A modern Ozark Journey
Almost everyone who lives in this county is here by choice. That includes those who were born here and stayed as well as those born elsewhere who came here and stayed.
We welcome and respect those passing through, but they do not change our core values and beliefs which, on the whole, are remarkably pure of thought and deed.
The uneasiness that many Ozark Countians share today has deeper roots in some cases but was certainly aggravated by the recent pandemic and its effect on virtually everyone.
Social interaction across the country, and even here in Ozark County, was a widespread victim. Empty shelves at the grocery stores and record high prices for gasoline, lumber and many other staples are no longer surprising.
A growing crisis in our legal system and local law enforcement agencies has created a tremor of fear and apprehension that rocks the very foundations of this wonderful place. It’s something that we never expected to see and is, for most residents, difficult to understand and accept.
Some of this is a result of mandated changes nationwide, like the closing of the petroleum pipeline and other radical decisions. The jury is still out on whether many of these changes are for our good or just convenient agenda items for special interests.
In several previous sessions of “An Ozark Journey,” I wrote about Ozark County during the Civil War. It was a place of devastation and terror, essentially a “no man’s land.”
The events of the past two years here in America are not much different than those of the two years leading up to the Civil War.
Society is disintegrating around us and, for many, even family is not what it was in the not-too-distant past.
It should not be any great surprise that talk of a Civil War in our time emerges. The Civil War is a prime example of lessons we can learn from a study of our past. We should do everything we can to avoid that path.
Will Ozark County again become a wasteland of thievery, butchery and despair? I think not.
In the history of human existence, positive values have always prevailed over the transient desires of individual leaders.
We live in what is increasingly becoming a “go-to place.” That is because our values are apparent to the rest of America.
As we work to stabilize and improve life here at home, we need to stay strong in the face of adversity. We need to honor those who gave us this life. We need to respect the choices of those who walked the path before us. We need to look at and remember those “footsteps in the past.”
We must also support, defend and honor those here at home who do their best to serve us today, whether it be in the fields of government, virtue, protection, business, health or guidance.
Where possible, we should volunteer our services to help a movement forward.
Of equal importance is the fact that, regardless of political persuasion, we must be one.
We should enjoy the life that our shared basic values brought.
We should love our brethren and guide them when needed.
We must protect our homes and this land that was made just for us.
In doing so, we will have done our part in protecting America. And most of all, we will add a cornerstone to our own Ozark Journey.