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Journey is an eye-opening experience
If all you knew about America is what you saw on national news programs, then you might think this country is heading to Hell in a rapid manner.
My cousins in the national media love to peddle doom and gloom. Poor economy, high crime, crumbling infrastructure, natural disasters, government corruption and just all-around general malaise are pretty much all we hear from them.
Well, I’m happy to report that I didn’t see any of that on my recent 4,000 mile trek to the Midwest and back.
Here’s what I did see.
I saw countless acres of golden wheat, fields of gorgeous green corn and soybeans and healthy herds of cattle and sheep.
We grow food to spare in this country, thanks to our productive and innovative farmers and ranchers.
I saw trucks and trains hauling products grown and made from all over the world for delivery to local markets. Often we don’t think about the effort it takes to put that gallon of milk or pound of flour on the grocery shelf. It takes the efforts of thousands of people. Thanks to them, we have easy access to a bounty of accessible food.
Sure, the economy may be down, but it’s not out. We really need to begin panicking when we can’t get bread or bananas at our local grocery store.
While on the road, we came across many road construction projects.
Yes, it was a pain to go through, but it also made me happy because it showed that our country cares about keeping its highways in good condition. Because of the efforts made by the people who work on our roadways, a 4,000 mile trip took us a week rather than months.
We stopped at a number of tourist destinations. While there, we saw hundreds and thousands of other tourists out with their families spending money that helps our economy.
Was business down? Perhaps. But it wasn’t as negative as what is sometimes portrayed by the media. Our country isn’t broke. After this trip, I’m convinced that we’ll get through this rough spot sooner than later.
And one would expect to encounter some sort of ne’er-do-wells when traveling halfway across the country and back, but we only came across happy and friendly people who were helpful and courteous.
Was my trip the exception? Did I just happen to have incredible luck? I don’t think so. I think my trip offered more truth about America than I would find by watching a whole week of cable TV news.
