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Soldier comes to aid

As it is Veterans Day at the time of this writing, I thought I’d share a story that happened to me a few weeks ago.

I was shopping in the Wal-Mart on Highland. I happen to be in a wheelchair and still use a cart when I need to shop because I want to get as many things as I need in one trip. That said, it can be a little troublesome to wheel myself and then also to push the shopping cart.

I had just finished checking out and was trying to make my way toward the lobby, with my cart filled with bags of groceries. A man about my age (20s) dressed in his Army uniform saw me. He immediately came up and offered to help me. I shrugged it off a bit, but he insisted on pushing my cart, allowing me the free arms to wheel myself. He told me to lead, and as he pushed my cart, he followed me all the way to the inside of the lobby up to the outside entrance.

This man as a veteran has done far more than most of us have or will do to make an impact on the world. Even so, he decided to stop and do more. I can’t tell you how many people who were in Wal-Mart who saw me and didn’t even offer to help. I never expected any help but was so impressed when it was offered.

That soldier shows the caliber of the men and women serving our country. He has increased my respect exponentially for those serving our country. I want to thank him and our troops. Keep doing the great job you’re doing.

David Smock

Jonesboro

Focus and inspiration

Saturday morning before the Lafayette game, I read where the Red Wolves were focused. Sunday or Monday’s paper had them inspired. In between that time they got whipped. It was Coach Roberts’ fault. It was Reggie’s fault. It was Cory’s fault.

Nowhere in that equation did I see where it was the offensive line, defensive line, secondary and receivers’ fault. Nor did I see where the coaches of those respective positions accepted responsibility for the game.

Reggie Arnold could not have run 1,000 yards three years in a row and fall apart without lack of support from the offensive line. Cory can’t make the plays without the protection of the line. It was known in the beginning that the team was weak in the secondary, yet nothing was done to correct that problem.

I can’t even count on red for filling the entertainment void. Next year, get inspired and stay focused the entire season.

Roger Banter

Jonesboro

New reason for trust

I would like to thank the gracious lady who was at Hays Grocery on Nettleton on Veterans Day evening. My bank card would not work, and as my fiance and I were leaving to go to an ATM, this lady in purple followed us to the door and explained that she had paid for our merchandise because her bank card does that all the time. I explained that I appreciated the act, but she did not have to do that.

She returned to the inside of the store, and we continued to the bank. We returned to the store within just a few minutes to pay for our merchandise to find that the lady had paid and left the message “God Bless.”

We hear so many things in the news and from the community we forget there are good people with good intentions. To this lady I say thank you and God bless you for reminding me there is still reason to trust in people.

Vikkie Greenway

Jonesboro

That health-care vote

“It was the best of times; It was the worst of times ...” So begins Charles Dickens’ novel, “A Tale of Two Cities.”

Somehow the phrase is appropriate for the times in which we live. True, we are not facing a revolution like which consumed France and brought dread and fear to citizens and foreigners alike, but in my short life I have never had the sense of danger and foreboding that I feel at present. Maybe a revolution is taking place, and we just do not know it yet. Maybe it will be relatively free from blood letting and the feared guillotine, but I think it will cost men and women their lives, their honor and their freedoms.

The freedoms I am referring to are the right to provide health care for our own families. The honor is the respect of the world we are losing because we as a people no longer can pay the costs of our government programs. The lives are the lives of our elderly who will be shunted aside to die by a bureacracy that cares only for “young, productive workers.” What was Congressman Berry thinking when he voted for the health-care reform bill on [Nov. 70? When so many in this district oppose the government takeover of health care, what could the reason be for voting for this? It certainly was not to represent us, the constituents.

I wonder what the reason was for taking over health care. We are clearly not the beneficiaries. I wonder who is?

Walton King

Jonesboro