Mary Taylor
We were all out shopping and I saw an antique store and thought "I'll whip through there." There was an old man sitting in there smoking a cigar and drinking wine.
I went around the store and got to the door and he asked if I could stay a while. I said no, I had my hand on the door. He said "I've had a really interesting life, I'd love to tell you about it." I closed the door and said "I've got 15 minutes, give it your best shot!"
He really had an incredible life. He said if I guessed where he was from he’d give me something. I said Egypt... you can tell when you've really surprised someone.
He had been in a plane crash with his brother who died out there in the desert. He asked if I was married, he said he would love to take me around the world. I said if anything changed I’d come back and talk to him! He just laughed and we had a good time. I get back and my friends said “he was the nastiest old man! we didn’t stay!” Had I gone out the door, I never would have made a connection. You have to take the time to listen and be interested in somebody before you can make a connection.
There are so many people who have gifts to share if you give them the opportunity. When I was young we loved to take a picnic out in the country for gospel quartets, “all day singins.” The firemen in Tuscaloosa used to sponsor a gospel quartet program too. The community events gave everyone a sense of humanity.
That was better. It’s easier dealing with a machine than trying to relate to another person, but now people are desperate for physical contact. Kids watch TV, get on the computer, and play gameboy. I only have a certain amount of time with my grandchildren and we are going to play outside, swim, ride bikes, read, and talk.
There needs to be a dialogue between the people who live here. It’s going to have to happen one on one, two on two, and spread. People in their mid-twenties need to get involved, they’ve been through school and have fresh ideas. It will take leaders with a lot of energy and altruism.
It will have to be more than one person from inside the community. If it’s somebody black whites won’t go, if it’s somebody white blacks wont go. The solution is to have one of each. In the black community you have to have their respect. Whoever we choose has got to respect their history, where they’re going, where they’re coming from and vice versa.
Everything starts small and grows. It takes the dedication, time, and leadership of somebody that really wants something to happen. Most of the people who will want to share will be women, it absolutely is where we need to start. Women are peacemakers. The strength of this community and small towns is that people take care of each other. That can encompass everybody, not just our personal friends.
Mary Taylor.
Business owner, Friends, etc. Piggly Wiggly. Greensboro, Alabama
Outsidein. A Community Space for Hale County.
outsidein: a community space for hale county. build space with your voice.
copyrighted material. for usage rights contact forest chaffee www.empathystories.org
© chaffee 2004