Page 4 - Reedley Exponent 6-7-18 E-edition

The Reedley Exponent A4 Thursday, June 7, 2018 Editorial & Opinions
Serving “The World’s Fruit Basket” since 1891
A Mid Valley Publishing Newspaper
Founded March 26, 1891, in a two-story building on the corner of 11th and F streets, by A.S. Jones
Fred Hall — Publisher
In my OPINION
Jon Earnest — Editor
Chris Aguirre — Sports Editor Felicia Cousart Matlosz — Panorama Editor Budd Brockett — Editor Emeritus
QUOTE
“The opposite of the religious fanatic is not the fanatical atheist but the gentle cynic who cares not whether there is a god or not.”
Eric Hoffer (1902-1983)
Today we offer for your consideration what is perhaps the most fallacious statement ever written or uttered by the media, politicians or special interest groups — “Diversity makes us stronger and immigration makes us more prosperous.” It’s impossible to imagine how one could string together 10 words that could be so demonstrably false when the real subject is illegal immigration!
There is no real argument here about true immigration, but don’t try to frame your argu- ment to cover those who sneaked in by using such an expansive lie.
Power outage in city an inconvenient consequence of floating Mylar balloons
Fred Hall
On June 1, downtown Reedley and central por- tions of the city experi- enced the inconvenient consequence of when a floating metallic Mylar bal- loon touches a live power line.
The resulting blown line — highlighted by a loud pop — brought down a loose line at 13th Street be- tween E and F streets and then sent an electric surge a few blocks north to power pole at 8th Street and North Avenue. That surge blew out another line and caused about 3,000 customers in downtown and central Reedley to go dark for one to two hours. The second pop startled staff at nearby Reedley High School to call police and the fire depart- ment.
Power was out for about an hour for most downtown businesses, including The Exponent. But that didn’t stop the employees at The Genuine Barbershop on 11th Street just east of G Street from continuing work. Shop owner Arman- do Chavez and barbers An- tonio Martinez and Robert Vasquez moved one of the shop’s chairs outside on the sidewalk.
“No power no problem. We have cordless machines that come in handy for this,” Chavez said. Marti- nez used an electric razor to trim the sideburns of cus-
Ma- cIntyre, who achieved national attention in 2009 with an eighth p l a c e finish on
JonEarnest
The truth is, according to a survey recently released by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), that pro- viding health care, education, law enforcement as well as social and government services to illegals and their dependents cost the state of California (taxpayers) almost $26 billion annually. Roughly one in six Californians is illegally in this country. We still don’t see how immigration is a net plus as special interest groups and politicians indicate.
Roughly 12 percent of all American citizens live in California, yet it accounts for 33 percent of this country’s welfare checks. California also is number one in the United States for food stamp usage. Some- how, we manage to have more people on welfare than most countries around the world. But what happened to the idea that immigration would make us more prosperous?
Beginning to feel proud of our accomplishments? It’s a good time to take note of the fact that almost one-fourth of the nation’s homeless population consider the Golden State their residence and 25 percent of them are without a place to live and living on our streets. Remember that we only have 12 percent of the popula- tion in total. Are you beginning to reconsider the sanity of having uncontrolled borders?
State and local debt has swollen to $1.5 trillion. Combining our state debt with California’s share of the national debt produces a debt- to-GDP ratio that is higher than Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. All of those countries are facing economic collapse and ruin.
Agriculture needs workers. There seems to be no doubt about the veracity of that statement as well as the one which asserts that Cali- fornians won’t do that work. Perhaps that’s because the government of this state has become so liberal that many people are figuratively encouraged to not work. How about a “bracero” type program for Central Valley growers and others who need that specific labor?
I was not a resident of California when that program was in full force but have yet to encounter anyone who found fault with it — except the labor unions. From everything that I have been told, it provided a dependable source of labor with sufficient oversight that the necessary controls were in place.
One would find it difficult to argue that immigration has been an important part of the growth and development of this country. But that immigration had always been controlled and every effort was made for those coming to our shores to assimilate. “Out of many, one.” If that is not to be the case, one has simply to read the events at the Tower of Babel. A single, unifying purpose is necessary for any country to be truly great. The idea of America being divided into a large number of “tribes” is unworkable and unacceptable.
Becoming an “American” brings great responsibility to all those who aspire to live in this great land. One of the greatest is to not be a burden to one’s neighbors in terms of financial support.
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
Jon Earnest / The Exponent
Antonio Martinez, a stylist at The Genuine Barbershop, trims the sideburns of customer Vince Paredes outside in a portable wireless chair while power was out at the downtown business on June 1.
the “American Idol” TV contest, will be making his second appearance at Sier- ra View’s spring benefit. He previously sang at the event in 2013.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with appetizers and dinner to follow.
The spring benefit din- ner includes a silent auction and raffle prizes. For ticket information, contact Sierra View Homes at (559) 638- 9226, ext. 213.
•••
By the time you read
this, the 2017-18 school year will have wrapped up. Reedley and Immanuel high schools held their gradu- ation ceremonies on May 31, and Orange Cove High School followed on June 1.
The final graduations were the Kings Canyon High School and the Adult Education programs on June 5, capped off with Dunlap School and Reedley Middle College High School ceremonies on June 6.
Congratulations to all Class of 2018 graduates, and best of luck in the future.
By James Thrasher
Guest columnist
Jeff Bezos made an outlandish and seemingly illogical statement re- cently. No, it wasn’t in re- sponse to President Donald Trump’s assault on Amazon with reference to the U.S. Postal Service being short- changed. After speaking about his business philoso- phy, the origin of ambition, the influence of his grand- father, unconditional love, and then his passion for space travel, Bezos ended the interview with the un- expected. It was absolutely fascinating and it came out of the blue.
In a free-wheeling interview with Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider’s parent company Axel Springer, the uncon- ventional Amazon entre- preneur speaks of family trips with his wife and kids, and then was engaged by Döpfner with the following question: “You are a fam- ily man. Your kids are ex- tremely important to you — you seem to be an ideal father. If we were to talk to your kids, what would they criticize about their dad?” Bezos quickly put to bed the ideal dad thing. He then made an abruptly off-topic but truly intriguing and pro- found transition. He stated, “If I am happy at home, I come into the office with tremendous energy, and if I am happy at work, I come
home with tremendous en- ergy.”
Don’t miss the signifi- cance of the order of these statements: Bezos, the founder and CEO of Ama- zon, mentions his home first. His comments were made in the context of ad- dressing the phrase “work- life balance,” which he boldly called a “debilitat- ing” phrase because it pits each side against the other. A recent Harvard Business Review article on work-life balance described the in- tense pursuit of this balance by Americans who “vigi- lantly manage their own human capital, endeavoring to give both work and home their due—over a period of years, not weeks or days.” This pursuit is an obses- sion in the workforce today. Everyone talks about and longs for this sometimes in- definable and elusive sweet spot in their lives.
Millennials and Gener- ation Z-ers are concerned about this issue, even hounded by it. These stu- dents want to be empow- ered inside and outside of work to make the world a better place. In the course of my preparing thousands of college students for job interviews one question always surfaces: Should I ask about or address the issue of work-life balance with this company? This is a pressing issue for the American workforce and
a huge concern for college students.
There are many impor- tant aspects of life which intersect moment by mo- ment. Whether Bezos real- ized it or not, he is address- ing the challenging juggling act of managing the callings of life. Our lives are multi- faceted, with numerous re- sponsibilities and priorities. The callings of life include family, vocation, church, and community (the com- mon good of our neighbor). Our minds see them as ri- valing commitments rather than elements in our lives that are interdependent and complementary. This is the major thrust of Bezos’s comments.
Bezos is implying that work and our callings should not be doing battle with each other, vying for singularity and absolute supremacy. He firmly be- lieves that there is not a strict trade-off between work and life. The callings of life create a circle of completeness, the whole of a person’s total existence. With a thoughtful perspec- tive, the differing yet vi- tal parts of life are able to mesh in kinship and unity.
How would Bezos’s per- spective apply in practical terms? First, think about the life mission or core principles that provide a measuring stick to evaluate your goals and priorities. Second, take an inventory
of your life situation. See if your callings are conso- nant and provide energy one to another. Next, strive for harmony, not equality of time and energy, for all callings. Fourth, understand that different callings will take precedence at differ- ent times of your life. Fi- nally, realize that there is no perfect formula for this pursuit, and like all of life, it is organic.
We all know “life hap- pens” and technology poten- tially plugs us into our work 24 hours a day. The stresses, challenges, and difficulties sometimes overtake us. But don’t miss the office memo that the Amazon CEO just sent you. Bezos has an in- credibly important mes- sage for us about work-life harmony: Healthy work and personal life callings can each feed off of the other’s positive energy, dedication, and commitment.
Evaluate whether you view the numerous aspects of your life as working with or against each other. If it’s the latter, strive to see them as unifying parts of a well- rounded, whole life. The re- sult could be lowered stress and increased satisfaction, joy, and peace in your life.
James Thrasher is the Senior Fellow of Grove City (Pa.) College’s career servic- es office and the coordina- tor of the Center for Vision & Values working group on calling.
tomer Vince Paredes. “This is nice. Very refreshing and breezy out here,” said Mar- tinez.
Denny Boyles of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said in a news release that the Reedley power outage was the first confirmed incident during what he called the “Grads and Dads” season. Boyles reminds the public to always use weights on Mylar balloons, and nev- er to release them from weights if they need to be taken outside.
Boyles said to never go near a power line that has fallen to the ground or is dangling in the air. He
said to always assume that downed electric lines are energized and extremely dangerous. If a downed line is spotted, stay far away and keep others way and imme- diately call 911 to alert po- lice and fire departments.
•••
There’s still time to
purchase individual tickets for the Sierra View Homes Auxiliary Spring Benefit dinner on Saturday, June 9. The event, highlighted by featured singer Scott MacIntyre, will be held in the main dining room at Sierra View Homes Retire- ment Community, 1155 E. Springfield Ave.
Memo from Jeff Bezos: forget work-life balance
Have an opinion? Want to share it?
Weigh in. Let your voice be heard.
Send us your letter to the editor (limit of 300 words) for publication on this page in print and our e-edition.
email to jon@midvalleypublishing.com