I’m from Illinois, descended from German and Scots-Irish factory workers and farmers. The one ancestor we can trace to the Civil War was a Dutchman, Union infantryman who was captured at Chickamauga and did his time in Andersonville. But survived. I have no idea if he signed on as a matter of conscience, or if he was looking for a way to pay the bills and feed the kids.

I myself am a veteran of the Persian Gulf War… but frankly, my motivations were pretty mercenary. I wanted, and got, college money. With good grades, that initial push took me to an M.A. in English, and a job at a large academic library. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it was a relief to have an indoors, no-risk, sit-down, no exposure to industrial or agricultural toxins job. Most from where I come from don’t get that. First the coal left, then the factories, and now Big Ag is coming for the farms. I should be grateful, and sometimes am.

And yet, everyday, I’m surrounded. My well-meaning co-workers and bosses can’t comprehend a path like mine… people like me don’t get nice houses in safe neighborhoods and stable marriages. How could this have happened? I read the same magazines and newspapers as these cultured coastal and suburban people, and vote the same way. What? How? My choice of clothes, my accent (Midwestern, but country), my dentition argue against it. (Forgot to mention… I’ve been a Skoal-dipper for 40-some years… addictions will tell on a body).

When I hear this song, I feel a subtle defiance, a little push-back against the people that think they know me after the first handshake, even though I’m not at all a Rebel… in the capitalized sense. But I also know that a song means… HAS to mean, different things to different people. I certainly don’t have your experience in life.

Anyway, thanks for your well-considered viewpoint. Another flashlight in the dark, to look and think again, about a well-loved song, and how it can strike another man’s ear. Rich food for thought.

Thank you for stepping out, and allowing God to use your step of Faith. Sometimes we do not realize we have just had an “appointed time” in something God wanted to do. Even if 1 person was changed it was their time. Moving forward you could use the updated version…for such a time as this…