Editorial

Front Page - Friday, July 10, 2009

I Swear...

Putting it on the...

Vic Fleming

“I might have stepped off of the imaginary line,” replied the witness, a DWI defendant in a case a few years back.
I jotted down that line. And reflected on it at some length:
Life, it seems, is full of lines.
We toe the line.
We go online.
We like things that are top of the line.
When we get out of line or go over the line,
someone might drop us a line, laying it on the line.
We implore the team to “Hold that line!”
But we don’t like being told to “hold the line.”
We stand in chow lines, cross county lines
and applaud for chorus lines.
In an article with a byline,
we check out the date line,
peruse the story line
and sometimes rush to the bottom line.
We are mindful of fault lines, laugh lines,
credit lines, property lines and poverty lines.
We line up putts and hit the ball on line.
Our games have linemen and line judges;
base lines, foul lines and line drives;
free throw lines, half- court lines and end lines.
There are fishing lines, firing lines,
in-line skates and bound- ary lines.
Blood lines, bus lines, tree lines,
tag lines, product lines and power lines.
The line of duty
may bring a line of quest- ions,
a line of poetry or a new line of work.
We know we’ve left the starting line
and sense out there the finish line. . . .
And maybe more.
But somehow, someway, it all gets back
to walking the line— imaginary or otherwise.
Vic Fleming is a district court judge in Little Rock, Ark., where he also teaches at the William H. Bowen School of Law.
Contact him at judgevic@comcast.net.
I SWEAR
© 2009 Vic Fleming

Search Hamilton County property sales, mortgages, court filings, incorporation filings, liens & more INSTANTLY.

View official public notices.

Home | Public Notices | All Statewide Public Notices | Name & Property Search | Site Login