Column 8 for September 19th.

Some possible progress on the Teacher Retirement questions… State Representative Stallings called me last Tuesday morning to say that he had talked with Jerry Gilbert from Teacher Retirement and that I should be receiving a written reply "shortly."

In the meantime, did you ever get the feeling you were living in an unreal story?

Once upon a time there were three bears. Papa Bear, Moma Bear, and Baby Bear. The three bears lived in a small pine weald somewhere near Atlanta, the big woods, only rumored to actually exist.

As it was, the three bears realized one bright spring morning that there was no creature in the forest that could challenge them. After much thought, they concluded that because they were the biggest and strongest creatures, they were also the smartest. Born grizzly bears, they were also very territorial. Because of this they marked out the border of their own area with scratchings and scat.

During a family meeting sometime later that spring, hidden deep in the glen, the bears decided that the deer, the foxes, the birds, and the other creatures were not smart enough to fend for themselves, and must indeed be very disorganized. Something had to be done.

Papa Bear offered, "I will make rules for them." Mama Bear contributed "I will help enforce your rules, and keep the creatures from complaining too much." Baby Bear added, "I’ll teach the young creatures to always accept our rules as a natural thing."

Papa Bear began his task. He felt that the deer jumped too high, and that the rabbits ran too fast, so he set limits on them. He knew in his heart too, that at least one day a week should be set aside to limit the spring water the animals could drink with their meals. He thought deeply about other rules that would insure that ALL the creatures knew who was the Biggest, Strongest, and obviously Smartest.

Mama Bear did her best to insure that all Papa Bear’s rules were followed. Well, almost. Living in such close quarters with the other animals, all three of the bears had become close friends with one or two of the birds and other beasts. Especially the ones that bowed and scraped and praised the bears for their great benevolence, their overpowering strength and their keen insight into what the order of the woods should be.

A strange thing then began to happen. The bears saw less and less of the other forest animals. The rabbits stayed in their warrens. The birds flew only at night. The deer grazed only near dawn, long before the bears arose from their den. When there was an encounter, the smaller creatures trembled before running out of sight.

Unbeknown to the bears, several of the animals had become so disgusted with this increasing control of their lives they began to meet to decide what could be done. Most of the creatures, however, were by now too intimidated to even join the gatherings. The red fox stated boldly, "This is OUR woods, too!"

Some time later, rumors began circulating among the animals that a strange new creature had entered the woods, with fur as bright as the sun. Even Papa Bear worried, after being told of this living thing that could walk on its hind legs longer than he could. What would this do to his carefully crafted control?

Golly, I love fairy tales! I’ll leave the ending of this one up to you after you decide if you are a bear, a deer, a bird, or maybe even a red fox?