AN ARKANSAS REDNECK'S GIFT

This is a true story. It took place September 14, 2001. I dedicate it to the memory of all the victims of September 11, 2001.

He likes to brag to others that he's just an Arkansas Redneck and proud of it. His home is a double-wide trailer siting on a piece of ground facing the mountains of Arkansas. He's young, has a wife, two little boys and a baby yet to come. What happened last Tuesday, September 11, 2001, will be imbedded in his memory forever. Why did it affect him in such a manner?

He looks around at the mountains and streams surrounding his little dwelling. He listens to the sounds that permeate the air. Before that day, he saw peace and breathed freedom. Someone has violated that aura that comforted him. Someone with a face as natural as the sunrise but with a heart full of hate.

He needs to talk to someone; he needs reassurance that he and his family are still safe. The one that can assure him lives only a short distance away. Grandpa! Grandpa has been to war and survived. So he drives his new black four-wheel drive truck down the dirt lane to his grandpa's house to ask him, Why?

Grandpa has no answers but he talks. He tells his grandson it's going to get rough. The days ahead won't be easy days. He must get prepared. Then he gives him something. His grandson looks into the old man's eyes and accepts his gift.

Back at home, he knows what he has to do. He searches the pile of castoffs that lie at the back of his barn. As he pulls the old TV antenna pipe out, his mind begins to plan for its future. He drills and he hammers and soon he's accomplished what he has begun. Finding an old digger, he makes a hole in the earth, deep enough to anchor the pipe. Using all the strength he can muster, he raises the pipe and places it in the open hole. Now he reaches inside his pickup and removes the gift. Carefully he hooks it to the snaps on the rope and raises it half-mast. The old flag waves defiantly in the mountain air. One end is tattered and torn but its colors stand out bright and bold.

The young Arkansas Redneck stands looking up at the flag. His small sons stand next to him. We are reminded that a child looks to his father for protection, the father looks to his country for protection of his family and fellow man, and the flag waves to God asking protection for us all.

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