Tears & Laughter: We the People Get Along Just Fine

Now that he is in office, Joe Biden has the task of trying to unite the United States. He says it is his intention. He is committed to it.

I think it is possible.

I really do. I don’t know how much President Biden will have to do with it, but I do think peace is possible.

Mainly I think it is possible because I see us getting along. There may be pockets of civil unrest across the country, but mostly it is politicians who aren’t getting along. We the people get along fine. If you can find a way to tune-out the news and get offline for a while, you will see what I mean.

Take Camden…here we are down here in the Black Belt. They call it a food desert because we have so few grocery stores. We have to travel to get medical care. We have high unemployment. We have schools that are challenged, there is very little for our kids to do, we are not an area immune to drugs or gangs, but we seem to get along okay.

And Wilcox County is not a place that is without history. This is the deep South. The old South. But we are all here by choice. There is more of a focus on moving forward than looking back over the past. We have mentally evolved.

We smile at one another – from behind our masks. We hold doors for one another at stores in town. It is not unusual to see someone in line with a loaded buggy and a fist full of coupons let the person behind them skip ahead so they won’t have to wait.

We give each other the right-of-way at intersections and four-way stops. We wave. And if you ever have a flat tire, someone will stop and help. Or if they can’t help, they will just keep you company.

I don’t think it is confined to Wilcox County. People are friendly about everywhere. And I don’t mean online where it is easy to hide behind a screen. I mean in real life in the real world.

The last time I was in Atmore, there was a woman – smoking a cigar – sitting on a bench outside of the front entrance of the casino. And hey…you can draw the line wherever you like. Most women who smoke stop somewhere around the Marlboro Light and a pack of reds divide, but to each her own.

What I can report, is that this wasn’t a Black and Mild, nor was it one of those little exotic rolls you can get at smoke shops, no…it was a cigar. And there was a huge bird tattooed on her forearm. It could have been a chicken. It might have been a peacock. I don’t know. Maybe it’s a work in process. I didn’t ask. Point being is at first glance, she and I looked different. I would think there are chances she and I have different takes on politics.

But she offered her umbrella for me to run to my car for a sweater. When I returned it to her, I thanked her and we walked back inside together. “Good luck,” she said as she went on her way.

“And to you, too,” I said, as I went mine.

We don’t need the President to help us get along.

We need the two sides of government to get along.

There has been talk of a third party. If the third party is made up of everyone disgusted with the two parties currently running the place…it might would make for a uniting change.