We've all heard the expression, "The early bird gets the worm!"
Well, like so many oft-repeated bromides, it's true until, well, it isn't.
Case in point: I followed my doctor's advice and got the first COVID vaccine available to me. Of course, I followed it up a month later with the second dose and, last month, a booster.
Well, if I'd waited, I'd be $200 richer. Not long after I got my second dose, New York, where I live, was offering $100 people to get the vaccine. Now it's offering that same amount to folks who get their booster jabs.
Even though I would've liked getting that money, I am of course glad I followed my doctor's advice. Had I waited--who knows what could have happened?
Still, I have to wonder about, basically, bribing people to do what's best for themselves and the people around them. I mean, we usually bribe kids to do what they don't want to do.
So, while much of the world--I'm thinking in particular of Africa-- doesn't have any COVID vaccines to give its people, we in this country have to offer that spoon full of sugar to help the medicine go down. Does that make the United States look like a nation full of sulking, petulant children?
All right. I shouldn't speak so badly of children, I know. I don't have kids myself, but I've been around enough to know that while they have their moods and outbursts, most have a basic sense of right and wrong and really want to help, or at least please, people. That they're sometimes rewarded for it is, la cerise sur le gateau.
So it was for a 10-year-old boy named Juan. He lives in Port Isabel, in the southernmost part of Texas. Last Saturday, police temporarily lost sight of a male suspect they were pursuing. Juan was riding his brother's bicycle and guided the officers in the direction of the suspect, whom they arrested.
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| From the Valley Central News |
Juan was riding his brother's bike because he didn't have one of his own. So, to thank him for his help, the Port Isabel police surprised him a new bike. Needless to say, this is a happy holiday season for him.
