Get Back to Roots

There are things in my life I'd like to just get away from, my redneck roots being one of them, but I just can't seem to do it!

I was born a poor black child in a very small town in Eastern Washington. Some of my earliest memories involve sitting on the bleachers on Saturday nights at the Ephrata Raceway Park while my uncles raced street stock class. The smell of burning oil and rubber, the deafening noise, and the drama - ohhh, the memories.

My family got out of racing when most of them moved to central and western Washington. Life happened, and I never thought much about it until a visit home about seven years ago. Seems the family has gotten back in to racing - this time in Idaho at the Stateline Stadium & Speedway - Bump-to-Pass class. Dig deep for that stereotypical image of a "good old boy" and you'll be able to fill up the grandstands! Here I was, building those same redneck memories for my son, who thought there was nothing better than having "Rhino" sign his cheap plastic checkered flag!

I recovered from that visit, and although that signed flag still hangs in my son's bedroom, stock car and bump-to-pass racing never crossed my mind again. How could they? I am a well educated, well traveled, city dwelling refined redneck woman ... or so I thought ...

Friday night, my husband is flipping through the 9,486 satellite channels trying to find something to watch. He settles on the SPEED channel which is showing Get Back to Dirt. Sounds like it could be a great flick to get hubby in the mood, especially if it involves a little water mixed in the dirt, but no, it's an award winning, 90-minute documentary on street stock, dirt track racing.
You'd think he would have had a fight on his hands, but "Honey, would you please turn on the Lifetime channel?" never crossed my lips. I watched the entire 90 minutes like it was CNN. I just couldn't rest until I knew:

1. If Gayla Jones, the only woman racing in any class at Devil's Bowl Speedway, would finally ask her race suit sniffing sponsor move out of her home like her husband wanted (she did, but her marriage broke up anyway),
2. If Bubba Meeks learned how to read (he didn't, but he did get his teeth fixed)
3. If Travis Pace would blow up his garage again while working on his car (he didn't, and seems to have recovered from last year's accidental burning down of the family home)
4. If Doug Smith's 16 year old daughter would follow in his footsteps (she did, and Doug cried when he had to sell the engine from his car to pay for her car), and
5. If Trandel White would get caught cheating (he did, but no one seemed to mind much).

The truth hurts, and that moment was excruciatingly painful. I knew I would never be able to deny my redneck roots - that they were always simmering just below the surface of my tarnished polished image.

Did I mention it is only 48 days until Daytona???

Sunday Secret

Four years later, I am still resentful for having given up so much to be with you, and watching you give so little. It wasn't worth it to lose myself.

Personal Responsibility

Man must cease attributing his problems to his environment, and learn again to exercise his will - his personal responsibility.

~ Albert Schweitzer

I have been spending much of my unemployed free time exploring politics in general. I am frustrated with the common assumption that there are only two viable political parties and that we must select one or the other. I am frustrated with the Electoral College and the overwhelming knowledge that the popular vote no longer matters. I am frustrated that our country seems to be voting against candidates and ideas rather than voting for candidates and ideas. More than anything else, I am frustrated with this prevailing thought that we need more government - more social programs - to take care of our citizens.

It seems that in this overly politically correct society we have fostered, no one is willing to step up to the plate and say, "Take care of yourself!" We cannot do that because:

(1) It is not their fault
(2) They can't do it on their own, and
(3) They are repressed because they are [fill in the blank with anything other than white male]

Bullshit!

What we need (in my oh-so-humble opinion) is LESS government. We need to allow people to fail, and to take personal responsibility for their failures. We need to concentrate on not only perceived, and real, constitutional rights, but the responsibilities we all have to uphold those rights, and we need to do that as individuals rather than relying on our government to do it for us.

When we endorse a bigger government - more social programs - we are giving all of our power to just a few people. We are in essence saying, "We cannot take care of ourselves." In fact, I take this concept even a bit further and say that when we start making excuses for people based on race, education - you name it - we are actually holding them back from succeeding. We are telling them they do not need to improve, they do not need to work harder, they do not need to better themselves, because it's not their fault.

Somehow, I do not think these are the ethics and ideals our founding fathers envisioned.