she spreads the ration for her red coated patients as
early as 5:30 in the morning. The calves have turned a big circle in the past
two weeks.
We are
proud of her diligence.
I was
thinking about that and other things as I climbed the little rise to her pens
on Thursday afternoon. I had brought her some hay and wanted to visit with her
about her task. That’s when the fight started.
Appearing
out of cloud of dust (literally), the golden devil ran to the middle of the
trail, rose up to his full rooster glory, and crowed at me.
Don’t
you pull that nonsense with me!
My remarks
went unheeded. In fact, he came at me and in the same motion I kicked dirt in
his face and really got after him. That only invigorated him as he tried to get
his spurs out front, and shadow boxed at me in midair.
D*mn,
you!
He remained
ruffled up, crowing and clucking like a banshee, and planted firmly in the
middle of the path as I retreated to my pickup to get my shovel. That dadgum
rooster wasn’t going to bluff me!
But, there
was no bluff.
When I got
within social distancing of him, he came at me with a vengeance, raising cane,
and flashing those spurs. He was in midair when I connected with a left-handed
swing on the back side of the shovel and knocked him sideways. He no more than
hit the ground than he was coming back as I swung back in a right-handed
counter sending feathers flying this time with a full edge hit.
Back and
forth, back and forth the battle raged as he had me backing off that slope in
wide eyed disbelief.
It was in
that time frame I swung, missed him, and lost my balance. Over backward (a full
gainer!), I went off that incline.
KaBang!
By golly,
it rang my bell as I tried to get ready for his next move trying to get my
shovel in a defensive position as I laid there flat on my back with my feet uphill.
All I could think about was trying to keep him off my face with those spurs
just a’flying like a bronc rider.
He had
prevailed, though. There I was, the great foe, sprawled out in the dirt trying
to get some air in my lungs. He had won the round convincingly. Like a prize
fighter he shook himself, looked again at his accomplishment, turned clucking
to himself, and left.
Dang,
I hope nobody saw that …
The
Scribes
The press
has done a study on themselves.
Their
problem is there is no trust across the deep chasm of their work, and,
obviously, someone must have told them it is an issue. As with all
self-assessments, there was no real objectivity. The study wasn’t presented in
any scientific form. The executive summary certainly would not have suggested
any self-incrimination even it had been done. They did come up with what they
are describing as core principles, though. There were five of them.
The first
was they believe the public expects them to watch over leaders and the
powerful. Next, they are to elaborate on behalf of the voices that go silent.
The third tenet is society works better with knowledge out in the open. Number
four was the more facts people have the closer to the truth issues become.
Lastly, it is their duty to spotlight community difficulties so they can be
solved.
Really, is
that what you came up with?
It is hard
to refrain from cynicism. A first question asked would be why did it take a
study to come up with those findings? Those should have been the first lessons
learned in Scribedom 101. Moreover, those should be standards that are
fundamental in the character of the individuals involved.
Their
grandmothers should have drilled every one of those points into their hearts
and minds before they even thought of attending those bastions of the false
science of institutional journalism. The honest points are much more simplistic
and, in fact, more succinct. Their study could be compressed into three.
As practiced today, their body of
work is of the press, by the press, and for the press regardless of words
otherwise.
View
from the Top of the World
Of course,
that is a play on the words of Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address. The President
had actually borrowed the gist of the wording from a Theodore Parker sermon
given in 1858. Lincoln’s law partner, William H. Herndon, returning from Boston
gave him a copy of the Parker address and witnessed Lincoln marking with a pencil
the line reading Democracy is direct self-government, over all the people,
by all the people, for all the people.
Given the
suggestion the press is, in effect, using the concept in their own actions,
they would probably be aghast knowing they are being compared to the idea of
being associated with a translation of the Bible. Parker, too, borrowed the
phrasing. It came from the prologue of the translation John Wycliffe did back
in 1384.
The
Bible is for the government of the People, by the People, and for the People.
Having
survived the Great Rooster Fight, I am strongly reminded that all of us can
stand a little comeuppance and thoughtful reawakening. The operative words are
… We, the People.
Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher form southern New
Mexico. “Where is that danged rooster anyway?”
1 comment:
Great reading your post
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