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Grimm Adventures: Twelve brothers and one sister

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Tuesday, 27 October 2026

Written by Pitt Dickey

Are twelve brothers cheaper by the dozen? The Brothers Grimm addressed this issue in one of their tales. If you are sick of political ads but wondering about how many boys are too many, this is the column for you.
It’s time again for a cheery Grimms’ story of matching coffins, runaways, tree climbing, red flags, mysterious cottages, ironing, ravens, barrels of boiling oil, poisonous snakes and a silent woman. Hop on board; it's fairy tale time.
Once upon a time there was a King and Queen who had twelve children, all boys. The Queen became with child for the 13th time. The King told her that if she gave birth to a girl, he would order all 12 of his boys killed because he wanted to leave his Kingdom to a daughter. To prove he was serious, he showed the Queen 12 coffins he had prepared.
The Queen was understandably freaked out by this plan. She was weeping away when her youngest son Benjamin came into her room. Despairing, she told him the King’s evil plan. Ben, a bright lad, told her that he would have all his brothers run away into the forest.
They would climb a tall tree and watch the castle. If the Queen had a boy, she would raise a white flag, and they could return. If she had a girl, she would raise a red flag, and they were to never return. She had a girl. The boys escaped deeper into the forest.
They found a cozy cottage in a woodland grove where an old woman met them. She told them they could live there and be safe as long as the twelve lilies in the dooryard bloomed. They moved in and lived happily for 10 years. The older boys hunted.
Ben did the cooking, ironing, and cleaning. Back at the castle, their sister grew up to be beautiful and kind. One day she saw 12 shirts hanging on the clothesline. She asked her mother about the shirts.
Mom broke down and cried. She spilled the beans about her daughter’s 12 brothers and the King’s threat. The daughter ironed all 12 shirts and took them out into the forest to find her brothers. She walked all day until she found the cottage.
Ben was at the cottage on her arrival. He quickly realized she was his sister. His brothers had sworn that they would kill any girl they met because their sister was the reason they had to leave home.
When his brothers returned home that night, he told them he had big news but they would have to promise not to kill the next girl they saw. They promised accordingly. He then introduced their sister to them. They were taken with her beauty and kindness. All was sweetness and light. She moved in with them. She and Ben shared all the housework, cooking, and ironing their shirts for years.
One day their sister cut the lilies outside of the house to decorate the cottage. Oops.
As soon as she did, all 12 brothers turned into ravens and flew away. The cottage disappeared. She was suddenly alone in the glade with the old woman.
The woman told her the only way the brothers could be changed back from ravens to boys was if she would remain silent for 7 years without speaking or laughing.
If she spoke a word, her brothers would all be killed instantly.
Their sister resolved not to speak to get them back. She climbed into a tall tree and started sewing to focus on silence.
Another King who was hunting in the forest saw her in the tree. Smitten by her beauty, he asked her to marry him. She refused to talk but shook her head yes to his proposal. Unfortunately, the King had a wicked Stepmother who hated his bride.
She poisoned the King’s mind against her, telling him, “Who can tell the wicked things she is thinking of? Any decent person would laugh occasionally. Anyone who doesn’t laugh has something on their conscience.” The Stepmother kept on with her lies until eventually the King believed them.
He put his wife on trial before a Court made up of the Stepmother’s cronies. They sentenced the Queen to death by burning at the stake.
The Queen was tied to the stake and the flames grew. The King watched from a tower with tears streaming down his face as he still loved her.
The 7 years ended just as the flames almost reached her. The ravens flew down around her and turned back into her brothers. They freed her from the stake and certain death.
She could now speak freely and told the King why she had been silent. It was Party Time!
They all lived happily ever after except for the wicked Stepmother. The King ordered her put to death by putting her into a barrel filled with poisonous snakes and boiling oil.
What have we learned today? As usual, not much. Genetic engineering could have avoided all this trouble if the girl had been a boy.
This clearly is a fairy tale, as no woman could go 7 years without talking.
No fitted sheets were ironed during the writing of this column.

(Illustration by Pitt Dickey)

Be prepared, or be ready

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Tuesday, 20 October 2026

Written by Dan DeBruler

When the recent spinoffs from Hurricane Isaias spun their way into Cumberland County, every phone resounded with an Emergency Alert notification almost simultaneously. It was fairly easy to notice from where I was standing. I was just across the line in Hoke County, and the alert occurred within a few minutes of the end of a Sunday morning sermon.
And I was preaching.
Suddenly, the word prepared came to mind. Well, maybe not immediately. At first, I was concentrating on acknowledging the interruption and responding calmly. Some people rushed out to retrieve their children, some were equally rushed to silence their phones, and everyone in the room had more knowledge than I did about the situation at hand.
Suffice it to say, I began arcing toward a close when I saw one of the other leaders making his way to the front with a microphone in his hand.
As it turned out, there was a plan. Our church leaders knew what needed to happen, and people were quickly directed toward safer areas of the building. We were prepared. But were we ready? I've been thinking about the difference.
Preparation is what we do in anticipation of something that might happen. We gather information, make plans, assemble resources, and consider what we'll do if circumstances change. Readiness is what happens when those circumstances actually change. The difference becomes apparent when the alarm sounds.
It's one thing to know where the shelter is. It's another to calmly help someone else find it when the warning comes. It's one thing to have an emergency plan. It's another to put that plan into action when your heart is racing and everyone is looking for direction.
And weather emergencies aren't the only situations that expose the difference. We can be financially prepared and still be shaken by an unexpected loss. We can know what Scripture says about suffering and still find ourselves struggling when suffering arrives at our own doorstep. We can spend years learning about faith, only to discover how difficult it is to actually exercise it when life gets complicated.
Jesus addressed something like this in Matthew 7 when He described two builders. Both built houses. Both experienced storms. But only one had built on a foundation that could withstand what came. The difference wasn't whether they had heard His words. It was whether they had put them into practice.
Preparation equips us with what we need. Readiness reveals what we've become.
I believe both matter. We ought to plan wisely, learn diligently, and take seriously our responsibility to prepare for what's ahead. But somewhere along the way, what we know must become how we live. Spiritual readiness isn't the ability to predict the next crisis. It's the daily practice of trusting God before the crisis ever arrives.
When the next alarm sounds, whatever form it takes, we may not have the luxury of deciding who we want to be in that moment. We'll respond, to a great extent, out of who we've already become. And that's why readiness begins long before the warning.

Karl Merritt: Not Seeing Beyond One’s Nose

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Tuesday, 27 October 2026

Written by Karl Merrit

More and more, I am convinced that the greatest threat to America is internal to our nation. It is that far too many American citizens do not see beyond their nose. Do an Internet search for “not seeing beyond the nose” and, among several responses, this is what comes up:
“The phrase 'can't see past your own nose' is a common English idiom that means a person lacks foresight, imagination, or broad perspective, focusing only on what is immediately in front of them or directly affects them. "
I recently distributed a column that was written by me and titled “Unpacking President Trump’s $5,000 Promise.” A reader sent me an email commenting on what I wrote. After some statements regarding what President Trump promised when campaigning but has not delivered, this was the concluding sentence: “It is time to realize that loyalty does not replace competency and experience.” I understand that comment to mean I am assessing Trump’s performance as president blindly due to my loyalty to him.
For about five years, I wrote a bi-weekly opinion column that appeared in a Fayetteville newspaper. In those columns, I tried hard to “see beyond my nose.” My doing so was not received well in some segments of the Fayetteville population. Many people were bothered because my views were and are conservative. A large number of black readers were outraged by my being black but not accepting the widely held view among black Americans that America is a racist country. I contend there is racism in our country, but it is far from the primary cause of the problems that plague black citizens today. Taking this stand is heresy for a black American.
Consequently, I received numerous emails, and the newspaper received correspondence, challenging what I wrote in various columns. I do not remember a single time that a reader, in detail and with supporting researched facts, countered anything that I wrote. As with the reader referenced in opening this commentary, there were general statements on the subject at hand and, often, some negative comment regarding me. The negative comments ran the gamut from people questioning my relationship with God to people asking, “How could I be black and write the things I write?”
My approach in writing is to, as thoroughly as possible, research the topics that I write about and seriously consider the results of that research as I write. I hope that process shows through in the Trump commentary mentioned above. It is 2,424 words and filled with references that I, hopefully, considered and spoke to in a way that reflected some rational thought. Although I clearly have not perfected the process, I contend that the Trump commentary and others on my website reflect my concerted effort to look and see beyond my nose.
Here is a brief exercise that will allow you, the reader, to assess the extent to which you look beyond your nose. President Trump is polling horrendously poorly regarding his handling of the economy. Search “polling on Trump’s handling of price increases.” One result is “65% blame Trump's policies for high prices.” Accepting that response as fair and accurate without further research and thoughtful assessment is “not seeing beyond one’s nose.” Looking beyond the nose leads to other considerations such as these:
1. According to analyses from the Washington Post and economic data tracked on Biden to Trump, roughly 80% of the cumulative price increases since 2021 occurred during Joe Biden’s term, while about 20% have occurred during Donald Trump’s second term.” (Obtained by searching “how much of recent inflation is due to Biden, how much to Trump?”)
2. I found several articles that reported President Biden created millions more jobs than President Trump did in his first term. I found that curious given the economic pain of the Biden years. However, I was prepared to accept that as a commendable fact. Then I came across the following as part of an article, dated 2 June 2023, titled “Fact Check: Biden Misleads on Job ‘Creation’ Statistics” at https://budget.house.gov/. It includes the following:
“The May jobs report showed alarming signs in the labor market. The household survey data—the part of the jobs report data that looks directly at American workers—showed that 440,000 more Americans became unemployed, a sign that the labor market may be beginning to deteriorate in the face of raging inflation and skyrocketing interest rates.
President Biden released a statement in response to the May jobs figures praising his Administration’s so-called job creation numbers. Biden’s White House tweeted that they have added more jobs under his watch than any President has in a single four-year term.
These claims are misleading. Here’s why.
Recovery versus ‘Creation.’ Nearly 72 percent of all job gains since 2021 were simply jobs that were being recovered from the pandemic, not new job creation. In fact, when looking at today’s economy compared to pre-pandemic levels, employment is up only by 3.7 million.
On the other hand, prior to the pandemic, job creation under President Trump was 6.7 million—3 million more jobs than the current President."
3. Search for “Republican and Democratic economic plans,” and this comes up:
“According to policy analyses from Investopedia, Republican and Democratic economic improvement plans rely on fundamentally opposing philosophies for driving national growth. Republicans prioritize tax reduction and deregulation, while Democrats favor targeted public investment and progressive taxation.”
4. Search for “How does illegal immigration affect employment” and the following comes up: "Illegal immigration affects employment by increasing the supply of low-skilled labor, which can lower wages and reduce job opportunities for vulnerable native-born and legal immigrant workers, while lowering labor costs for employers." Now search for “How do Trump’s efforts to stop illegal immigration compare with Democratic efforts,” and the following appears:
“According to policy analyses from the Migration Policy Institute, Donald Trump’s approach to illegal immigration emphasizes large-scale deterrence, mass deportations, and strict border closures, whereas the Democratic approach generally combines border management and enforcement with legal pathways and protections for long-term undocumented residents.”
This collecting of facts, of relevant information, could be continued. However, my aim is to demonstrate what it means to “look beyond the nose.” Again, the question is: do you stand with the 65% who blame Trump's policies for high prices? It starts with collecting facts and relevant information. Then comes an unemotional examination of what is collected. In the end, conclusions are reached based on that examination. I challenge every reader to start with the information that I have provided above, follow the steps outlined here and reach a conclusion regarding the question.

Troy's Perspective: Do your homework and vote

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Tuesday, 20 October 2026

Written by Troy Williams

French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte is often credited with saying, “If you wish to be a success in the world, promise everything, deliver nothing.”
Napoleon died in 1821, but his alleged political philosophy appears alive and well in 21st-century politics. As Americans begin early voting in the midterm elections, we are once again bombarded with political promises, questionable claims, and carefully crafted rhetoric designed to win votes.
I don't mean to sound cynical, but I'm amazed by how readily some citizens believe promises that any reasonably informed person should recognize as unrealistic. Being deceived once is understandable. But believing the same empty promises election after election raises an uncomfortable question: Do we blame politicians for deceiving us, or should we look in the mirror and accept responsibility for allowing the deception to continue? Democracy is a wonderful system, but it requires informed and engaged citizens. Its strength depends not simply on how many people vote, but on how seriously voters examine the issues and evaluate candidates seeking public office. Unfortunately, finding reliable information has become increasingly challenging.
I sometimes long for the days of legendary CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite, once considered "the most trusted man in America." Americans trusted Cronkite to report the news without allowing his personal political preferences to dominate the broadcast. Those days seem distant. Today, reporting, commentary, and political advocacy are frequently blurred. Some news organizations appear more interested in controlling narratives than informing citizens. Frankly, certain claims from behind a television news desk deserve no more unquestioning confidence than barbershop or beauty salon gossip. If you want the truth, be prepared to do your own research.
Then come the political attack ads. Most voters claim to dislike negative campaigning, yet candidates continue spending enormous sums attacking opponents. Sometimes the criticism is legitimate. Too often, however, facts are taken out of context, exaggerated, or distorted to damage an opponent's reputation. Negative advertising is frequently employed by campaigns seeking to change political momentum. But here's what bothers me most: A candidate may spend an entire commercial explaining why an opponent shouldn't be elected without offering one convincing reason why that candidate deserves our vote.
Beyond television and radio commercials, voters face mailers, billboards, robocalls, text messages, social media promotions, and countless yard signs. And just when you think you've escaped the political noise, you arrive at the polls. North Carolina permits electioneering outside designated voting-site buffer zones. Consequently, expect campaign workers distributing literature and encouraging support for their preferred candidates.
Some citizens dread election season. Others, political junkies like me, can hardly wait for our next political fix. But whether you love politics or despise it, remember this: Democracy cannot fulfill its promise if citizens neglect their responsibility. Question the rhetoric. Examine the facts. Study voting records. Demand accountability. Never surrender your judgment to politicians or media personalities. Politicians may promise everything and deliver nothing, but informed voters can demand better.
Like it or not, this is our political system. Do your homework, think for yourself, and for goodness' sake, VOTE!