Cloudy all day, about an inch of rainfall.
Somewhere in town someone is cursing the clouds and the water; somewhere someone
is singing paeans for the blessing. Around the corner a child is wailing
endlessly, inconsolably, its mother passed out on the kitchen floor from an
overdose. Next door, a couple continues in its fifth year of prayer and visits
to fertility clinics in an effort to have a child. Down the street the preacher
lives next door to the boozer. On the "other side of the tracks" a couple and their six children live in a four-room cottage in ill-repair. Both parents
work to scrape together funds to feed the family and pay the rent-- to the
mayor. The seventy-three year old henna-haired lady behind that cash register
goes to work daily because the medical insurance premiums and the cost of
medications preclude retirement. Someone would literally give you his last
dollar were you in need, and someone else would literally rip off your last
dollar if he could.
We are a diverse lot. Don't write us off
as Hoosiers who have no lives, uninteresting. We are a kaleidoscope, ever-changing patterns, never-ending entertainment. Get to know
us.
Reporting from Perfect, Indiana, this is
your fly-over country correspondent, Buford Bumpkin.
9 comments:
Well Mr. Bumpkin, things don't seem so rosey in fly-over country but then they aren't in most of the rest of the country either.
Diversity of "success" and struggle are everywhere in our country, not just in Hoosier Land. Unfortunately, the struggle is more difficult when people are convinced that owning "stuff" provides happiness. Hence, the race to the top. Values out the window, slum lords living in cushy homes, high prices in order to increase profit, and the worshiping of wealth and the wealthy.
At one time kids were happy playing kick the can and having just the right board to use as a baseball bat. I know this because I was one of those kids. Now that media is king, kids think happiness comes with Nintendo and shoes that light up when they walk - plus thousands of other things that make the "haves" richer and the "have nots" poorer. Runaway train!
We all think that we live unique lives, but I think this could describe Anywhere, USA. Well, except for maybe Los Angeles or wherever all those wacky entertainment-types live. They, along with the politicians have absolutely no grasp of the average person and how they live.
Grace, indeed I suspect we are all in this together.
Vee, greed, envy, you know the seven deadlies. "Values out the window" the crux of the matter.
Lin, likely would be descriptive of most any community in the country. Sadly.
'Tis a good description of human kind anywhere. At least that's what I opine. Methinks the key is the use of "fly-over country." To the sources of info and entertainment on the coasts, we don't seem all that interesting.
Chuck, perhaps we are fortunate to escape the scrutiny of the coastal types. Just a thought Funny, though, that the fly-over country provides the sustenance for the nation and the ooastal types get the attention, the accolades; dictate the standards.
Expanding, only slightly, on your theme has been the stuff of many movies that describe for us a dystopian future. I'm grateful for this part of our nation.
Chuck, I hope we are not headed to dystopia, but sometimes I almost feel as though that is hope against hope.
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