Tuesday, March 10, 2026
When I was teaching, and when I was department chair especially, I felt like a hose looking for a fire to douse, a guard looking for a perpetrator. I felt like a solution thirsting for a problem. I felt like Barney Fife, the jumpy deputy on the sixty’s sitcom, The Andy Griffith Show.
Barney loved conflict. He longed for criminal activity. But Mayberry, the small North Carolina town where the show was set, was relatively crime-free. An occasional chicken thief, a bootlegger, or a passing speeder was all there ever was, and the sheriff’s office was pretty dull. Mayberry was a sleepy town, and Barney was a fidgety detective looking for “action.”
Andy trusted the citizens. He didn’t really have to enforce law. A real alpha doesn’t enforce. In the animal kingdom, the alpha is more Andy-like. He doesn’t want conflict, but he is respected for his fairness when it arises. He puts the bullies in their place when they flare up, and he encourages the weaklings to buck up when they’re down. He maintains order by being noble, likable, fair, and level-headed. There is even a little rule-bending—looking the other way from time to time.
Are you a Barney, living in a sleepy town wanting to shake it up? Are you looking for trouble so you can legitimize yourself? “Looking for trouble” is a subconscious manufacturing plant for the very chaos we claim to hate. What if you could just prop your feet up and play the harmonica most days? If something comes up, you’ll take care of it like Andy—without a gun and thoughtfully, lawfully, nobly, and with a level head. Andy knows how to handle it with no trouble. He never played defense. He put his faith in trouble-free problem solving. If Barney had been sheriff, Mayberry would have been crime-ridden.
Maybe you’re asking for it. Are you looking for trouble?