The Screen Door Unlocked

Dedicated to the memory of Ervin and Lovie Jane Goins.

There was a time when the screen door was always unlocked.

My father remembers sitting in the family living room while on leave from the US Marine Corps, talking to Grandma and Grandpa. The door swung wide open and a group of young hellions raced through the living room. Grandpa grinned at the youthful energy and Daddy asked, "Who are those young-uns?"

"Haven't any idee," Grandpa said, but no one was going to chase them off. The door was always open.

After experiencing centuries of ostracism from mainstream society, my family learned something -- a fundamental truth which is still part of the fabric of their descendents. We need each other. That door is always open.

That is why I was shocked to the core when I read an outburst laced with profanity, "we don't need them." Where did this come from? That has not been our family way --this is NOT the legacy bequeathed to us from those who walked the green valleys with hearts as big as the moon and smiles as bright as the sun.

Despite the troubled past, our families never shut each other out. I can't remember my grandparents shutting even a stranger out. It wasn't our way.

I once asked one of my grandmothers why our people were so despised and she told me not to use that word, for hatred is not our way. I will repeat her words as often as I can as a gentle reminder.

What has happened to us?