We’ve all heard the phrase, “one bad apple ruins the whole bunch.” It’s an old school idiom. (Like, really old school … Shakespearean, maybe even earlier.) Benjamin Franklin’s “Poor Richard’s Almanack” (circa 1736) put it this way: “The rotten apple spoils his companion.”
In these days when we buy a half dozen carefully selected apples out of a frequently refreshed produce bin, that idiom loses some meaning. Those of us who have bought our food in bulk to feed hungry households of teenagers have some modern insight. Among the fruits one can buy, apples have one of the longest storage times. Even the wrinkliest old apple can usually be turned into an apple pie or a cobbler or a batch of tasty applesauce. That is unless there’s a real bad apple in the bunch. Who hasn’t sorted through a bag of apples only to find that one near the bottom has gone bad and turned all the surrounding apples into mushy blobs of goo?
The same is true of people. Examine any toxic workplace or relational situation and you’ll probably find a bad apple in the mix.
Is there a cure for those bad apples? The Bible puts it this way in the Book of Proverbs: “Cast out the scoffer and contention will leave.” (Prov 22:10)
Your annual Sunshine Law reminder
It seems like every year or two we have to remind everyone (elected officials and boards) that Colorado has a set of laws on the books euphemistically referred to as “Sunshine Laws.” We have booklets available for anyone who is interested, or you can visit tiny.cc/cosunshine for a PDF copy.
Sunshine Laws were established in Colorado in 1972 as the Colorado Open Meetings Law, to ensure that public business–meetings of boards that represent taxpayers, government communications, access to public records, etc. — stays public. Sunshine Laws were enacted to get rid of so-called “Good Ol’ Boy” politics and bring everything our elected officials are doing into the light, hence, “sunshine.”
As with all things legal, there are as many interpretations of the laws as there are lawyers, but the general purpose and premise stands: public business should be conducted in such a way that the public isn’t left scratching their heads about the decisions that are made
Read the guide to Colorado’s Sunshine Laws at
tiny.cc/cosunshine or pick up a booklet at the HT office.
You can also call 970-878-4017 if you’d like us to mail you a copy.
