Guest Blog by Fayr Barkley, Ph.D., Living in Gulfport, Mississippi
When I was a little girl, my
grandfather had a cousin named Annie Smythe. Annie lived alone in a grand
southern home and had many interesting artefacts, including a Victrola, which I
found fascinating. One day as I was walking down the stairs from the second to
the first floor, I saw a framed certificate on the wall, and I asked Annie
about it. She told me she was a DAR, a Daughter of the American Revolution. She
explained that several of our ancestors helped finance the war that led to our
freedom from England and about the letters General George Washington and our
ancestor Henry Hollingsworth wrote to each other during the war, that were in
the Smithsonian Library.
Washington asked Henry for money,
grain, meat, fabric to feed and clothe his soldiers and Henry graciously
obliged as he and Washington were dear friends. Henry also led a battalion.
Other ancestors stepped up: James Hollingsworth manufactured rifles, wagons and
ammunition for the cause. Zebulon led a battalion. They were all descendants of
my original ancestor to the United States Valentine Hollingsworth, Sr., a
Quaker, who came over with William Penn and settled Delaware.
I was so fascinated by my heritage
and years later when I was older, a working journalist and living in Jackson,
MS, I applied for membership in the national DAR. I had to prove my lineage in
order to be accepted, but it was easy because I had the family book DIRECT
DESCENDANTS OF VALENTINE HOLLINGSWORTH, SR., that mama had given me when I was
9 years old. I was its proud, young custodian and still am, though not so young
anymore. I was able to easily trace back my line straight to Valentine, who
came over in 1682.
On this Memorial Day, I honor those
who fought and died for our freedom. Political bias aside, we should stand united
as a country and stop the infighting. When you look at our history as a country
and how we had to fight for our freedom from another country and then continue
fighting to preserve our freedom, and how so many young men and women literally
lost life, limb and stability to protect us, it seems puerile to argue over
ideology when we should pull together, especially during times of crisis.
My ancestors did a lot of heavy
lifting to make sure our country could be free. We came here to escape
religious persecution. I know many people who don't know their family history
past a great grandparent, but if they did, I am sure they would discover and
embrace the honorable things their ancestors did, the reasons they came to this
country, how they suffered along the way, in order to establish a form of
legacy for those who came after.
As a retired journalist, I am not
political. The reason is because I have seen behind the curtain of politics. I
know it is not about We the People. It's about power, control, money, and
calculated party and self-serving lies. It sickens me to see our current
national tragedy politicized while people suffer and die. If you look at the
bank accounts of politicians, you can't help but wonder how public servants
become millionaires, and why they fight each other so much instead of serving
We the People.
I covered local, state and national
politics. The same issues that people were concerned about in 1977 are the same
talking points we have today. In all those years, the issues facing people have
not improved; in fact, for seniors, it has become worse in regard to medical
reimbursement, social security that does not keep up with the cost of living,
and other issues. You would be hard pressed today to listen to a political
debate and hear the candidates address issues that concern our seniors. The
tapestry of our country has changed and with it, the refocusing on issues such
as same sex marriage, unisex bathrooms, flatulent bovine, who has control over
women’s bodies, and name calling. Lots of name calling.
But no one lays out the strategy for
fixing anything. No one seems to have a salient plan of action to make the
lives of We the People better; yet, the politicians never miss a paycheck nor
an opportunity to flaunt their hypocrisy while the populace suffer. They have
the best health insurance our tax dollars can buy. Our public servants vote
themselves pay raises when the rest of us must work harder to earn more or beg
our bosses for an increase. As my father said, “we get the government we
deserve.” And we deserve them because we buy into whatever it is they think we
want to hear and we vote for them without taking the responsibility to do our
own due diligence.
Sheeple truckle*
with the ignorance of the masses. Drill down to truth and don't truckle.
Develop critical thinking skills instead of binding your behavior to emotions,
party beliefs, fear. "Take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to
any man or number of men.'" --Walt Whitman
When our founding fathers signed The
Declaration of Independence, I am sure their wish for our country was that it
would be and remain united. We have allowed biased media on both sides of the
political fence to turn us against each other...and that breaks my heart. The
vitriolic comments I read from friends on social media from believers from both
sides break my heart. As a journalist, it is my endeavor to seek truth, listen
to both sides, understand various opinions, sift through facts, and use the
critical thinking skills I developed to gain perspective.
What I see through the lens of
perspective frightens me. We have become a country so divided; we actually hate
someone who doesn't believe as we do. It has become an "us" vs
"them" society and both sides are guilty.
Henry, James, Zebulon and all those
who financed and fought for our freedom didn't have such rancor in mind. They
sacrificed so we could gain freedom from a country that oppressed us. Many
soldiers died and since, many more have died, and in the future even more so
shall die defending the honor of our country.
America is being shredded; shredded
by its own populace. Fear, ignorance, hatred, prejudice, political and
religious bias, greed, and sloth are the culprits. And the media, I am ashamed
to say, perpetuates this divide. A house divided cannot stand, nor so a
country. And if we are not pulling together, we shall soon fall apart.
Today is Memorial Day. For many, it's
more than just a 3-day weekend. It's a time to reflect upon where we started as
a nation once controlled by another, subservient and resentful until we could
wrench ourselves away to freedom; a freedom that used to be sacrosanct but now
has become bastardized.
Perhaps by taking personal
responsibility and action to better relationships on our own streets, neighborhoods,
communities, and calming our individual hysteria surrounding what we believe
based upon what we see on television presented by agenda-driven talking heads
and spin doctors, we may finally connect with our critical thinking skills,
drill down to truth, detach from the emotional manipulation and see that if we
pull together regardless of politics, religion, etc. we may make our country
better and safer without depending upon the government to do it for us; which,
of course, they will not.
Whining, name calling, bullying and
other childish tactics are not what is called for at this time in our history.
Those are the very behaviors that will do us in. Instead of allowing the pathologies
of politicians, the manipulations of the media, the fear and powerlessness that
have arisen from a global pandemic to control us, perhaps it is time to ask
ourselves individually and collectively, "What can I do to unshred
America?" And then---do it.
She’s
Fayr Barkley, and she’s also worried about the great divide that has ripped
this nation into shreds, but are these really irreconcilable differences?
*”Sheeple” – docile sheep-like people who
follow blindly. “Truckle” – fawning bootlicking.
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