It was an event that no politician could pass on, especially during an election year. The small community of Dalton was celebrating the opening of a heritage museum. The celebration was to feature not only memorabilia from the community’s past but live oral history of some of the community’s oldest residents.
The Senior Senator from the state was a special guest and was asked to be the emcee for the oral history part of the program. Each of the presenters were asked to give a short opening of how they became a part of the community.
June (age 92): My family has always been here. You can trace our roots back to the 1700s by looking at the gravestones in the local churchyard.
Luigi (age 86): I came here as a 13-year-old boy to work in the coal mines. I’m from a little town in Italy that looks just like Dalton.
Stanislav (age 93): I came here from Poland when I was 16. My father was a master glassblower and came here to work his craft. I joined with him as a carry-in boy as I came here.
Bobbi Jo (age 87): I came here as a domestic worker when I was 17. My family escaped the South after my brother was lynched.
After the short introductions, the seniors began to share their remembrances of what it was like when they first arrived. They didn’t hold back in describing the tensions that existed. But what was special was how each of the seniors described how the community became a blend of cultures. The Senator was impressed by how they came together as a community and how they took the best from their culture to form a new community. The Senator knew most of the current community leaders. It wasn’t until hearing from the seniors that he began to appreciate that not only had the community become a blend of cultures, but each of the leaders had a blended cultural background in their own families.
The lunch promised to be special.
It was called “Taste of Dalton” and the Senator had expected to enjoy some “down-home” cooking. There was plenty of that, but what he didn’t expect was that the Taste of Dalton had become international. There were dishes from around the world prepared by new arrivals in Dalton who had come to America to escape wars, violence, and the poverty of their home countries. The Senator left Dalton with a new appreciation for how much his state had changed for the better.
The Senator won reelection as expected, but what wasn’t expected was the leadership role he played in helping Congress begin a reimagine immigration as an opportunity rather than as a threat. His eyes had been opened by what he experienced in Dalton.
As is often the case, ground truth reality is so much more insightful than what is portrayed by those who have an agenda to promote. Actual experience is always better in providing a real picture of any situation.
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“If I could be you and you could be me for just one hour
If we could finda way to get inside each others mind
If you could see you through my eyes instead of your ego
I believe you’d be surprised to see that you’d been blind
Walk a mile in why shoes, walk a mile in my shoes
Yeah, before you abuse, criticize and accuse, walk a mile in my shoes.” –Joe South