Sodbuster
celebrated its second birthday last week. As one of those that chose to
participate, I had high hopes tempered with a lot of skepticism that it
would ever get off the ground. Two years later, we have not achieved my
highest hopes, but much of my skepticism proved unfounded as we did get it
off the ground and it is still moving steadily forward.
As far as I know, Sodbuster is still the only exclusive
Internet magazine in the state of Nebraska.
For the booming jump
in Internet use, Sodbuster is still a tiny blip on the spectrum.
However, it has developed steady readers and the word slowly spreads in a
wider circle that those of you in Imperial might imagine. We are still
constrained in what we can do because it is strictly a volunteer effort
that doesn’t allow any of the contributors to put the time, effort and
financial support into it, as we would like. However, we continue to plug
along and still have a great deal of potential to develop a wide and
permanent following on the web.
For the last two
months, I have been AWOL from the Sodbuster pages.
I was going to say “on vacation,” but that isn’t exactly
true. Having written about
politics on at least a biweekly basis for what will be two years this week
for Sodbuster (as well as being involved more directly in politics on
several fronts), I was burned out. I
was sick of the lies, corruption and immorality of the majority of the
political class of skunks who, despite their latest cosmetic makeover and
purchase of the most expense perfume, still look and smell like skunks.
I was becoming cynical
and was starting to develop the same attitude as the political class that
the American people are a bunch of ignorant saps who will believe anything
and are unworthy of the freedoms they enjoy.
Therefore, I decided it was time to tune out the world of politics
for a while. I turned off
CNN, stopped reading the front page and editorial pages of the newspapers,
and threw away the volumes of political junk mail I get on an almost daily
basis (without reading it). I
was going to follow the philosophy of the Bobby McFerrin hit song of the
late 80's, “Don’t Worry, be Happy.”
I wanted to look for the good things I could find rather than the
bad.
Two months later,
I’m not worrying about anything. I
am happier and have a renewed love for the good people of our country, my
family, the grandeur of its natural beauty and the greatness of the
historical path we took to become, in the words of Frances Scott Key,
“the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
The brand or looks of
a vehicle don’t make a difference to me. As long as the vehicle gets me
where I want to go, I am satisfied. Well,
for some reason, my 15-year-old vehicle has not gotten me where I wanted
to go a couple times recently. So,
I thought it was time to spend a little on a more dependable vehicle.
Therefore, my wife and I went shopping for a different vehicle last
week.
Our experience is
ample proof that “it is a woman’s prerogative to change her mind.”
My wife always said she didn’t want a white vehicle or a van.
We were looking at cars when the salesman asked if we wanted to
look at a van. I said why
not. In no time, Sharon was surprisingly willing for us to go for
a test drive. I got in the
back and told her to drive. Well,
to make a long story short, we now own a white Chevy Lumina van.
It is also the second
time in our marriage when my wife’s tastes put us at odds with my
father-in-law because she fell in love with a Chevy.
My father-in-law is a Ford man all the way.
Although, I must say that my wife’s Ford defection was the right
choice. Our first Chevy
purchase was a brand new 1990 little Chevy Cavalier that Sharon is still
driving to work. It just
passed 170 thousand miles and has never had a tune up, let alone a major
problem with it. My father
also passed probably the only Chevy he ever owned onto my wife as her
first car. So, I am really blameless in my wife’s defection.
Of course, I am the one who will take the blame.
I brought up Chevys
because, with our purchase and my personal rejuvenation in America, I have
had an old tune from a Chevy jingle going through my head. It is just one of those songs that sticks with you for a
while, and you can’t get it out of your mind.
Thus, I keep humming or whistling, “Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie
and Chevrolet.” I am sure
most of you remember this advertising jingle from a few years ago.
My memory of the commercial shows a big family gathering for a
picnic, as might occur on the 4th of July at a big prosperous
farm with kids playing baseball and other games before they sit down to
eat to their heart’s content. Of
course, the purpose of the commercial was to sell cars.
Since the commercial’s catchy jingle hung around a long time it
must have been effective. The theme made you feel good about yourself, your family and
your country because it provided the best images.
By tying their product with those warm feelings, they sold cars.
If the commercial
hadn’t had some sort of relationship to reality, it wouldn’t have
worked. Despite not seeing the light about Fords, we had a similar 4th of
July at my in-laws in Des Moines or, I should say, Altoona, Iowa. We had a good feast, although we opted to eat indoors with the
luxury of air conditioning rather than having a picnic. We
did venture outside to watch the fireworks from Adventureland amusement
park and Prairie Meadows racetrack/casino, both just over a mile away.
Maybe it ignores the
dark side of society, but it is these sorts of images that represent the
strength of America -- its people. The
average people go about their lives taking care of themselves, their
family members, and friends. They
also have a deep sense of values and religious belief, even if they
don’t all try to be preachers or, like me, don’t put much store in the
professional clergy. They
have their problems and complaints; but for the most part, they don’t
let it get in the way of enjoying life.
They don’t try to interfere with anybody else’s enjoyment of
life.
We named Sodbuster
to remember our pioneer heritage and to celebrate and sustain the values
our ancestors embodied. I have had the good fortune to retrace many
historical spots around the nation and my personal family history in these
last two months -- from the historical gateways to west of Independence,
Missouri; St. Joseph, Missouri; and Florence, Nebraska to Independence
Rock and Martins Cove in Wyoming. I
also followed the steps of my cowboy grandfather in the mountains and
desert of Northwestern Colorado and Eastern Utah. Saturday
afternoons, we have been visiting historical places in the state, such as
Homestead National Monument in Beatrice and Fort Atkinson in Ft. Calhoun,
which is just a few miles north of Omaha on the edge of the Missouri
Valley.
Over the next few
weeks, I plan to share some thoughts and experiences from my travels that
better explain my renewed optimism in our country. I
have also ended my self-imposed exile from current events and politics
because I realize that the actions of our leaders are the biggest threat
to our nation’s greatness. So,
I am going to be weighing in again on my opinion on the big issues of the
day from time to time. However,
I hope to keep my positive attitude by sharing with you the good things
about our pioneer heritage, which is the foundation and spirit on which Sodbuster
was founded.
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