The small town life

I took a little drive out west of Lincoln last Sunday. I didn't take the Interstate. Instead, I chose to take a two laner and ended up in Seward, Nebraska. (For those of you who don't know, Seward is the "4th of July City" and was named after the folly guy.) Seward folks go all out for America's birthday and their population goes from 3,000 something to 30,ooo something. Not a good place for a crowd-hating recluse like me to be.

But Seward was the perfect place for me last Sunday. Beautiful day. Still a hint of fall in the air. A little wind to whip the brown dried leaves around. And a Main Street just as Main Street as America gets. The Seward County Courthouse dominates the center of this little town. Yellow ribbons are tied to the light poles with the signs that tell you to obey this or that. There is a statue of a Civil War soldier standing on a tall white pedestal. Next to the pedestal is a flag pole with both the US and Nebraska flags flapping around in the light breeze. When was the last time you stopped to listen to flapping? When was the last time you looked into the stone face of a soldier and thought about those kids who fell then, and the kids who fall now? It was all right there. From flapping to the stone face to the yellow ribbon. Seward has it right. Seward let's you sample freedom in silence any time you want.

The heart of America is alive and beating in little Seward. God bless it.