Editorial
Whether it’s by design or merely capitalized on as it evolves later, fictional storytellers often convey an overall message or theme.
While it is common and typically easy to pick out many themes that stitch pros together into fictional quilts like Animal Farm, rare are the moments when such an unintentional pattern emerges to connect the pages of a newspaper, and I wouldn’t want anyone to miss the theme about making wise choices.
Aside from opinions, advertisements, and various public announcements, this week’s news coverage is balanced only by the extremity of positive and negative. Not much middle ground. What I find interesting is that each of the outcomes is directly related to a series of choices, some of them good ones, others, not so much.
The story of a middle-aged guy who lives life being true to himself, remaining faithful to a passion, and spends decades honing his craft while cultivating positive relationships achieves a lifelong dream is always a good one.
My only regret in writing about Mark Harris’ story is not having the space to give you another 3,000 words to read.
Nevertheless, his accomplishments were achieved through a series of decisions. He chose to be a humble student of his craft and will be the first to admit he still has much to learn about songwriting, but he chose to keep writing. And when he had accumulated too many rejections to count, he wrote another song. And when one of them ended up as a country music single, he started writing 15 more.
Not all choices made by those beneath the headlines have yielded such positive outcomes. I have never met Jeremy Trevino of Jayton, but I understand he was concerned about serving a four-year sentence. I cannot see how choosing to escape from a Texas jail for a second time is going to improve the situation, other than for the sake of what will likely be temporary freedom.
On the other side of that coin, there were obviously choices made by those within the Stonewall County Sheriff’s Department that allowed for not one, but two escapes in so many weeks.
Based on even what was shared in the brief article this week, I’m sure many of you have the same questions rolling around in your head as I do in mine.
As a journalist, it drives me nuts to have questions without answers, but it's delusional to think I will find answers to all of them. That’s like thinking you will never hear the whoosh of the bat and the slap of leather after a well-executed curve ball.
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a story you want answers to more than that of Joe Nixon. From a procedural standpoint, there were layers of bad choices made going back months, and there is plenty of finger-pointing to go around.
This is a case where it is easy to get caught up in emotion and instinct, one where factual evidence can make all the difference in the determination of truth and justice. Because of choices made — whether convicting or exculpatory — that evidence might never see the light of day.
At least for now, the deeper truth of this story is being kept by those who are choosing not to share it. At least not with me, which is also a choice.
Silence is a popular choice for people, ranking right up there with choosing not to take action, and refusing to change. That’s not to say keeping your mouth shut, saying “no” or being stubborn isn’t a valuable choice depending on the situation, but the news this week certainly puts things into perspective on the value of choosing wisely.