Population Three hundred Twenty Seven - The new kid in a Small Town

Chapter 16: Life Lessons From a Town of 327

The old adage that there is no place like home, was clearly written by someone who had a pleasant childhood!  Home is where the most evil of deeds are done, and scars are formed never to be seen by those outside, it should not be that way but unfortunately, it is a fact of life for a misfortunate few people.

  The relief from this for Dennis as a young man was not at home but in the community of 327 people who lived a few miles down the county road from his house.  It was the friendships with the many people there, who were there for him, when at home, there was nothing but condemnation and hatred.

   Dennis would and still does pass through the town of Liberty Hill from time to time, and would visit often when he was in the Air Force and in his early twenties. There were crazy rumors which had circulated that he'd been killed, been sent to prison, all so much more amusing than the truth, he'd simply grown up mostly on his own, had enlisted and became a father. Imagine their surprise to find out he had become a Judge in 1983!

  Many of his best life lessons, were learned from Mr. Wetzel his Vocational Agriculture teacher, who instilled in him, what it was he could not see, and that was that one day he will be away from there.  Keep your nose clean and stay out of trouble, do the right thing, even when it is not the easy thing, and work hard. The life ahead of him was not defined by the struggles he endured which were beyond his control. Mr. Wetzel never said a thing about Dennis's parents, but he was an anchor in the young man's life to look to for encouragement. Dennis would visit Mr. Wetzel every trip back to Liberty Hill, and although he may not have ever known his influence in the young man's life, his daughter does and Dennis has communicated with her and does still during the holidays.

  It was the seeing of those who had functional families who loved the kids they had, which made it possible for Dennis to see that outside of his own situation, there were opportunities to do different and be different, from that which he had grown up to see.  He wanted to have a harmonious life without daily fighting, and violent dramatic confrontations where words were used to slice to the bone and the heart, inflicting injury upon each other and a child or teen.  And to see, that in normal families this is not necessary, nor normal.

  Liberty Hill and Georgetown were wonderful towns in those days, it is a shame that today's youth miss all of this and has been traded in for the cell phones, computers and playing games online with complete strangers.  Back then there were jobs such as the feed stores or ranch hands, and working the auction barns, all where youth connect with those of the generation before them and have hands-on guidance to make the right decisions, to do the right things!
 

  It was a day when kids had great fun and spent no money or very little, just to sneak down to the swimming hole, jump into the cool water in the middle of summer, and in the winter to carry on the traditions of those generations before, hunting and learning good sportsmanship, that hunting is about procuring food, not just killing things.  And learning hands-on how to handle livestock and to understand where our groceries actually come from and how much science and work is involved.

  Dennis is now in his 60's retired and living in the Texas Hill Country, Bandera County.  Will he ever return to Williamson County?  Who knows, he has a child and grandchildren there, so he visits when he can.

   I hope if you have read this to this point you will leave a comment or two.
This has been a project, and is under constant revision as I correct any errors I may have made, please feel free to critique this work if you wish, needless to say, if you've gotten to here, you know I have a pretty tough hide!

And if nothing else, just stop by to say, howdy neighbor, I've seen your writing, and I hope that you enjoyed it.

Thank you,

Colt Kaufman