Reece Gardner: On the Buzzfeed report, pear trees and speed limits
I am going to spend a brief time on the "BuzzFeed Bombshell," and then I'll go to something more
inspirational.
Perhaps you followed the release from BuzzFeed last week that claimed President Trump directed his attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about a Moscow real estate project and that Cohen told Special Counsel Robert Mueller the President personally instructed him to lie about the deal.
Immediately, the Trump-haters jumped on the story as the beginning of the end for Trump.
But then Mueller's office issued a rare public statement disputing the accuracy of the BuzzFeed report.
President Trump stated, "It was a totally phony story and I appreciate the Special Counsel citing it as such."
As you know, this goes on all the time, hindering the President's great efforts to strengthen our economy, protect our country and develop close working relationships with former adversaries such as North Korea, China and others. But the haters seem to be losing their "Inside" advantage as different type of leaders are coming forth, such as incoming Attorney General Robert Barr.
And now a few thoughts about the seasons of life.
There was a man who had four sons. He wanted them to learn to not judge things too quickly, so he sent them on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.
When they had all gone and come back, he called them in together to describe what they had seen. The first son said the tree was bent and twisted. The second son said no — it was covered with green buds and full of promise.
The third son disagreed. He said it was laden with blossoms and very beautiful. The last son disagreed with all of them. He said the tree was ripe, dripping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.
The father then explained to his sons they were all correct because they had each seen but one season in the tree's life. He told them that we cannot judge a tree or a person, by only one season and that the essence of who we are can only be judged at the end, when all our seasons are up.
Then he said, "Don't judge a life by one difficult season. Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest."
Good advice!
Now to end on a humorous note. Sitting on the edge of the highway waiting to catch speeders, a state police officer saw a car driving along at 22 miles per hour. He figured this driver was just as dangerous as a speeder, so he pulled the car over. Approaching the car he noticed there were five elderly ladies, all of them wide-eyed and looking like ghosts.
The driver, obviously confused, said, "Officer I don't understand. I wasn't going over the speed limit! What did you pull me over for?"
The officer said, "You should know that driving slower than the speed limit can also be dangerous."
"Slower than the speed limit? No sir! I was doing exactly 22 miles per hour," the lady said proudly.
The officer, trying to retain his composure, explains that 22 is the route number, not the speed limit. A little embarrassed, the lady smiled and thanked the officer for pointing out her error.
Then the officer said, "Before I go, I have a question to ask. Is every one OK? These ladies seem badly shaken and haven't said a word since I pulled you over.?"
"Oh, they'll be all right in a minute, officer. We just got off Route 141!"
The views of the columnist are not necessarily those of Neuse News.
