My grandfather wasn't much of a talker, but he could come up with some good sayings . . . if you knew how to get him to talk.  A politician came to his front porch one time, and grandpa shook hands with the guy and promised faithfully to vote for him.  When the politician left, grandpa admitted that he hadn't decided who to vote for.  He held most politicians in low regard, but this particular man was a boiled shirt - a town man with slick manners and shined shoes.  That sort of thing would've been a big turn-off for my grandpa. 

But . . . the old man wasn't your typical country farmer.  He knew people, how they were and how they acted, and he likewise knew that manners and dress had little to do with good society.  What we needed then (and still do) are people who have good sense . . . you know, somebody with a vision . . . and you don't find that in ignorant people.  "You know," he once said,"if ignorance was like peanut butter and could be spread with a knife, there's enough of it right here in this county to ignorance the whole state . . . and parts of others states, too."

I'm 67 years old now, should have toughened up to my social environment by now, but I'm still shocked at all the stupidity and ignorance around me.  Here in Texas, we're eaten up with it.  A good 40 percent of the people living around me (that's four out of ten) are functionally illiterate . . . and it shows.  At the store yesterday, in a big parking lot, a fancy SUV zipped into a parking space beside me.  Two fat women popped out of it, with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths, and headed for the store entrance.  They left a guy sitting in the back seat.  He got out, moved to the driver's side front door long enough to use the cigarette lighter.  His skin was the color of paste, and he was bone thin . . . another of our local meth addicts.

Not far away, at my wife's business, she's calling police to have them come get a car moved out of her parking place.  She'd gone to the neighboring house, where a bunch of young folks live, and asked them to move the car.  Nobody responded.  In fact, only one of them was awake . . . at 2:00 PM.  The cops didn't respond either, but someone removed the vehicle later that afternoon.  More drugs at work . . . and officials who can't handle it.  Here in this small town, we're essentially without law enforcement. 

A rash of break-ins prompted a local newspaper column lately, but the headlines were about our Congressman (republican) coming to town to tell us how wonderful things were in Washington (and the U.S.) . . . and how we needed to work hard to make sure Republicans stayed in control of things.  I lock my cars now, even in my own driveway.  And just this week, I loaded my pistols for the first time in many years.  I'd like to live in a town or state or nation where that's not necessary.

. . . but I don't.


D. Paz, 7/10/08