By Al and Barb Williams
Trust is the glue that holds civilization together. Trust requires honesty and without both we’re doomed. They are the core ingredients of religion and godliness. They are the purpose of law and are essential for business, marriages, and all social functions from the very smallest to the largest. It is a pleasure to live where there is trust and honesty. It is a nightmare when these values are lost.
We came to Whidbey Island a few years ago because it seemed like the nearest to Heaven we’ve seen anywhere. Beside being one of the more vivid examples of God’s creativity, it was a place where trust and good nature was woven into the fabric of everyone. Dorothy Neil’s articles in our newspapers were the epitome of classic goodness. Were we perfect? Of course not, but where in this nation can you go into a store and be trusted to tell the cashier the price and quantity of what you have in a bag like you do if you go to Ace Hardware for nuts and bolts. But are we losing it?
Lately our business and civic leaders are beating the drum for development. They want our island to grow to be like all the other high dollar tourist attractions. Is that really what we want? You aren’t going to find stores who trust you to be honest with their cashier in places like that. We aren’t the only ones here who came here for the same reasons having been around the block a few times looking for a place where people are good and trustworthy; where God’s fingerprint is still found all over the place.
It may be by bullying us, but our wonderful leaders are getting their way. They’re talking traffic circles, convention centers, and high density housing. Like a balloon, they’re so full of hot air that their feet have left the ground. The excitement has them giddy now that we have a Wal-Mart, super markets, the latest in scanning technology, even a Home Depot… and crime. Tuesday I walked into the Home Depot to check the place out and saw a grown man walk out the entrance door with a brand new DeWalt reciprocating saw that still had the cardboard security seal case on it… without paying for it. How sad!
If this is progress, we better stop and give it more thought. Do we really want to be just like the rest of the country? Sociologists, demographers, and ministers look for the answers to society’s ills and often associate it with socio-economic deprivation. We don’t think that is true. Dorothy Neil’s spirit didn’t come from wealth.
Barb and I just retired from trucking. For the past 25 years we’ve been in every state, all the big cities, most of the highways and byways, as well as remote back country and tiny communities. Did you know that in some of our most highly developed cities cashiers of businesses like Colonel Sanders, mom and pop corner grocery stores, and even post offices are behind bullet proof glass? We’ve seen MacDonald restaurants that had armed guards.
Some of us can remember when Seattle’s nightly news wasn’t full of murder, robbery, and rape. When Bend, Oregon was still a tiny town there was a grocery store that gave you a grease pencil at the door to mark prices on the items for the cashier. Their local radio station featured a talk show hosted by a humorous “Red Neckerson†who was their equivalent of a Dorothy Neil. Well, Bend isn’t a tiny town anymore, but in all their growth there isn’t a single store built on the kind of trust they once had. Red Neckerson has been replaced with rap music.
Well, progress is coming to Whidbey Island. For some of us older ones, we’ll just have to live in the memory of what trust and honesty once was like. We really miss Dorothy Neil.
