Are Thoughts Worth a Penny?

More than a decade ago I was privileged to write a weekly column for the Demopolis Times which focused primarily on education, but I added some politics in there when a whim or notion seized my attention.

 Now, after all that time I am fortunate that the Administrative Staff of The West Alabama Watchman has extended me the opportunity to continue such writing which is one of my favorite pastimes. The primary caveat is that I “behave myself” in these columns.  No problem, but there may be some issues which, again, “seize” my attention…thus, there are editors!

I have titled this column “Penny Thoughts” after the phrase “A Penny for your Thoughts”.  Most of us have an inkling of what the phrase means – “What are you thinking?”…”What’s on your mind?”  So, by way of kicking off this effort I am offering an etymology of the phrase since most of us have a passive curiosity of where we get our phrases.

James Rogers in “The Dictionary of Clichés” gives us the following information.  This phrase is British and evolved when the British penny held much more value than is does now.  It appears that this phrase is more than 400 years old. When someone seemed to be in a pensive mood, one would ask of that person something like, “Tell me what you are thinking.”  Rogers further offers, “In 1522, Sir Thomas More wrote (in ‘Four Last Things’): ‘It often happeth, that the very face sheweth the mind walking a pilgrimage, in such wise that other folk sodainly say to them a peny for your thought.’”

Now, for many of you this information is either already known or does not matter.  But it portends of a fact of the human condition…and that is communication between people.  If someone is or appears to be in deep thought, as in “pensive” mood, it may prompt those who care to inquire as to what is so consuming that the one in deep thought might care to share it.  In so doing, a bridge of caring through communication is established.

In effect, that is what I intend for this column to offer – a kind of “bridge” of communication of issues and concerns which are of interest to the good citizens of West Alabama.  If I stray, I am confident that the editors will reign me in and set me straight.

The effort here also will be to invoke some fun, some joy in the excursions this column will take.

My goal is to submit this column to the Editors on Thursday of each week.

I would also invite any readers who have any suggestions as to what might be explored in future columns to send me their ideas OR criticisms to me at the following email address: agogden14@gmail.com.

Thanks for taking time to read this.

I KNOW your thoughts are worth far more than a penny!