The Fife of life
My pastor mentioned in a Sunday sermon one of Barney Fife's  'isms' that were heard over and over in the early 1960s on the long running "Andy Griffith show" about a small town lifetyle in a small town named Mayberry.


<p>Whenever I mention my pastor in a "Good Morning," I'm sure he begins to shiver after seeing his name, not knowing what is to follow. And I'll bet all you other pastors in our readership area, at this point, are secretly thankful there is no one sitting in on your sermons that will take a part of it and put it in the paper. But I'm getting off my topic.
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<p>Jimmy Tarrant, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Van Alstyne was making a point by using "Nip it in the bud. Nip it! Nip it! Nip it!" as spoken by Don Knotts in his role as Barney Fife. I had never thought of Barney as a philosopher before Bro. Jimmy called him one.
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<p>So, when I got home from church, I consulted the World Wide Web and was amazed at what I found. Fife was a philosopher and continues to have a strong following of all types. There are YouTube cuts on Barney, forums for discussion about Barney, blogs about Barney and much more. There is even an entry on Barney at the Wikipedia Web site, the online, unofficial encyclapedia.
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<p>I've been down several branches of memory lane, via the Internet, reading about Barney and his antics.
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<p>I was reminded of the episode where Barney tried reciting the Preamble to the Constitution. "We the pee...pul; We the pee-pul!" I think he went through the entire Preamble without remembering a word of it. And, he was allowed only one bullet to keep in his pocket because he had so many accidental shootings.
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<p>Other sayings that entertained us:
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<p>"Well, it's a whim," he said to Sheriff Andy. "Are you going to question a whim? You question a whim and you take the fun right out of it!"
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<p>"Well, today's eight-year-olds are tomorrow's teenagers. I say this calls for action and now. Nip it in the bud. First sign of youngsters going wrong, you've got to nip it in the bud." 
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<p>"Oh, you're just full of fun today, aren't you? Why don't we go up to the old people's home and wax the steps?" 
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<p>"All I'm saying is that there are some things beyond the ken of mortal man that shouldn't be tampered with. We don't know everything, Andy. There's plenty going on right now in the Twilight Zone that we don't know anything about and I think we ought to stay clear."
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<p>I agree with Bro. Jimmy. Barney Fife was a philosopher.
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