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Violet Farmer was a lovely lady who was our den mother
in our Cub Scout pack at the First United Methodist Church. She took us to the
Yaarab Temple Shrine Circus at the old Atlanta Municipal Auditorium. 8 Years
later it was the scene of my very first rock concert when I saw a very young Ted
Nugent playing guitar for the Amboy Dukes and the headliner was Jimi Hendrix. It
was great but I kept smelling rope burning throughout the show. Possessing a
sensitive nose is a family trait. I smelled it, but I didn't inhale. Violet
Farmer also had our Cub Scout group have a mock vote on the 1960 election. Scott
McClain and Sam Farmer were at odds about JFK and Nixon. We were only 9 years
old but we had passion for the candidates. Dixie cups of Kool-Aid were tossed
at opposing camps. Chocolate chip cookies from Sid William's bakery were hurled
at each other. We made posters out of poster paper and crayons. We cut out
pictures from magazines and used Elmer's paste that I had developed a taste for
in Mrs. Downey's first grade class until she told me the ingredients that went
into the manufacturing of the adhesive. We choose our candidates and had a
spirited rally. It was fun, lot more fun than the election of 2008.
Being a political science major at West Georgia College for about a month, the
election process has always been fascinating. It is a contest to see who can
raise the most money to buy television time. It is a collage of sound bites and
who said what and to what group. It is a barrage of personal attacks and
innuendo. Who really cares how much Sarah Palin paid for her clothes or if
Senator McCain's wife's family owns Phoenix, Arizona? Is it really important
that Senator Biden once plagiarized a speech years ago? What is the significance
of Senator Obama's father abandoning him at a young age? It happened to me too.
I got over it. Fortunately like the Democratic nominee I had a grandmother who
loved and nurtured me. John McCain paid a heavy price for his country when he
was shot down over North Vietnam and was tortured off and on for 5 years. So
what if he is 72 years old? Why is that an issue? Is it important that Senator
Obama has as aquatance that tried to bomb the U.S. Capitol Building light years
ago? Do you really think Bill
Ayers will have a role in the administration if the Illinois senator is elected?
Why is it that George W. Bush is now the boogieman? Sure he made plenty of
mistakes like the FEMA fiasco following Hurricane Katrina, and he is being
blamed for the mess on Wall Street, but the last time I looked there have been
no more radical extremists using passenger jets as missiles destroying buildings
and lives. The beginning of our economic mess began that bright September 11th
morning in 2001. I am still angry about Bin Laden's directive to his followers
who killed 3 thousand of our citizens. I too like many of you are fatigued by
the war in Iraq but I will take the word of my classmate Sam Farmer who has been
over there more than once and told me that we are making a difference.
My classes at Kennesaw State are equally divided on the candidates for
president. There is an equal division among Obama and McCain supporters and it
will be interesting to see how it all pans out on the night of November 4th.
Many of us will be up late watching election returns. It is perhaps the most
important election in the United States since the first nod to Franklin Delano
Roosevelt. Back in the 1930's Tallapoosa and the rest of the world were facing
far greater economic woes than what is going on today. Regardless of who wins,
our republic will stand. America was built by idealists and survivors, many of
whom died on battle fields in foreign lands. Please vote on Tuesday.
Rhubarb Jones is a Tallapoosa native and is a Distinguished Lecture in the
Department of Communication and Director of Special Projects in the Office of
Development at Kennesaw State University. Comments are welcome at
Rhubarbjones@aol.com
or by writing P. O. Box 1001, Tallapoosa, Georgia, 30176.
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