ABG
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Contributors
  • ABG CFB
  • Reference center
  • Contact Us

Cumberland Island

Slow Down

4/12/2017

1 Comment

 
By Sam Burnham
@C_SamBurnham

There are a lot of rotten things going on in our world right now. The ongoing civil war in Syria. The continued provocations by the North Korean dictator, we've got a governor resigning in lieu of impeachment, the mayor of Atlanta using illegal funding to buy police cars, wildfires, Supreme Court filibuster fiascos, and more I'm surely forgetting. If the governor delays the Vidalia harvest for an extra week, this could be the end of life as we know it.

Maybe that last part was slightly hyperbolic but as we are bombarded with these stories, we find ourselves exposed to an unrelenting current of horrible, perhaps even evil sights. It is easy to fall prey to these images. We can become dismayed under such a torrent.
Picture
My Great-Uncle Sam in His Heyday
Our parents and grandparents did not go through life without such horrible events. They knew of global wars with hundreds, even thousands of daily casualties. Our forebears knew of the Great Depression. I remember being a young boy and sitting in the living room of my great-uncle Sam, for whom I am named, listening to him telling us stories from his life. He was 73 years my senior. Some of his stories were from firsthand accounts of life in a CivilWar prison camp told to him by his grandfather. Some were of his childhood. Some were from the Great Depression and lengths that he went to to make a living and keep him and my aunt Tecola under a roof with something to eat.

"Back during the depression we usually didn't have anything to eat but beans." He once told us. And then he chuckled and continued, "You know what they put on a man's tombstone that ate nothing but beans? 'Gone with the wind.'" His memories of the Great Depression could bring him to a joke. Part of that levity came from that era being 50 years in his past. Part of it was surely him realizing that he was in his last few years on this earth and could look back on hard times with fondness. Part of it was due to the irony that he wasn't a particularly wealthy man even then. But I think part of it had to be the result of those times. When times are bad you have to find something positive. And that was what got him through the Great Depression.

So that is what I'm suggesting in this post. In the course of our lives we have to find something positive to lessen the bite of the assault on our senses. The laughter of a child, some really good music, the beauty of our natural world. Stop for a minute. Take it in. Let it soak into your soul. Don't unplug from reality and give up but allow yourself something uplifting, encouraging, and beautiful to compete with all that ugliness.

So slow down. Take a deep breath. Sit on the porch and look at nothing in particular. Allow yourself to notice the small things. Notice the beauty in your everyday life. It's there but you have to notice it.
1 Comment
Leigh Montgomery
4/13/2017 01:59:27 pm

Thank you, Sam(and great-uncle Sam).

Very thoughtful and constructive post, thanks again for reminding us to take time to notice the many positive acts around us.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Sam B.

    Historian, self-proclaimed gentleman, agrarian-at-heart, & curator extraordinaire
    ​READ MORE


    Picture
    ABG Sponsor, Click Here
    Picture
    ABG Sponsor, Click Here
    Picture
    ABG Sponsor - Click for Link
    Tweets by @BiscuitsGA

    Social Media

    RSS Feed

    Books Blog Directory

    Categories

    All
    Agriculture
    Art
    Books
    Business
    Christmas
    Civil War
    Community Revitalization
    Culture
    Education
    Family
    Fashion
    Fiction
    Film & Television
    Food
    Garden
    Hiking
    History
    Home
    Industry
    Local
    Music
    Native American
    Outdoors
    Politics
    Restaurants
    Revolutionary War
    Tradition
    Travel
    World War II

    Archives

    November 2022
    July 2022
    March 2022
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    July 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    January 2013
    December 2010

Copyright 2015
ABG. The celebration and preservation of Southern history, culture, and agrarian ideals.
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Contributors
  • ABG CFB
  • Reference center
  • Contact Us