Thumbs up to the athletes who take up the very disciplined and singular sport of wrestling. Photos we published this week in our sports pages of intense wrestlers ranging from the big high school guys on down to the novice youth class reminded us of author John Irving's use of wrestling as a theme throughout several of his best sellers, starting with ''The World According to Garp.''
He explained in an interview with Michael Enright on CBC Radio several years ago that being a wrestler means disciplining yourself to accept the responsibility of ''learning a small detail until it becomes second nature. Until a move or a response to someone else's body becomes instinctive. It isn't instinctive. It's a learned process. But it has to be as quick as something instinctive if you're going to be any good. I was disciplined at that before I became disciplined as a writer. And it helped me.''
Thumbs up to the guys who make up the band Fleetwood Mac. We note it has been some 10 years since this marvelous 1960s era band has released an album. And now, with their plan to kick off a 34-city tour this spring, they are living the adage, "Use it or lose it."
As we watch the instability of the nascent democratic government in Egypt - or, rather, what is supposed to be democratic - let's pause to give thanks to the rock solid adherence to our Constitution that is the underpinning of all that is right with America. We know our government looks dysfunctional at the moment. But the executive and legislative branches are fighting each other within the strictures of their powers and duties and the courts are there if they stray.
That reminds us of government right here at home. How in the world can a faction in the Chautauqua County Legislature, led by Democrat Lori Cornell of Jamestown, continue to oppose the sale of the County Home and its multi-million dollar drain on local property taxpayers? Thumbs down to them for ignoring news this week of the county facing such a huge financial crunch in 2014 that legislative leaders see a 20 percent increase in the property tax levy heading our way.