Dealing with disappointment

VIEWPOINT

By RALPH HARDIN

Evening Times Editor U nless you’re living some kind of charmed life, we will all have to deal with some kind of disappointment in our lives. We’ve all had something that did not work out the way we hoped it would. Maybe your junior high school crush didn’t feel “the same way” about you. Perhaps that big promotion at work you were hoping to get went to Steve, your brown-nosing office rival, instead. Or possibly that new Guns N’ Roses album you waited 15 years for finally got released and it was … not good. That last one might be just me …

In any event, no matter how good things might be going, eventually something will take a turn for the worse and you’ll find yourself disappointed. So, then what? British comedy troupe Monty Python had some pretty good advice back in the day in their 1979 song: “Some things in life are bad, they can really make you mad. Other things just make you swear and curse. When you’re chewing on life’s gristle, don’t grumble, give a whistle. And this’ll help things turn out for the best, and …”

Always look on the bright side of life. Of course, it’s easy to say. Perhaps less easy to do. So, what’s disappointing you these days? I hope your relationships are going well. I hope the kids and the job and such are in order. I hope that when you go out to start your car, it cranks right up, that the air conditioner keeps blowing and that Steve ends up getting fired for incompetence (I even hear Guns N’ Roses are planning a new album, so fingers crossed).

I hope none of these things are disappointing because there are plenty of other things to be disappointed about right now …

Yes, I’m largely talking about our American society, particularly in the government. At this point, anyone who isn’t disappointed probably isn’t paying a whole lot of attention.

And sure, I could be talking about the local scene. I mean, plenty of folks are disappointed that the Rich Road bridge is still closed, or that the overpass by the Marion Walmart still hasn’t started construction, or that the Tennessee Department of Transportation went ahead with its ill-conceived project on Interstate 55.

But really, I’m talking about our own state. Here in Arkansas, there was a push to put a measure on the ballot to ensure that schools that receive taxpayer funds be required to, you know, follow the guidelines of the Arkansas Department of Education? Well, it doesn’t matter, because the group spearheading the effort did not collect enough signatures on its petition to get it on the ballot. The same thing happened to a group sponsoring a measure to protect the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, which our governor and her legislature gutted recently. Well, that will also not be on the ballot in November.

Now, you might ask yourself, if these issues are so important, why did they not get enough signatures to get on the ballot? Well, you see, that’s by design. Last year, the state legislature decided they didn’t want any pesky citizens deciding on their own laws, so they passed a bill to make it harder to get measures like these on the ballot.

Forever, to get an issue on the statewide ballot, you needed 50,000 signatures from at least 15 counties – quite doable for even a modest-sized group. Now, as of 2023, it requires signatures from 50 of the state’s 75 counties. Oh, and now proposed constitutional amendments require valid signatures from at least 90,704 voters and proposed state laws require valid signatures from a minimum of 72,563 Arkansas voters.

Such an effort requires so much more time and money that it becomes a very daunting task. Oh, but you know who did put in the time and money to make the deadline for collecting signatures? The folks behind the effort to protect abortion rights in Arkansas, which I guess shows you where our state’s priorities are.

And this is just in Arkansas. I don’t even have the time or space to discuss the rights and wrongs of things like requiring the Ten Commandments in Louisiana classrooms or mandated Bible study in Oklahoma schools. Both are acceptable ideas on surface level but raise serious questions under scrutiny. What if these news laws were pushing Islam, Judaism or Buddhism? Would you be OK with that?

Oh, and if you want to talk about disappointment, have you seen our options for President of the United States in the upcoming election? I am disappointed by both parties for their inability to put someone up that is even the least bit palatable. No matter who wins in November, we’re all going to lose.

Honestly, I’d rather vote for Steve …