Redneck Pride

  Not long past I saw a link on “Facebook” to watch a video called “Redneck Pride”, With an idea in mind. I clicked on it.

  It was a litany of monster trucks slinging mud, obese women in spandex, rotten teeth and mobile homes with junk cars in the yard. The video was a hog sloppin “yee-haw”  of offensive, stereotypical garbage that many ethnic and or racial groups would have been up in arms about had their “ilk”  been drug through the mud (no pun intended) in such a way

  You see, for a brief moment I had thought that when I clicked on that link there would be a tribute to someone or something like my stepfather.

  I had in my mind’s eye a man as self sufficient as any on earth, a hunter, fisher, planter, mechanic, carpenter, musician, patriot, dutiful father, husband, son, in other words a true renaissance man.

  When I saw the title “Redneck Pride” for a brief moment I had deluded myself into thinking that someone had taken an opportunity to recognize those who take pride in taking care of their own. I thought that they might want to elevate, just this once, a group of folks in the southern region of these United States who came from the land and live in communion with its bounty and its hardships. I dreamed they might praise a type of human being who knows the truth of God like frosty breath on a freezing winter morning in the woods, rifle in hand, matching wits with the environment that is their birthright, that flows like honey in their blood.

  I was naïve or maybe just hopeful enough that they might show someone building a cabin with their own bare hands as the wife carries, cleans and organizes; just the two of them alone on a mountain top toiling in the grace of God for a future they believe in.

  I mistakenly thought that maybe for once a vertebra in the backbone of America might be honored for the core of life that it is rather than some stale joke that is told over and over until many believe that it’s true.