Global warming: What do I know?

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June 11, 2009

Opinion The Journal-Register Thu Jun 11, 2009, 01:20 PM EDT

Everyone takes pride in personal accomplishment — no matter how great or small that accomplishment might be. Accomplishment for me — as far as this column goes — is getting the piece written in time for publication. Beating the proverbial “deadline.”

But, probably even more importantly, it’s also about submitting something that I feel comfortable with. Something that people can read not just because it’s in the paper, but because they like it.

I’m certainly not delusional, I realize my limitations: I don’t expect to be writing screenplays or a best-selling novel, but as long as my name is attached to the top and my tagline is at the bottom of “FROM THE VALLEY” columns, I’m conscious of the personal association to which it is charged — more so, I’m sure, than I should be (I tend to cringe over small details, when I read it in the paper, wishing I had corrected or written something differently).

I get a fair amount of e-mails concerning different articles and all are a welcome source of feedback. They’re not only encouraging but also an invaluable tool that can actually drive the engine of creativity and steer the vehicle of subject-matter. Even those that disagree with me, when I dare to step into the arena of sensitive issues, manage to do so with class. I respect their opinions and their right to express them. And I thank them for voicing their mindset.

But let me emphasize that my column has no political agenda (None, at least, that I’m aware of). I’m neither trying to spearhead a movement nor offer a viable solution to world problems. Anything in the guise of opinion is usually masquerading as such for the sole purpose of print entertainment. In other words, take it for what it isn’t — or better yet, don’t take it for what it is.

The other day, I was approached by a gentleman who shook my hand and said he liked my column about global warming. He said that I was “telling it like it is.” I didn’t know I was doing that, I told him, but accepted his compliment.

He then stopped me in my tracks by adding, “Yeah, most of your columns are pretty lame,” and he emphasized “pretty” so that I’d understand how really bad he thought they were.

“But that was a good one” he finished.

So how am I supposed to react? He started out with a compliment and then quickly stuck a fork into that pride-filled balloon of personal-accomplishment that I talked about in the beginning of this column. The thing is that this guy actually thought he was saying something nice.

Incidentally, I got quite a bit of feedback on that particular column. One was in a published letter sent to the newspaper from a guy who apparently didn’t see the column the way I meant it to be (quite understandable, I guess). Now, I can handle a public scolding for something I said or wrote, but by nature, not for something I didn’t write.

He stated something to the fact that I was in denial about global warming or its causes. Wrong! You see, not once did I deny it was happening. I questioned, albeit surreptitiously by “playing the devil’s advocate,” WHY it was happening. I appreciate his view but his rebuttal was derailed before it left the station; his argument was moot. And his referencing FDR, the Adirondack Mountains and Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” left me scratching my head (No irony in the fact that Al Gore used the title “An Inconvenient Truth” and is the same guy who claimed to have invented the Internet and, also, took credit for being the inspiration for Erich Segal’s best-selling novel “A Love Story”). But I digress.

The letter ended up quite nicely, however, as the author broke into a Joni Mitchell song by writing some of the lyrics to “Big Yellow Taxi.” A lovely serenade, but, again, neither germane nor relevant to the content of my column.

You see, here’s the deal (with no intent to be offensive): Don’t take what I say for a grain of salt. But if you do, and you want to comment on it, please criticize what I actually said — not on something you imagined I said or something that fits YOUR personal agenda.

That’s the way it looks from the Valley.

Tom Valley is a Medina resident who writes a column every Wednesday for The Journal-Register. Write to Tvalley@rochester.rr.com.

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