Where do you fit in today's America?
Steve Horner
Following the 241st anniversary of America's independence, it seems to me that with each passing year, the meaning and purpose of the annual celebration becomes more and more blurred to more and more people.
For instance, in church, we in the choir will sing "God Bless America," yet the message from the pulpit is often about providing handouts to those who should be making it on their own, or shouldn't be in the country in the first place.
To some at the Elks Lodge, of which I am a member, when I, a former Vietnam infantryman, speak of the United States needing to change foreigh policy in order to stop irritating some of our overseas adversaries, a former Grand Exalted Ruler told me, "Steve, maybe you just don't fit in here."
I heard much the same thing from the general manager at a local radio station after working there for about 10 months in 2010. Even though I had come to St. George after a long and storied career of working at radio stations and owning my own successful advertising agency in Minneapolis for 20 years, I just didn't fit in with what had now become an unfriendly industry to me.
Last year, after volunteering to work as a county poll worker during the primary election, I spoke on the phone with the election supervisor after receiving a letter from her: "Steve, you just don't fit in."
Mind you, no complaints about my job performance. It's just that the women with whom I worked felt that I didn't fit in with them.
The crème de la crème happened a few weeks ago. After volunteering my stage acting and playwright skills for my well-received, one-man show to at least a dozen different veterans' hospitals and nursing homes twice a year, at Christmas and the Fourth of July, for more than 20 years, I was told by the recreational department head at the Southern Utah Veterans Home in Ivins: "Steve, we won't be using your services anymore."
When I pressed for a reason, one which I could understand, it was as I had suspected: Someone in last year's audience objected to how I defined a hero. I had said, "Contrary to today's liberal media, everyone in the military is not a hero. They're just doing an honorable job for which they signed up. A hero, to me, and to most who are genuine heroes, are those who perform above and beyond the call of duty."
I suspect that this complainer was a stateside clerk while in the military and basked in the spotlight of being called a hero.
In any event, even though last year's Fourth of July audience was the largest I had ever performed in front of, just one disgruntled person put the fly in the soup and the Ivins home caved to his whims. That's like the nursing home's kitchen discontinuing mashed potatoes just because one person complained about the mashed potatoes. Pretty weak and pathetic, if you ask me, and I'll tell you, it sure knocks the wind out of my volunteering spirit.
Am I the troublemaker or the whistleblower? You decide. As you celebrated Independence Day by flying your Chinese-made American flag, did you think about whether your country has become more free or less free over the last 40 years?
If you decide you have no opinion, then it's probably time to take your head out of the sand and publicly express your heartfelt opinions about the course of the nation, as I have been doing.
Then, maybe you, too, will begin hearing: "I'm sorry but you just don't fit in." See how that will suit you.
Steve Horner lives in St. George.