Down but Not Out: Duskey’s Encouraging Words

Sometimes you don’t know how blessed you are until something bad happens to you. Then you get to see things in a new light. A light you perhaps hadn’t seen before. Or thought about.

I know it happened to me.

I did not feel blessed while I was lying on the ground in pain trying to get up with the rain pelting down on me while trying to figure out what was broken and what wasn’t.

My head hurt since I had broken my fall with my head crashing into the gravel. My shoulder hurt. My hip, amazingly, did not but it had a huge knot on it.

But this is not about what was damaged and what wasn’t. It’s about what happened afterward.

While I was battered and bruised, I had people step up to take care of me physically and mentally. They let me know it was all right I was not doing anything for them and that is one of the top fears of my depressive swings.

It always has been what have I done to earn your love?

If I wasn’t producing, then I did not deserve affection.

Yes, I am clinically depressed, and it is very real even if I know about it and it hasn’t been discussed in a governmental meeting. 

And, no, I am not ashamed of it. It is just part of who I am having what drove me at work and elsewhere despite have a very laid-back B personality.

My family physically took care of me with food and forced me to move my right shoulder even though it hurt like the very devil. It still hurts but not as bad as it did, and I can thank them for that.

And I had other friends who let me know I was appreciated and wanted even though I had nothing to offer them to earn that. It truly was a remarkable feeling.

I even was excused from my basketball bookkeeping duties since one eyelid was/is swollen to the point it is hard to see out of. But they (the Calhoun High School boys’ team) may not want me back since they are 6-1 with me gone. Maybe, just maybe, I have been jinxing them.

I hope I am not, but should I take a chance? I mean they are playing so well now …

I need to offer congratulations to an area team that is absolutely doing great. I mean the Gilmer County girls team which is, of this writing, 20-0 and the current LKC champion.

That leaves the Titans with one big goal and that is winning the state Class A title. Since this does not appear to be Calhoun’s year, I hope the Titans pull it off. The biggest obstacle to Gilmer’s quest probably will be defending state champion Cameron and its massively talented center Ashlynn Van Tassel and twins Emilee and Ashlee Dobbs.

The two teams have a bit of history with Cameron beating Gilmer 53-50 in the championship game in 2022.

FEELING SORRY FOR THE BUFFOON: I feel sorry for Joe Biden. I really do. I watched his press conference after an investigation into some illegal things he was doing decided against prosecution because, basically, he (Biden) was not up to it because of his lack of mental acuity.

His handlers trotted him out and it was sad to see him struggling to gain any sense of what he was trying to say. How could people who supposedly loved him and supported him do this to him?

Maybe that’s because the national democrat party will do, say, or destroy anything to maintain power and Biden is one thing they are willing to destroy. 

Frankly I think the democrats are hoping to find someone to replace Biden at the top of the ticket who is not named Kamala Harris because she is a bigger trainwreck than he is.

The name I hear most is Michelle Obama, but I don’t think so. I think if the democrats run an Obama for president, it will be Barack Obama. But why do that since he is already the one pulling the strings on the puppet president Joe Biden.

Frankly the best thing, the very best thing for Trump to win the White House and the Republicans to take the House and Senate by huge margins and to hold on to them for a long time.

AND IN WEST VIRGINIA: Statewide it’s going to be interesting, but it will be a Republican sweep. The interesting part is which Republican is going to survive the primary and win the general election.

The most hotly contested statewide race is the GOP gubernatorial primary where four very good candidates – Mac Warner, Patrick Morrisey, Moore Capito and Chris Miller – and a couple of other guys including one from Calhoun County. But those other guys won’t get many more votes than me and I am not on the ballot.

The interesting thing about the race for governor is that the businessman – Miller – is making enough noise that the hidden money is buying television ads attacking him.

Frankly I feel any of the four major GOP candidates will make a good governor, but I would love to see Miller win it because he is NOT a politician. It worked quite well when we elected Donald Trump. It should work at the state level too.

Stay tuned.

AND LOCALLY: The good folks governing the Town of Grantsville took something that ought to have been very easy and turned it into 10 miles of bad road by not following the law.

It was a simple task – name a replacement council member for one who resigned.

Basically, the law says you call a public meeting, discuss the candidates, make the recommendation, and then vote on it. There may be some hurtful feelings and disagreements but, in the end, it is the end. Period.

Instead, the governing folks held a secret non-meeting meeting and unofficially (since it was not an official meeting) decided who they wanted and made their choice.

At the next regularly scheduled meeting the governing folks decided it was time to swear in the new council member.

Oops!!! You can’t do it that way and some concerned citizens called them on it and good golly didn’t that turn into a big brouhaha?

Yep. And it spilled over into other things like the lamppost project that got 71 pledges of $1,000 apiece to buy lampposts for the streets of Grantsville.

The governing body of the town and some merchants are speaking out against it.

That is a big mistake.

Why?

Because (1) the installation and maintenance of these lampposts is not as financially burdensome as some say and (2) 71 different people or entities are willing to put their money where their mouths are and for the town to kill the project would offend 71 folks (entities) greatly.

When you have that many folks (entities) wanting to help you you simply say thank you and then just shut up and let them do it.

Until next time stay safe but don’t live your life in a bubble.