Georgia Magazine - July 2021 - 33

My GEORGIA
By Christopher D. Walter
Opening ceremony
at a Western-wear store
T
here is a Western-wear store on the outskirts
of Snellville, near where I live. It's called
Western Wear World or something like that,
and it's the kind of place where you can get cowboy
boots; shirts with embroidered roosters on the back;
blue jeans so starched they take your leg hair off; and
saddles. I would like to think this place is a relic from
when this was all farmland, but its proximity to a
major highway and an older shopping center makes
me doubt it. They do have an actual hitching post if
you were to take your horse down the four-lane and
happen to want to buy a cowboy hat.
I happened to be parked in the shopping center
next to this establishment. I had just finished picking
up a few items from the nearby grocery store, including
a frozen pizza for lunch and a pack of envelopes.
Something caught my eye, and I looked over toward
Western Wear World to see a man and a woman come
out the front double door at the same time, side by
side. They were wearing Western clothes, but I'm
going to go out on a limb and guess they would just
call them " clothes. "
In their arms, they held three American flags
on wooden poles. They solemnly marched through
their parking lot to a grassy area in front of the building
and, one by one, planted the poles in concrete
holes in the ground. Each time they placed a flag in
the ground, they stopped for a moment and either
meditated or prayed briefly, all the while making sure
the other flags did not touch the ground. When they
planted the last flag, they turned and walked back
into the building, closed the doors and turned on the
" open " sign.
When all this started happening, I noticed that
the clock said 10 a.m. on the dot. I also noticed that
the sign displaying the business hours showed that
the store opens at 10 a.m. The part that really struck
me about this was that there was no way this could
have been a coincidental display. I am guessing this
was part of their job, which they obviously did every
single morning because, even though they were not in
lockstep, they were in near-perfect unison.
Watching these two suburban cowpokes take this
display so seriously really struck something in me.
CHRISTOPHER D. WALTER
That was the most serious thing they were going to do all day
long. They knew it, and they were fine with that. The rest of the
day would be spent ringing up lasso ropes and handkerchiefs
and returning defective spurs. Whenever they got down, they
could look out the double doors and see the flags flying and
know they had a choice to be there.
I would not call myself a patriotic person, but I am thankful
I got to see the opening ceremony at Western Wear World. With
all the strife that we've been through politically, I've become
exhausted and numb. I've lost touch with what it means to be a
citizen of this great country. I don't really care what side of the
political fence you come down on. It doesn't matter. As cliché as
it sounds, what matters is that we are all under the same flag.
I am grateful that I wanted a frozen pizza for lunch and
needed some envelopes. If I didn't, I probably wouldn't have
observed the most serious part of these employees' day. That
seriousness makes me truly appreciate that I live in a country
where the worst part of my day is burning the roof of my mouth
on that pizza and cutting my finger mailing letters. And that
kind of freedom is something to be serious about.
Christopher D. Walter is an artist and writer who lives in
Lawrenceville and is a member of Monroe-based Walton Electric
Membership Corp. His book, " Southern Glitter, " contains essays
about life in the South and is available at his website,
kudzuandclay.com.
www.georgiamagazine.org
33
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Georgia Magazine - July 2021

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