Let's be clear from the beginning, this screed is programmed, compiled and delivered via our own superduper computer located nowhere any sensible person would want to go. I don't even go there.
It does everything: hosts our website, handles all our e-mail addresses, adjusts my alarm clock for daylight savings time. It does it all safely and securely, which is the most important thing.
You may not know this, but lots of people are running their own servers these days.
Anyway, when I initially sat down and started hammering out today's column, the computer reminded me I'd already used the opening line "Just when you thought Congress couldn't sink any lower..." several times recently. This gave me pause. No matter how dead that horse is, there's still plenty of reason to beat it. But maybe there's something else to ponder.
So in pondering, I lost all track of time and was startled when the computer reminded me of a meeting at the Breaks Park beginning shortly. This column would have to wait.
The Breaks Interstate Park is one place any sensible person would want to go. Several from Virginia and Kentucky got together to talk about a program called "Appalachian Spring". And who doesn't love an Appalachian spring? It's hard not to be optimistic about that.
If you'd attended the meeting, it would be hard for you not to be optimistic too. Not because of grand ideas or elaborate plans, but because there were 20-30 diverse folk from different states with different agendas talking positively and sharing honestly in service to a shared resource. That resource is the Breaks Park and a healthy park can lead to healthy communities around it.
It's so easy to be cynical when you're watching Washington and Frankfort. A couple of folks have used that term to describe me, believe it or not.
But cynicism melts away when you sit in a room and see that people in a group can find common ground and move ahead. It isn't always pretty and there isn't always unanimous agreement, but civility and compromise always lead to progress.
Elkhorn City and Haysi, Virginia are two towns with much in common. Some would say we've both seen better days and that is certainly true. But what is also true is we both can see much better days, our best days. There are many who believe our futures are inextricably tied and that by working together we'll prosper.
The connector is the park. The state line is the artificial fence that hinders everything from sharing business interests to solving environmental issues to utilizing mutual funding sources.
But those things won't stop us from trying. I know we have supporters in Pikeville and on down the river who get it. They were there too. We just need to get more people in Elkhorn City and Haysi reaching a hand across the mountain and powers in both states to punch some holes in the fence.
Makes me kinda optimistic just thinking about it. There could be hope for us yet. Who knows? Maybe there's a gung-ho federal prosecutor out there looking to make a name on the Logan Act.