The People

THE PEOPLE

As a child of rural Alabama, I consider myself a man of the “The People.” Who then are “The People?” To me the people are the folks I see in everyday life---not on the college campus in my job but in the real world of the rural South.

Where do I see the people? And not just the people. I’m talking about what I would call “The Real People.” Here are my favorite places.

There’s Cracker Barrel in Pelham. We go there sometimes and have breakfast on Saturday mornings. I sit in the rockers on the porch and watch the people entering and leaving. I look around the dining room and see the people eating. During cold weather I try to have us placed close to the fireplace. I love a rip-roaring fireplace. The people who go to Cracker Barrel are my kind of people.

The last time we were there, I ran into my State Senator, Senator Hank Erwin. Sen. Erwin is a proud graduate of Southeastern Bible College. He made news after Hurricane Katrina blew away New Orleans. He said publicly that God was punishing the sin and iniquity of New Orleans. That’s my Senator: God’s spokesman for our area.

I asked him if he thought God was through punishing New Orleans. He looked at me as if he wanted to say something, sucking on his toothpick, grimacing, but then he stalked off without saying a word. Oh well, sometimes you run into somebody at Cracker Barrel who is NOT one of my people.

There’s a thrift store near Pelham in a town called Alabaster. You go into a thrift store and you’ll see real people. The great melting pot in our area is in this thrift store. You wanna see the greatest mix of people in Alabama, you go into this thrift store. It’s like being at a world convention of plain people. I was in line to pay the other day and the man in front of me was purchasing what looked like 50 pairs of shoes.

The clerk said, “Sending them to Mexico?”

The customer replied, “Si.

Our local thrift store is a pipeline to Mexico and other places South I’m sure. We Americans are glad to be of assistance, aren’t we?
The people. Go into your local thrift store. That’s where they are.

The people are also at Wal Mart. Sometimes I go to Target---upscale. Most of the time I go to Wal Mart. I find more real people at Wal Mart than Target. I talk to the cashiers a lot. Most of them are there temporarily. I’m in line last week and the cashier named Tina is telling me how her boyfriend broke her heart last night. I didn’t ask for further details. She looked like she was ready to cry. I say, “Everybody has their heart broken at least once in life.” As if that comment would make her feel better.

Shop at Wal Mart. That’s where the real people are.