Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

“The most important thing in all human relationships is conversation, but people don’t talk anymore; they don’t sit down to talk and listen. They go to the theater, the cinema, watch television, listen to the radio, read books, but they almost never talk. If we want to change the world, we have to go back to a time when warriors would gather around a fire and tell stories.”  ~ Paulo Coelho

 

Back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, when life seemed simpler and my teenage self slathered iodine and baby oil all over my Irish-girl skin hoping for a golden tan, there weren’t cell phones, Internet, and so on. Social media was recess! After school, I was lucky to get a slice of homemade bread and strawberry jam, maybe Gilligan’s Island in the living room, no remote, no cable. And then homework. Lots of homework. Then outdoor time. 

By the time I graduated from high school, headed for college, and started unfolding wings, Ozzy Osbourne had written “Crazy Train”: Crazy, but that’s how it goes / Millions of people living as foes / Maybe it’s not too late / To learn how to love and forget how to hate / Mental wounds not healing / Life’s a bitter shame / I’m going off the rails on a crazy train…” Who knew it would be a song for the ages? Ozzy was right. 

Yesterday, on a drive to haul friends to the Asheville airport, there were endless barricades, traffic cones, brake lights, and headaches. Add in the over-construction of buildings, apartments, roads, and lack of cooling green trees, and I was ready to run to the woods (if I could find any left). Heading back, I found myself pondering the similarity of what’s going on in the world today to “Crazy Train,” to the gauntlet of traffic and obstacles in the path. 

It’s easy to ask what’s WRONG with people. I sure do. Yet, every day in my little town, Dear Reader, I find what is RIGHT with people. I see kindness. Concern. Hugs. Thoughtfulness. Humor. Love. Little kids, dogs, families, teachers, women who run businesses. People who share garden veggies, books, tools. A library, like the proverbial pub, everybody knows your name when you walk in. Mail carriers I know, wave at. Those who get things done: support networks for older folks and children, those who plant native plants, who help those needing food. Volunteers who show up. 

There is a crazy train off the tracks out there, but we don’t have to crash in those out-of-control boxcars. Instead, we hold out our hands and pull each other along, hold each other up, and share what we have at the table of love. It’s how we human beings once were—circling a fire, telling stories, bonding. Once, we sat on porches, shelled peas, snapped beans, and told stories. Together. 

 

• This weekend: Saluda Art Stroll is July 13, from 4 to 6 p.m.  
• Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Jr. at Mountain Page Theater runs Saturday-Sunday at 2:30 p.m.. For tickets, visit www.mountainpage.theater/
• Saluda Community Land Trust will have Walks in the Woods on July 21 to the  Lazy Girl trail, a mile-long walk. There’s a stream crossing; no pets for this walk. Meet at Saluda Library’s parking lot at 2 p.m. For information, contact the SCLT office at (828) 749-1560 or email info@saludaclt.org
• Saluda Community Table is July 23, 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Saluda Center; bring your own dinnerware if you can.  

Happy July Birthday to Debi Thomas, Rheta Foster, Nancy Weinhagen, Lisa Obermiller, Kathy Thompson, Bill Jameson, Emily Rose Ford, Jeremy Ford, Mike Cass, Nathen Honeycutt, Melissa Justus, Hunter Justus, Alyssa Justus, Lin Savage, Doug Taylor, Amanda Anderson, Gail Slaughter, Diane Ballard, Amber Grant, Kathy Hayes, Ammie Forester, Arely Muñoz and Marianne Blazar. Add your birthday to the list! 

Feel free to contact me at bbardos@gmail.com, (828) 817-6765, P.O. Box 331, Saluda, NC 28773, Facebook, or visit bonniebardos.com