Pitied or Scolded??
"She's more to be pitied than scolded" is the opening line and title of a bluegrass song* about a fallen woman, a Miss of bad habits and loose ways. The argument of the songwriter is that it's not all her fault, that " the lure of the honky-tonk wrecked her young life." We should pity her. Or should we rebuke and scorn her after all? It's a hard call.
This in a nutshell is something like the debate Art and I have been having between ourselves. You've noticed, perhaps, that we've said little about last week's Budget Meeting. We've deliberately laid off for a few days hoping that a question or two raised in that forum would lead to greater efforts to tell the story of the budget, to tell it more positively, more aggressively, and in a more accurate way.
That hasn't happened. Should we express our condolences with the seemingly paralyzed state of the Board and its inability to communicate with the public? Should we lament the lost opportunities? We've wondered if we might appeal somehow to the better instincts of District officials.
Unfortunately, pitied or scorned, the net effect is the same. The Board hasn't been telling its story, such as it is, to the voters. Over the next few days, we're going to start telling what we know about the budget -- no insider info, just what we've gleaned from the budget flyer and from the hearing. And we'll pose some of the questions that arise when the budget is scrutinized.
The vote on the budget is June 13th. There's still time for everyone involved to make their case!
*On one theory, the song was probably authored by Carter Stanley in the 1950's, and was probably based loosely on a song from the 1890's, "She's More to be Pitied Than Censured."
This in a nutshell is something like the debate Art and I have been having between ourselves. You've noticed, perhaps, that we've said little about last week's Budget Meeting. We've deliberately laid off for a few days hoping that a question or two raised in that forum would lead to greater efforts to tell the story of the budget, to tell it more positively, more aggressively, and in a more accurate way.
That hasn't happened. Should we express our condolences with the seemingly paralyzed state of the Board and its inability to communicate with the public? Should we lament the lost opportunities? We've wondered if we might appeal somehow to the better instincts of District officials.
Unfortunately, pitied or scorned, the net effect is the same. The Board hasn't been telling its story, such as it is, to the voters. Over the next few days, we're going to start telling what we know about the budget -- no insider info, just what we've gleaned from the budget flyer and from the hearing. And we'll pose some of the questions that arise when the budget is scrutinized.
The vote on the budget is June 13th. There's still time for everyone involved to make their case!
*On one theory, the song was probably authored by Carter Stanley in the 1950's, and was probably based loosely on a song from the 1890's, "She's More to be Pitied Than Censured."
posted by PP | 5/31/2006 05:30:00 AM
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