EXTREME Liberty Tree Tending

 You know, like Extreme Home Makeover or Extreme Motor Cross.

  I took on a pretty big project just one week ago. I said yes to a request to organize the Tax Day TEA Party here in Twin Falls. Not sure what I was thinking at the moment, but it was questionable if there would have been one without an organizer, so I said yes. Yes, with much trepidation. Three days! I had only three days to pull something together.

  First I needed to figure out what an organizer of such an event had to do. Good thing I had read Rules for Radicals (Alinsky) and Civil Disobedience (Thoreau) just weeks before. Oh, wait. That was Community Organizing! Just the opposite! This event would be all about exercising our rights and not giving them up to someone who says they can get us what we want - for the price of our soul. And this would be about speaking our minds and giving one another support. We would be watering the LIBERTY TREE, not pruning it down to the ground!

  So, I spent the following three days on the phone, checking emails by the minute, scribbling notes, trying to fit in school for the kids (helping their Mom put a Patriotic Program together counts as school, doesn’t it) checking more emails, tracking down mystery speakers, visiting the printer and generally out of my mind with stress. I went to bed with a huge head ache every night and felt like I was spinning endlessly during the day!

 

  I had decided that I wanted the theme to be not one of complaining, but one of encouragement for individuals to get out and do their part, to emphasize the responsibilities that go along with our rights. Last year folks were newly angry and recently frightened about the sudden (or not really so sudden) change in direction our country seemed to be taking. Maybe it was the ‘last straw’ kind of thing, but there was a bit of ranting and raving last year at the T.P. here in Twin and around the country. I was going for a calmer, more constructive air this time. 
   That called for some positive speakers on our beloved Constitution and our responsibilities as citizens and some 10th Amendment thrown in for good measure. Coming up with speakers turned out to be a bit difficult. I mean, asking someone to speak in the middle of the day, on a weekday and with three (or two or one) days notice should not be that hard, right? I was happy to find three diverse speakers who covered their assignments well.

  I also wanted to include children, as that is my main job right now – educating children. I had Cub and Boy Scouts present a flag ceremony, a children’s choir singing The Star Spangled Banner and a children’s trio who sang the first 10 Articles of the Constitution. Very nice! They all came out with signs and their educated opinions about the things that were (and are) going on. I am so proud of the children I know; they understand the issue at hand. They have a love of their freedom and understand where it comes from and that it is our duty to protect it and not allow it to be taken. It must be taken, you know. It is ours, given by God. If we do not stop it from being taken, then we are offering it up to whoever will take it. Staying free requires action.

   There you have it. My spin in the lime-light. It was an amazing amount of mental work to be done in a short time, but it came off pretty well and with only a couple of minor hitches. (Like the four trips I had to make back home after leaving the house that morning and the angry Veteran who took issue with my gold fringed flag. But those are stories for another time.)

   This must be my longest blog post, I hope that you were not too bored. Check back later for the saga of the Jenks Family Egg Hunt. I promised you that and I will provide it.