dreaded community organizers

It seems just like yesterday, during the Republican National Convention last September, when Sarah Palin said “I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a ‘community organizer,’ except that you have actual responsibilities,” and later Rudy Giuliani made humor of the very concept of a community organizer.

Here in Floyd County, Virginia, what makes most all of the good things happen are those worthless community organizers, most of whom are working for free (not even the normal substandard pay) to help their fellow citizens without demanding government handouts or invoking the need for outside intervention. I've always heard things were done differently up in Alaska - and have known they were different in New York City - and this must be another case of unbridgeable cultural canyons.

Yesterday Mrs. Fuzzy and I attended an annual pancake breakfast put on by a tiny community organization centered around the little county church we live near. The organizer and power house behind it is in her 80s (being a gentleman, I will not divulge her precise age), aided and abetted by a 30-ish Methodist minister (the two folks in the photo-- you can probably guess which is which). This very loose group picks up trash along State Highway 221, helps elderly neighbors get their trash to a county trash center, and tries to make certain there are no hungry families in the community. They care for each other and strive to make Falling Branch strong and healthy. God bless them all.

On May 16th, the next village (Floyd is a teeming metropolis by comparison) down Hwy 221, Willis, will have a fundraiser at their fire station. For a very nominal donation ($8.00) you get to eat barbecue and listen to five hours of live gospel music so that the Willis Community Food Bank can take care of its own. Oh, and did I mention a cake auction? Their flyer advertises "bring your own chair and appetite, for good food, gospel singing & fellowship."

And here I thought grass-roots action was a hall mark of America and one of its greatest strengths - before Sarah and Rudy set my wrong-headed thinking back on the right track. Wow, thanks! I had even been thinking that Christ must have been one of the great community organizers of all times --- and Pontius Pilate one of the more interesting governors... where is he now when Alaska needs more good politicians?