Floppy hats, fans and today

My family were members of the First Methodist Church. My Grandfather frequently would be called onto pray and he would immediately drop to his knees and pray he did. It was a prayer from the heart of a simple, hardworking blacksmith. Tom Scott was a fine man.

My mother and I would always go to Sunday school and morning worship service. I would sit and squirm beside her during the service with one eye out for the bees that occasionally made their way through the tall stained-glass windows. I can see in my mind’s eye, Ms. Nan bouncing on the piano bench with her big floppy hat, keeping the rhythm with Onward Christian Soldiers as the children marched into the sanctuary holding the weekly flyers from our Sunday School Class.

During those years, in the summer the ladies dressed up in their very best voile dresses, white shoes, gloves and topped it off with a wide brimmed straw hat adorned with flowers or birds. The choir had no robes in those days, so they were fully dressed and on display for all to see. Of course, there was no air conditioning in those days and this little girl squirming beside her mother was in awe of it all. The local funeral home provided the congregation with cardboard fans with religious scenes for all to get some relief from the steamy heat. I remember that between fighting off bees, the sultry heat, and those floppy hats going up and down on lady’s hats in the choir, I was kept busy enough and made it through every service in anticipation of a fried chicken pulley bone and some potato salad from the big round oak table. Sometimes I even got to the benediction without being pinched by momma for wiggling.

Oh, for those simple days again when life was simple, and everyone loved everyone! Oh, for the days when people left their keys in their cars, their doors unlocked, and mothers looked after each other’s children while they played in the yard. Today, criminals are being caught, sent to court and then let go to repeat. Young women are having babies in order to get a state check or may have an abortion to not accept responsibility for their actions. (Do not take this comment as condemnation or recommendation. There are exceptions.) People are either taking drugs or selling them, or both. Gangs are ripping through stores taking everything in sight with bystanders watching and doing nothing.. Homeless are everywhere, often destroying the neighborhood’s property values. People are being accosted on our streets for no reason at all with others watching not even offering help or calling for help. In California recently, a woman was released after stabbing her boyfriend over 100 times without serving and jail time! Politicians are being elected over and over who have campaigned on fixing all these problems or have abused their power without being held accountable? Are we so used to this behavior that we turn a blind eye?

Now, we have a whole new problem that has created a monster for every family, city and state with the influx of undocumented immigrants. I ask you, if we don’t punish those who already break the laws, how in heaven’s name will we handle the millions of people that our current administration is allowing in, without vetting their criminal records or their health background? I wonder if any of our current Congress or elected leaders are offering their home to a family. Who is providing the necessities for those who are sick, pregnant, or babies who come with no parents? Who and how will we make sure they are educated enough to keep up with our increasingly high-tech nation?

Somebody better pay attention when they vote. Every single person who runs for office needs to be asked the questions I just raised. By the way, why does a candidate running for a municipal position need to run as a Democratic or Republican? Does that change their job description?