Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1007462
4 UCW JULY 25-31, 2018 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM PUBLISHER'S PEN STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ EDITOR Stephanie Crider editor@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Leslie Pyo leslie@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR Earl Vaughan Jr. EarlUCWSports@gmail.com REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Long art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Jason Brady, Lauren Vanderveen, Matthew Skipper, Shane Wilson SALES ADMINISTRATOR/ DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com ––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: (910) 484-6200 FAX: (910) 484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly wel- comes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. ©2018 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Cover photo and cover story photos taken by Teresa Hayter, brokencrayonsphotography. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. I'm surprised there has not been a TV network created just to accommodate what seems to be an overwhelming proliferation of incivility in America. ere are literally dozens of networks that create programing about topics of every kind. ere are programs about food, yoga, weird science, smoothies, exercise equipment, cars, trucks and gardening. I could go on, but you get my point. is being the case, it seems reason- able to have a network that could house channels that find compa- nies willing to sponsor shows that disseminate insults, accusations and indictments with such author- ity that no one dares challenge the content for fear of retribution. Watching TV, especially the news and news-related shows, is like viewing the world after it became infected with a terrible virus. More and more, we seem to be subjected to behavior and media sound bites that are uncharacter- istically and unjustifiably cruel, negative and combative. For the life of me, I cannot identify when decent, God-fearing Americans became so in- sensitive to and intolerant of each other's rights, feelings and opinions. When did respect, courtesy, manners and politeness go out of fashion in America? When did logic, common sense and the art of com- promise fall by the wayside along with respectable conversation and thought- ful debate? I guess a more critical question should be: How can we get it back? I refuse to think that this is not possible, even though we are subjected to senseless and hateful behavior daily. To my point, set aside for one moment your religion, race and personal politi- cal convictions. None of these things will matter if the America we live in, the nation that grants and allows us to enjoy those "unalienable rights," collapses under the weight of ignorance, unbridled greed and crazy ideological self-aggrandizement. And, that's all happening right now across this country. Imagine America, no, better yet, imagine Fayetteville without a police or sheriff 's department. With no EMS or fire department. Imagine a Fayetteville totally void of law enforce- ment and first responders. Imagine a Fayetteville where no one had to work to earn a living but had unrestricted access to other people's possessions and per- sonal property. With no law enforcement, there would be no jail or justice system. No laws. No rules. What would remain? A community of chaos overrun with criminals, mur- derers, rapists, child molesters and drug dealers – all having unrestrained access to everything you hold near and dear. I'm not talking about money, per- sonal possessions, land or buildings. I'm referring to those constitutionally protected unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. ose are the things that really mat- ter, not red states, blue states, votes, money or power. Hate speak, intoler- ance and bad behavior are no different or more acceptable today than the refusing of four young black protesters at a lunch counter at a Greensboro, North Carolina, Woolworth store in 1960. Do we as Americans really want to go back there? I think not. So, what's the solution? I have no idea. But, I do know this: We all would be better off remembering and practic- ing the golden rule. As a noun, it means "a principle implemented or followed to assure success." Bibli- cally, it has a more relevant meaning. It's the willingness to love thy neigh- bor as thy self. We are all faced with injustices, injuries, disappointments, betrayals and frustrations. Handling these situations and loving those who we believe to be the source of the anguish may be the first step back to civil- ity. We need to have patience and take the high road when facing adversity. We must harness our anger and need for retalia- tion. e golden rule would remind us to be tolerant and to seek peaceful solutions to problems. Ever since we were children, we have been told to follow the golden rule. Well, today that advice is as relevant as it ever was. Probably even more so. God bless America! ank you for reading the Up & Coming Weekly. The golden rule may be the answer by BILL BOWMAN BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@upandcomingweekly.com. 910- 484-6200. Ever since we were children, we have been told to follow the golden rule. Photo by Ben White on Unsplash HIGH 89 HIGH 85 JULY 26 JULY 27 JULY 28 JULY 29 JULY 30 JULY 31 Scattered Thunderstorms AM Thunderstorms Scattered Thunderstorms Scattered Thunderstorms Scattered Thunderstorms Scattered Thunderstorms LOW 72 LOW 72 LOW 73 LOW 73 LOW 73 LOW 70 HIGH 90 HIGH 93 HIGH 90 HIGH 92 Semi-HIGH humidity all week: around 70%