[Looking at history and our area’s unique political and religious attitudes.]

‘Just good people’ opined the co-author. When I hear a phrase, some just pop out as an excellent topic of an article.

We are born into a family, without our choosing. We are brought-up in their values. As teenagers and young adults, we try to separate that tether to show we have independent worth. Then we get married to a different person with different values, different personality, and different thought process. Oh, it is so wonderful, until it isn’t. Nevertheless, the natural process causes another new person from the bond between the male and female. And the entire process repeats.

The youngster comes into the world in the care of two young people with little to no experience themselves, but now they are responsible for another new person.

We have several swallows at our rural ranch home. Early on, we decided to clear them out. What are they good for? It seems they eat mosquitos and other nuisance bugs. When we cleared the swallow nests, a frog population of Egyptian proportions moved in to clean out the mosquitos and insects. Frogs are more messy than swallows. The deciding factor was when a slithering reptile of Eden decided to dine on the frogs. Nature has a way to keep things in control.

So, we evaluated, swallows or reptiles? Let us show you our swallows’ nests. The nests are actually fascinating. Rinse off the detritus on the ground occasionally and have a happy day.

One nest is in the opposite corner of a porch where we often enjoy our outside meals. So, we watch the flitting critters. The male and the female alternate feeding and staying at the nest of the young. Their entire existence is dedicated to the young hatchlings and nestlings. They gather food, feed the young, go out again to gather food. There will be two families in that nest each year.

I can seldom tell one swallow from the next. But we watch them and they have a wary tolerance of the humans under their porch.

We observe that in many ways the swallows are not that different from humans.

Most folks come on this earth. They have little note, other than they make offspring. They are born, live their life, take care of family, then transition to their reward or judgement.

They are not famous, wealthy, or celebrity. They are ‘just good people.’ We will not get into that theological debate. In their life, they are not necessarily notable in any recognizable sense. They go to work, do a decent job, are not a blight or load on society. They teach their family, hoping they will have a better life.

Who does that describe? It is the story of grandparents, parents, and relatives.

The original comment was by the co-author about my parents as we were preparing supper. Yes, that is what we call the meal, because my grandparents and parents did.

Dad was a work-a-day blue-collar building tradesman. He came of age before the Depression. He did not finish high-school, but helped raise his sisters. He was 35 when he finally married because of family obligations. He was closer to a grandparent in age to us kids.

Mom was very much like the Donna Reed show, as a very pretty, young mom trying to have the perfect home. She came incredibly close to accomplishing that. She was an amazing South Louisiana culinary artist, with a spotless house, trying to isolate us kids from her heritage.

Dad had two serious expectations. He insisted we boys know how to work with our hands. I well recall at age of 11, he commented ‘you have worked with me enough so that you wire this house.’ I worked in the trades long enough to become licensed in two fields.

Second, he expected us kids to excel in academics. Wait, he did not finish high school. He insisted we all go to college. We paid for it. One sister became a school teacher, while I became a university professor and seminary dean. It seems Dad did have an influence.

Does anyone other than their kids know of Mom and Dad? No, just like the swallows. But there is a huge dichotomy. Although unknown on the celebrity stage, did they make a difference to the human condition? They accomplished much more than imaginable. As educators, we have instilled their values in thousands, who did not know them or anything about them.

You are much more important than you will ever realize.

Think about it. ‘Just good people.’ They make the world work. Regardless of the evil, corruption, and lack of integrity by nattering nabobs, ‘just good people’ keep the human race afloat. Respect your progenitors, their memory, and their heritage. ‘Just good people’ may be the greatest moniker we could earn.