A Ray Of Hope In A Dismal Land

The American Family Is Alive And Well
10/29/06

The small face looked up at me, “May I have an extra sucker for my sister who is in the parade?” She asked. I smiled at her. She was maybe seven years old and sat in a small lawn chair that seemed to have been constructed for her alone just to hold her small frame. “Why yes you may,” I responded, “that is very nice of you.” I handed her the extra sucker and she thanked me politely. I felt filled with joy as I moved on to the next set of children.
 

It was a glorious Saturday morning, the last Saturday morning of this October. The sun hung within a bright blue, cloudless sky slowly warming the morning. It was the day of the annual “Neewollah Grand Parade” and me, my wife and four volunteers were mingling with the crowd of three thousand plus passing out candy and possibly a little bit more than what we had expected.
 

Neewollah (Halloween spelled backwards), is the annual event that takes place in Independence, Kansas every year around the end of October. Concerts, Huge Theatrical Stage Productions, a Beauty Pageant, Street Vendors, Food Vendors, Street Concerts, Adult and Kiddies Costume Parades mark just some of the activities that take place every year during the week long celebration. In it’s 65th year the grand finale each and every year is the “Grand Parade.” A mile long pageant of music, floats and color that snakes it’s way through the downtown streets of Independence entertaining young and old alike.
 

My wife Debbie and I had spent two evenings stuffing small plastic crafts bags with candy and plastering stickers on the face of the bags that proclaimed, “Elect Jim George, State Representative.” We had stuffed six large yellow gift bags that bore my bumper sticker on their face with over 500 of the candy bags in anticipation of promoting my campaign at the parade.
 

Due to a parade rule only incumbents in public office may take place in the parade. Candidates are not allowed to enter even though this gives a large advantage to an incumbent during an election year. It gives them an unfair amount of exposure in local elections over their opponent. Because of this I realized early on that I would have to do something to gain the type of exposure that this opportunity could afford me. So it was that we found ourselves out in the streets of Independence two hours before the parade would begin.
 

I had talked to Drew Demo, the Generalissimo elect for next years celebration, a few days before. He had advised me and my volunteers to stay on the sidewalk side of the rope that marked the parade route and there would be no problems. He assured me that no candidate would be allowed in the parade other than incumbents and that any one who tried to sneak into the parade would be immediately removed. I chuckle wondering what his reaction will be when he finds out that Jana Shaver, a candidate for the State school board election, was boldly walking in the parade wearing an “Elect Jana Shaver” T-Shirt and handing out campaign literature to the people lining the streets in clear violation of parade rules. But that’s another story.
 

I instructed my volunteers to stay out of the street and to stop handing out the candy when the parade started. I also gave them campaign brochures and bumper stickers. I told them to only give the brochures to people who they asked if they wanted one and to give the bumper stickers to people who said they were voting for me. We found out later that my opponent Jeff King’s volunteers were slapping campaign handouts into everyone’s hands and slapping “Vote for King” stickers onto everyone’s chest without asking. We felt this was rude and intrusive but just as with Jana Shaver breaking the rules of the parade committee this too is another story.
 

My wife and I worked as a team handing out candy bags to every child we saw. I had split my volunteers into groups and had given each group a section to cover. As we worked the crowd something started to become apparent to Debbie and I, Debbie put voice to it first. “These people are here to see the parade and they like the fact that we are just handing out candy and not pushing politics on them.” I agreed with her assessment and asked her if she had noticed how polite the children were, she had.
 

Without exception each child we handed candy to thanked us. Parents would always remind their children if they had a memory lapse and then their were those exceptional moments such as the one I spoke of at the top of this writing. There were many more exceptional moments throughout the morning. The boy who handed his candy to his sister first. The child who asked if he could hold onto a sucker for his shy brother. The little girl who politely asked, “I don’t like blue suckers could I please have a red one if it’s OK?” And the list goes on and on.
 

What we saw that day were polite, well behaved children with parents that truly cared how their children acted and presented themselves. We did not come across one child that could be classified as a Brat nor one parent that could be called neglectful. I was so thoroughly impressed with what we were experiencing that when we ran out of the pre-bagged candy I hurried over to the local Walgreen’s store to purchase two large bags of Dum-Dum suckers so that we could give out more candy to the kids.
 

In this world we are inundated daily with stories of children in schools with weapons, joining gangs, doing drugs or any number of horrible acts thrown at us by the news media. We are bombarded with television programs and magazine articles about abusive parents and the collapse of the American family. Doom and gloom surround us leading us to believe that the imminent disaster in relationships between parent and child are no more than a day away. But if what we witnessed in the crowd of three thousand on that wonderful Saturday morning is any indication then there is a true reason for hope.
 

I am here to tell you that family values survive and that there are loving parents whose sole concern is the welfare of their children. Rejoice because there are children who have been taught manners and will take the love and lessons they have learned at the feet of their parents to their own children someday.
Is the American family collapsing? I don’t think so! I believe that the American family is in a renewal stage, a sort of renaissance . I believe that today’s parents have witnessed the errors of the past and want a better world for their children. I believe in the American family and I believe that the American family once again believes in itself.

"The elected official works for the people! You do not make promises to your boss which are beyond your power to keep and expect to hold your position."

-Jim George- Democratic Candidate, Kansas State House of Representatives District #12