My mother always loved to tell me the story of the farmer and the jack.
Remember that one? A guy’s car breaks down, and as he’s trudging to a nearby farmhouse to ask to borrow a jack, he gets it in his head that the farmer will not take kindly to being disturbed. So when he finally reaches the house and knocks on the door, he’s presuming the worst. The farmer answers the door, and immediately the man yells, “I don’t want your (stupid) jack.”
Her point: Don’t assume the worst about people, be they family members, loved ones, romantic partners or even strangers.
I was reminded of the farmer and the jack story this week, reading some comments on the newspaper’s Facebook page. A member of our Web team kindly put up a source request for me, and while the query didn’t actually lead me to any viable sources, it did result in a fair amount of vitriol from one reader.
“You guys disappoint me!! Why are y’all always looking for the drama??? Stop!!!” she wrote. “Promote the good in people!!”