Window
Opinion column
by Mary Rupert
Roses are scarcer this year, at least that was reported last week in the nation, just before Valentine’s Day.
But roses were available on last Friday at some Wyandotte County retail locations, and also were available in late afternoon today at some locations.
I don’t know why there is a panic around a scarcity of items, particularly when there are so many alternatives that might be tried.
For example, there’s always the alternative of candy as a Valentine’s Day gift, or jewelry. Why not a Valentine’s gift of a vacation to a nearby tourist location?
Then there’s the crafters who can make artificial roses out of various supplies, such as fabric, yarn and paper, fairly simple to do.
According to the Society of American Florists, Valentine’s Day is the top holiday for American florists, with more than 250 million roses sold. Christmas and Hanukkah are in second place, with Mother’s Day coming in third.
Valentine’s Day should be a national holiday, but somehow it missed the cutoff for the federal and state holiday lists. I figure that happened probably because of who was doing the selection on official holidays.
An interesting program at the University of Kansas Health System this morning explored the topic of why some men tend to forget Valentine’s Day, birthdays and other events that might be special to their spouses. According to the experts, there’s more at work here than Alzheimer’s – there could be some real differences between the genders on this. See more at https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/623066565452564.
Unified Government committee meetings are off tonight, clearly an indication that Valentine’s Day is an important day in our culture. However, the City Planning Commission meeting was not canceled tonight.
Love in the news
Love was in the local news this past week, as Mayor Tyrone Garner commented on the Safe and Welcoming ordinance passed on Thursday night: “I care about people, I believe this commission cares about people, I believe most people in this community care about anyone that wants to all Wyandotte County home, and that’s a message of love. Love that we need to have for one another in Wyandotte County, because we are a unified community. No one should be left behind, when we talk about people and people’s lives. No one should be feeling disenfranchised.”
Then, again during the proclamation honoring Chef Annie Der’s 75th birthday and Tao-Tao restaurant’s 50th year of business on Thursday night, the mayor’s proclamation included: “Whereas, Chief Annie continues to serve Chinese food with LOVE, working wholeheartedly, entered her 75th year of life on February 10, 2022.”
How was the Safe and Welcoming hearing like the Super Bowl?
The Safe and Welcoming ordinance public hearing Thursday night was a little like the Super Bowl. Like the advertisers writing the commercials on the Super Bowl, most of the speakers Thursday night had only one minute to make their point.
The one-minute speaking limit was set after residents packed into City Hall lobby and also went online to express their opinions about the issue.
Some speakers seemed completely flummoxed by the short time limit and couldn’t get a good message out. Others did fine with it.
In the future, perhaps the public could ask a professional communicator how to effectively state a message within a time limit, and then prepare a short version and long version. Advertisers had no problem on Sunday telling a little story in 60 seconds or so, trying to sell their products. Journalists also are used to identifying the most important issue and then putting it at the top of their story. The inverted pyramid structure was invented in the days when news stories were sent over telegraph wires, and editors could cut the stories from the bottom to fit the space they had available, being certain they still could get the main news in.
What are you reading for Valentine’s Day?
A good book to read on Valentine’s Day would be Leo Buscaglia’s book, “Love,” available at bookstores, libraries and online.
To reach Mary Rupert, editor, email [email protected].