Over the weekend, Gordon made the drive to his home town of Lancaster, OH, a bedroom community about 30 miles from Columbus. While I was in town, I stopped in a grocery store and was really struck by the number of pictures of active service members on the wall on the store.
From my count, there were at least 125 pictures of service men and women. The Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines were all represented on the wall. I'm guessing the men and women on the wall we're just fraction of all the people currently serving in the military.
Now the town of Lancaster has seen better days. Anchor Hocking plants, which once dominated the town's landscape, show the wear and tear of factories no longer maintained. So I would imagine that the democrats would tell us that these people enlist in this town because of lost economic opportunities.
But I would bet all of Midas' extreme wealth, you could not find a 40,000 population inside of "Blue State" America with the number of enlistees that "Red state" Lancaster, Ohio has serving.
That's because places like Lancaster, Ohio teach walk over talk, service over served, and causes bigger than yourself.
For a long time, I wrote off my home town for being small minded and hick. Seeing those pictures on the wall, reminded me that I learned a hell of lot more about life in my 18 years in little Lancaster, Ohio than I've ever learned in the "Big" city.
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