Opinion

Let’s explore the origin of some common sayings. After writing several columns about sayings like, “Not my cup of tea” and “The straw that broke the camel’s back,” many of you suggested a few others. How many times have you threatened to read someone “The Riot Act?” What is that act, and why is there a riot involved? I’m pretty sure I “read the riot act” to my sons when they were teenagers, and I’m equally certain they rolled their eyes when I did.

Have you ever wondered how your financial journey might look if you’d started saving at a younger age? Understanding the importance of saving as a teenager — or even earlier — can go a long way toward building confidence and creating habits that last. When that basic financial knowledge is combined with consistent discipline before reaching adulthood, young people can be set on a path toward long-term financial freedom.

If you have been reading this column for a while, you will know that I draw many moments of inspiration from time spent digging in the dirt. Over the weekend we were tilling up the gardens to prepare for sowing seeds in just a few short months. Luckily, we live in a world where tractors do most of the heavy lifting, yet still, there is much action on our part that must be executed. The tilling process is important for loosing up the hard soil and rock, it disrupts grass and weeds that can smother the plants, makes soil available for added nutrients and allows for a more effective drainage system needed for plants to thrive. What kind of inspiration could possibly flow from running a tractor through the dirt? It reminded me of a verse, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till He come and rain righteousness upon you.”

Even people who don’t celebrate Passover have been exposed to lessons from the Exodus (if only through Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments”), but some of us retain water better than we retain the significance of the parting of the Red Sea. For example, the very ground on which Moses stood before the burning bush was holy, so God is infi nitely holier. Alas, not even religious people always acknowledge that sacredness.

I was a morning radio host before I got into TV news. In that role, I was encouraged to inject a little humor into the lives of listeners battling rush-hour traffic. During that era, we had a Democratic president, followed by a Republican president. Our area governors, senators and representatives came from both major parties. I was an equal opportunity jokester. Thankfully, my listeners had a good sense of humor, advertisers never complained, and neither my bosses nor the politicians ever tried to censor me. It was, as we hear so often, a different era.

In studies, liberal women report the lowest levels of happiness and a satisfied life, compared to conservative and moderate women.