Thoughts During The Hiatus: OldSouth's Modest Plea For Freedom

The hiatus continues, a slower pace, in part by choice, in part because the heat simply tends to tamp down one's ambitions. So much that could be done in the garden and golf course, were it not for 95 degree temps for the third week, with more to come.

Travels begin tomorrow, with only one destination planned, as the heat deters one from making reservations anywhere. May as well swelter at home as in some other location. The destination is the home of one of the kids, now a successful young adult, married, grad degree completed, employed in a job that pays well, is highly engaging, and in a desirable part of the country.

This morning Mr. and Mrs. OS transported another child to the airport for a return to university studies far far away. Such a good week with that kid in the house, and yet the cultural distance between LifeAway and LifeHere is very pronounced.

Both kids are miraculous in different ways, as is LifeHere, the last place on earth OS imagined he would spend the past twenty years. Yet, as he ponders the two decades, the successes and failures, he is struck by the sense of Providence that seems to have preserved his family and life. So many tales that cannot be told yet, or perhaps ever, and in a way the details aren't worth recounting. When OS tells you things got a bit wild and crazy from time to time, just take his word for it.

One theme re-occurs: In this place, and during these years, we were afforded the freedom to build our lives, here in an obscure spot in a Tennessee county generally scorned by the literati. We were free to marry, parent and educate as we thought best, and build unorthodox careers as we thought best. We were free to fail--and there were some spectacular failures along the way, which taught some valuable good lessons.

We were also free to succeed, to pursue some outlandish good ideas never before attempted, and succeed with them. We have reputations as mild eccentrics, which is not such a bad thing. As one long-time successful eccentric of the county counseled us, 'People here are left alone to be themselves, not so much pressure to conform, and it's ok to be eccentric here. Outsiders don't understand that about us.'

That freedom was, and is, a fragile thing. With each child, and several of those good ideas, we saw the doors of opportunity close behind us, just as we slipped through. Had each child been born a year or two later, OS is not sure he would be writing about such happy circumstances. Some of those good ideas that didn't gain traction may not now be viable, due to an economy in stall, a government intent upon keeping the lid on any and everything, and an atmosphere of timidity that seems to have taken hold.

With a bit of age and experience, OS hopes he has gained a sense of sobriety, a clear-headed view of the world that helps guide his efforts. He writes, in great part, to advocate for both freedom and sober wisdom. Freedom fed by too much adrenaline, with too little thought, creates chaos. Sobriety without courage is timidity and creates stasis. Above all, a sense of humor must be maintained, lest we despair.

So, as he breaks into the local patois, OldSouth hopes all ya'll and all yall's kith and kin gits to enjoy even a portion of the blessings of freedom he's privileged to enjoy, and that yew and yours gits to live in a small town in the American South for even a few years. Jes' don't show up all at once, ya heah? It takes some time to break ya'll in, if'n yer not from around heah.

Parting Thought For The Weekend From Jesse

The weekend is packed with work and travel, so one parting thought before the journey begins.

This today from Jesse:

Freedom is not a place to visit, or a thing to be achieved. Freedom is a commitment, a way of life, that will endure only as long as men love it for themselves and their children, more than their weariness, or their fear, or vain comforts.

Amen.