When readers write to me from various locations around the country and say good things about my column, it is like music to my ears. From the very beginning it has been my purpose and my heart’s desire to include thoughts and ideas that will be helpful, useful and encouraging to every person who takes the time to read it. A while back I received a letter from Mr. Lynn Wooley who said, “I live in Cleveland County, Arkansas, and read your column in the County Herald. I have read…

William McKinley, the 25th President of the United States, once said, “In acquiring knowledge there is one thing equally important, and that is character. Nothing in the world is worth so much, will last so long, and serve its possessor so well as good character.” While this is certainly a true statement, sadly William McKinley was one of only four United States presidents who was assassinated while in office. But this does not detract in any way, the value and importance of each of us having good character. Over the…

If you will come along, today I would like to invite you to take a trip with me down memory lane. There is a special reason for this that I will explain a bit later. After I dropped out of Arkansas A&M College back in 1958, I made my way to Little Rock, where I had family. After looking for a job for a few days, I went to work in the stock room of a local printer, earning $1.35 per hour. I stayed with this job for seven years…

Unless you have been hungry for a very long period of time, you may not be able to appreciate and relate to what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about world hunger and a young couple that is doing something about it. But first, these thoughts. Very early in my life my folks owned and operated a small restaurant, and my mother was an excellent cook, so I have never really been hungry. They owned this restaurant until I graduated from high school, moved out, went…

Here is a question that I would like to invite you to ponder with me for a few minutes today. How much do you know about inflation? There is one thing for sure, here at the Davidson household we have definitely felt the power of inflation, in particular every time we fill up our cars with gas or go to the grocery store. But what is inflation, do you know? Most people think it’s high prices, and it is, but there are several reasons why we have it. Inflation is…

Today I would like to tell you a true story that, if you will ponder it a bit, will definitely tug at your heart strings. It will soon become obvious why I don’t use names. Sometime back I told you about our granddaughter who just finished the fourth grade and is reading at the high school grade level. Well, she had a birthday this past August and is now 11 years of age. To celebrate, her mom and dad gave her a birthday party. She wanted to cook and invited…

There is a group of people here in our county that are part of a tradition that goes back for 144 years. This group is known as the Faulkner County Singing Convention, and they meet each year on Friday and Saturday before the fourth Sunday in July. The current group has a constitution and by-laws adopted on July 26, 2013. The officers consist of a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, chaplain and sergeant-at-arms. In their respective order the current officers are Robert Clark, Jonathan Sawrie, Robert Morrow, Raymond Bush and…

One Sunday morning a few weeks ago, our teacher Mike used an expression that I had not heard in many a moon. First, the context. He said when he was growing up, their family lived on a narrow dirt road. When he was about 14 and it was time to learn how to drive, his dad took him and their pickup down in the pasture. The truck had a stick shift, which is what most families had those days. If you are not familiar with a stick shift, it is…

Have you ever run across someone who was just plain mean? “Mean” in this sense is the adjective form which refers to someone lacking elevating human qualities such as kindness and good will. Mean people are unkind even to the point of physical harm, and it’s obvious they do not care about other people. However, people’s motives for their actions really determine whether they are mean or not. On the surface people may appear to be mean, when in reality they are not mean at all. To illustrate the truth…