If someone selling meat from a suitcase appeared on our doorstep in August, my wife would probably say, "Oh, yes, we'll take a couple of pounds."

So recently, when the doorbell rang while I was watching the evening news, I groaned inwardly.

When my wife said, "Oh, come on in while I write you a check," I groaned outwardly.

To my surprise, this wasn't some codger peddling pork chops from a suitcase, but a Cary teenager who said she was raising money for an organization advocating sex education in our public schools.

Obviously this young interloper is more of a realist than much of the adult population. She realizes that "Just say no to sex" won't cut it. She knows her peers better than we do.

Sex is no longer a mystery to the young. Teens now know how to have sex. Apparently, though, great numbers don't know how to do so without getting pregnant.

Not since Hester Prynne's has a pregnancy been as scrutinized as that of Bristol Palin. She appeared on stage at the GOP convention and before 37 million TV viewers, and overnight she became the poster child for the cause of meaningful sex education.

The convention's highly commendable demonstration of compassion and caring further removes the cruel onus of shame that used to be visited upon youngsters like Bristol Palin, and reminded America that unplanned teen pregnancy can and does happen even in prominent families.

According to the Campaign to Prevent Unplanned Teen Pregnancy, the U.S., with 750,000 teen pregnancies annually, has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the industrialized world. "Change," this election year's buzzword, should certainly apply to the epidemic of pregnancies that rob thousands of youngsters of the joys of youth, if not childhood itself.

That's not to say every teen's book bag should be stocked with condoms or birth control pills. No way. But the statistics should compel schools to do more than merely tell teens "Don't!" Especially when their hormones are crying out "Do!"

A memorable honeymoon

Tom Joyner, Cary radio station mogul and former WPTF talking head writes that he and wife Anne were married in her hometown of Dunn on April 25, 1965.

"Following Barney Fife's advice, we headed for a honeymoon in Raleigh. Truth is, we had about as much money on hand as Mike Easley had votes on the trailer towing issue.

"The second day, we went to my parents' home in Wilson and my brothers and I took her frog gigging. She was the designated sack holder and had no idea what frog gigging encompassed. I have since paid for that on numerous occasions."

My sole experience at frog gigging occurred the summer I was 15 and my mom apprenticed me to work on my older brother's farm in Yadkin County.

One night my brother insisted -- actually ordered -- that I go frog gigging with him and a neighboring farmer. I, too, was the designated bag holder.

Near midnight, as I dejectedly lagged behind the other two, I heard blood-curdling screams from upstream. Dragging my half-bag of dead and dying frogs, I rushed up to find the creek running red with blood.

It seemed that Mr. Reeves, who had been nipping at his hip flask all night, had mistaken his bare foot for the underbelly of a frog and had plunged the gig through it.

My sympathy for Mr. Reeves was minimal compared with my delight at finally getting home to bed.

A divine touchdown

I started believing in the separation of religion and football when, in the 1960s, Notre Dame beat Carolina seven years running.

When we never even came close, despite my prayers -- "Please, God, just once!" -- I figured either God doesn't go out for contact sports, or he favors Catholics over Southern Baptists.

I'm now having second thoughts. Recently Holly Springs High led Wakefield by a point with less than two minutes to play. With Wakefield facing fourth and 32, Mychal Jones took a screen pass and raced 73 yards for the winning touchdown.

"Me and Jesus took it all the way," Mychal said.

Amen.

To a louse

The Right Literary Reverend Bob Mullinax suggested I revisit poet Robert Burns' "To a Louse." I did. With pleasure.

I had forgotten that this was the source for the familiar "O would some Power the gift to give us/ To see ourselves as others see us!"

I also learned that Burns wrote the poem in church after watching a louse crawl across the bonnet of the woman in the pew in front of him.

Writers never run out of subject material. Choosing is the problem.

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