Often little things often seem of such little consequence that they escape before we can submit them to memory. What a shame. My next few posts will be an attempt on my part to make them part of the permanent record.?
Just by chance I saw a red scroll on the road map up near the Kansas, Nebraska, border, “Geographical Center of the United States,” it read. Nothing more, Nothing less. Google revealed that it was near Lebanon, Kansas, so we bent the road map and headed in that direction.
Lebanon is a tiny village of about 200 souls tucked quietly away in Smith County, Kansas. You must set out to get there, for the casual passerby will never see it. But outside of the town a few miles, alone on the prairie, the govt has erected an official sign with an arrow pointing up a dirt road. It declares “Geographical Center of the lower 48 states.”
Turning left and heading, it seemed, into nowhere, we traveled on up the road a mile or so to its end up against another marker within a little Cedar circled enclosure. In the center of that circle stood the official marker, a little chapel for the weary traveler to rest his/her soul, and a seat upon which to rest their body. A stone marker, erected by the Census Bureau in 1940 makes it an official place.
The thought occurred to us as we stood there that we had, in fact, waded in both the great oceans, and crossed both of the national borders, and now we were in the very heart of America. America. And it was ours! From the very center of that secluded setting we had come to the heart of America. And it was ours! Every bit of it. We have been, and still are, free to travel and trek and trample across the broad breadth of her greatness. And she is yours as well! All of it.
Don’t miss it, and don’t forget it, for it is shrinking away, day by day. Riots and looting and political hatred do not exist here in Lebanon. The blaring and blasting of the media seem a million miles away as America is safe in her heartland. For now. But the center seems to be rapidly moving left.
Cast your vote, hold her high, and pass the baton of her goodness on to those who follow behind. She is too precious to forget…. . . . . Written 9/11/2020 . . . . God Bless America.
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