“You need a crown”.
That’s all I really heard. It gave me an air of honor and dignity and made me sit up straight and try to assume a regal posture — or at least as best I could while lying down.
At last, finally, maybe I would get a little recognition for my work as a journalist.
Sometimes it probably doesn’t look recognitionworthy with grammatical and spelling errors on occasion.
I have no delusions about being perfect. My errors are in black and white on the page for perpetuity.
But, really, honestly, I do try to do my very best, my dead-level best, to be timely, accurate and fair in my news writing and reporting.
I know some of you don’t agree and that’s fine. I’ve always said if the complaints and criticisms are even on both sides, I’ve done my job.
Sometimes, folks let you know rather bluntly that, for lack of a better description, “you suck”.
• There’s the time someone hoped I met an untimely demise because I reported her husband was thinking about running for public office. Apparently, he had not told her.
• Or, the guy who called up here and announced he was going to come punch me, because I reported Pierce County installed metal detectors at the courthouse and the Nichols Street Annex. I was just the messenger, but he was fanatical about the second amendment.
• Or, there was the time, I was told I was not a minister and probably not even a Christian simply because I reported that you can’t deny a zoning request because you don’t like, don’t agree with, are not the same race, religion or creed of the applicant. Last time I checked, that was still accurate with the U.S. Constitution. And, I know the Word says: Love one another. It’s not optional.
I have kidded myself and everyone around me for years that all of this reveals the immense power that I have — through the ink pen and keyboard. Having fun with it, I have declared myself the “King of all Media.”
In all these cases, I’m just the messenger. I have opinions and ideas about how things should be done, but I’m only one man. My vote counts the same as yours.
But, that day, I was hearing validation of that “king of all media” moniker.
“You need a crown.”
It would have been funny if my jaw hadn’t hurt so bad. Not just pain, but the kind of pain that you could feel down in your toes — all radiating from a bad molar in the back of my mouth.
My dentist, Dr. Hugh, is a good guy. He is cousin of Bulldog legend Stetson Bennett IV, and he was telling me I needed a crown.
I thought maybe being the king — of all media and otherwise — would not only entitle me to expensive dental work, but maybe even some cash incentives, which as the late great Yogi Berra used to say, “is just as good as money”.
But, no. My dentist told me that it would be expensive to have said bad molar crowned. It had to be done and I appreciate he and his staff looking out for me. They were good to me.
I managed to gargle warm salty water, use a mouth rinse and take ibuprofen for the next seven days until I could get it seen about and fixed.
Mercifully, that day finally arrived. My friend Dr. Hugh told me the needle was going to hurt and the gum was going to be sore. Neither was true. I told him — and it was the honest truth — that even after the needle and the jackhammer he used on the tooth — my mouth felt the best it had in a full week when he put my teeth to sleep. It felt instantly better the next day.
And, for all that pain and trouble and effort, I ended up with a brand new crown.
Not only am I the king of all media, I now have the bling to show for it.
I just have to open up and say Ah! for you to see it.
• Jason Deal is News Editor for The Blackshear Times. Reach him at jdeal@blacksheartimes. news.
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