My wife and I are of very different cultures. I am from Salina Kansas, she is from Salem Missouri. To those not educated in the ways of these peoples, it is very simple. She is Hill people, and she refers to my folk as Flatlanders. ( I am not Scottish, but I do believe there should be only one) Where she is from, they live among the trees like they are supposed to be there. Where I am from , we know exactly what the term breezy mean. It is gusts to 35 MPH like it is supposed to be. We know where wind comes from. Where she is from, half a tree laying in your yard after a slight storm is a natural occurence. Where I am from, we are trained from birth to pick up any and all twigs as part of a ritual training program, much like some children will start playing baseball at the age of five. It is an attempt to satisfy our parents fantasy that their child will someday become the professional that they could not. Let me explain....
ON a drive through Salina, I watched as my wife mocked my people while she was also in shock and awe...that after a small wind burst, there were suddenly dozens, maybe hundreds of people picking up small twigs in seemingly every yard. Young children, some were just babies, being shown by adults how to pick up the twigs properly. ---Older children, perhaps earning their allowance---and to my surprise, many young and older adults wearing bright colored shirts, working in crews....all picking up twigs and small limbs. At businesses, at pricier homes, middle class homes...the twigs get picked clean off the grass of all homes, regardless of income and status.
( she was right, I wish I had footage)
It all clicked. All these years I thought I was being punished , being told to get out there and pick up the sticks....I was just being a pawn in a game bigger than me....It was like children of the corn or something.....
I was being groomed as a Professional Twig and Limb removal specialist, and I missed my calling. All those hours being trained by my Parents, Aunts and Uncles, Grandparents....and I dropped the ball. Just like baseball and all the other sports.
It was right there and I didn't see it. I could have been one of the best. Maybe a Hall of Famer.
Or maybe the crops would be better and a virgin or drifter spared?
you would have to see this.
--Mark Burkenbine
ON a drive through Salina, I watched as my wife mocked my people while she was also in shock and awe...that after a small wind burst, there were suddenly dozens, maybe hundreds of people picking up small twigs in seemingly every yard. Young children, some were just babies, being shown by adults how to pick up the twigs properly. ---Older children, perhaps earning their allowance---and to my surprise, many young and older adults wearing bright colored shirts, working in crews....all picking up twigs and small limbs. At businesses, at pricier homes, middle class homes...the twigs get picked clean off the grass of all homes, regardless of income and status.
( she was right, I wish I had footage)
It all clicked. All these years I thought I was being punished , being told to get out there and pick up the sticks....I was just being a pawn in a game bigger than me....It was like children of the corn or something.....
I was being groomed as a Professional Twig and Limb removal specialist, and I missed my calling. All those hours being trained by my Parents, Aunts and Uncles, Grandparents....and I dropped the ball. Just like baseball and all the other sports.
It was right there and I didn't see it. I could have been one of the best. Maybe a Hall of Famer.
Or maybe the crops would be better and a virgin or drifter spared?
you would have to see this.
--Mark Burkenbine
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