Life is one big stage

Jo Ann Spieth-Saylor, Editor

Shakespeare had it right when, in his 1600 play ‘As You Like It,’ he wrote, ‘All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players … ‘
Some of us are better at our parts than others. We look to do good things, acts that have positive, lasting impacts on others.
One such player is the Milltown Town Council, with its pursuit of improving/adding sidewalks in the quaint rivertown.
In recent years, Milltown has spruced up its appearance with additions like streetlights and sidewalks. Hundreds of people drive into the town that is split by the pristine Blue River to take canoe trips; others come for the cuisine and entertainment at Blue River Caf’. Without those two attractions, the town would see a lot fewer visitors. However, it does have more to offer, such as a park located across from the elementary school where families can play and have picnics, a few businesses and the recently added recycling center.
I hope the council and the town residents continue to invest resources into making Milltown a vibrant community that folks will want to visit and others might want to call home.
Recently, the Harrison County Board of Commissioners was in the spotlight when it took steps to save taxpayers some money by deciding that part-time elected officials should not be eligible for county-provided health insurance.
While health insurance is costly to obtain, it seems only fair that part-time officials should be treated the same as part-time county employees, who are ineligible for health insurance. Perhaps a future consideration would be to offer insurance at a pro-rated amount for their services.
As insurance skyrockets, employers nearly everywhere are passing on more of the expense to their employees. We can only hope that soon our federal government can design an affordable health care plan that everyone understands, one that can legitimately be implemented and truly offers affordable health insurance to everyone.
And then there was the Harrison County Arts! that literally brought life to the stage when it pursued a grant for a contest to have a play written about Sidney D. Crosier, the late Laconia artist who studied at the Cincinnati Academy of Arts.
Those who attended any of the three performances of ‘Sidney D. Crosier: An Unfinished Portrait,’ written by EllaRose Chary, last month at Hayswood Theatre in Corydon can say they witnessed the debut of an original stage production. That isn’t something likely to happen in Harrison County very many times, if ever, again. The play captured the history of an artist whose paintings are revered today.
Not everyone does well being in the limelight. I was saddened last week by the actions of Joshua Young, the young Louisville man who was found not guilty of murdering his stepbrother.
I don’t have an opinion whether Young was innocent in the death of Trey Zwicker, but his actions following the trial certainly portray a much different character than was presented to the jury and who was quoted as saying he just wanted to get on with a normal life. One would think that someone who had been given a reprieve might choose to keep a low profile or at least avoid doing anything that would land him in jail again.
But, as Shakespeare, said, ‘(Players) have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts … ‘
Let’s hope that most of us chose to play parts that will result in an encore performance rather than having the audience leave, shaking their heads, wondering what the players were thinking.