Deep Questions That I Want to Know the Answer To?

Why is it in fairy tales that the princess is always lonely before meeting the prince, yet the prince is never portrayed as lonely?

If it is true that the male is more interested in how a female looks than the female is interested in how he looks, why did God create the male cardinal to be much prettier than the female cardinal and why do peacocks (not peahens) have such beautiful plumage?

Has anyone ever expended almost every single minute of every hour, as well as money, trying to make a dream come true that never will?

 

Tommy Greene Would Get A Laugh

“If you don’t wake up to a party, start one,” was the motto that Tommy Greene used to live by. His party here on this earth ended on Friday, February 17, 2012.

Tommy Greene was a flamboyant, flashy newspaper publisher who always dressed in green. He even wore green underwear. I will never forget the story that The Tallahassee Democrat did on him once. He was there in glorious living color on the front page of the local and state section with the waistband of his boxer shorts pulled up to show that they were green. ‘If it ain’t green, it ain’t mine,” he used to crow.

Using that word, Tommy had a lot to crow about. He had built a small tabloid size newspaper into a thriving business with two standard size newspapers. This included one that had been almost 100 years ago when Tommy and his young bride, Mary Ellen, had founded The Madison County Carrier. In 1993, Tommy had assumed ownership of The Madison Enterprise-Recorder. That is when I went to work for him.

Tommy saw a lot of changes in the newspaper business throughout the years. He was here when everything had to be pasted onto a layout sheet. He was here when the whole newspaper was composed on a computer. He was here when news was reported instantaneouly thanks to the Internet, Facebook, Twitter and iPhones.

Tommy saw a lot of history unfold before his eyes and even wrote a book about Madison County’s history, but he did see a lot of history outside Madison County. He was there at the space shuttle launches. He rode down the Potomac River with then President Gerald Ford. He was close friends with former Florida governors Claude Kirk and Lawton Chiles. He was even there at the boxing match in Las Vegas the night that Mike Tyson bit Evander Holyfield’s ear off. His sweepstakes winning wife had won a contest and that was the grand prize — a trip to Vegas for that historic match.

I remember once that Tommy Greene and his wife had gone on vacation to St. George Island. Rumors ran rampant that Tommy had been arrested and was being hidden in a special cell under the Madison County Jail. The sheriff at that time, Joe Peavy, would allegedly let him out during the day and he would travel through town unrecognized in a car painted another color rather than green. I still get a laugh about that silly rumor. I do not know how it started but it could have been Tommy himself who started it.

Right now, I am wondering if anyone is questioning if Tommy is still alive. Some people are probably saying that he is faking his own death in a dazzling publicity scheme. Tommy Greene would get a laugh out of that.