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BANKS COUNTY NEWS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2024
Opinion
A few rambling thoughts at graduation
Do not go gentle into that good
night,
Old age should burn and rave at
close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of
the light.
— Dylan Thomas
Another one of my high school
classmates died recently.
Out of our class of 100, so many
have passed away.
A number of those died young —
wrecks, cancer, blood clots, suicide.
It’s a little different today. We’re not
spring chickens anymore. We’re all in
our mid-60s, having graduated high
school 47 years ago.
Age does take a toll. We’re not
dropping like flies, but the pace has
quickened and it saddens me to see so
many old friends die. It feels too soon.
We were supposed to stay young and
live forever, weren’t we?
• ••
In some ways, high school doesn’t
seem that long ago.
I’ve been sorting through boxes of
old stuff recently and came across a
lot of mementos from my high school
years. There’s my graduation cap and
gown stuffed in one box, along with
some old school reports and report
cards that somehow didn’t get thrown
away. There’s one box of high school
athletic stuff, photos, charts, notes,
etc. Not sure what to do with all that
stuff.
In another box was a photo from
sometime in the 1980s of a class re
union, long before our hair turned
gray.
• ••
I’m always a little nostalgic this
time of year as another class of high
school kids graduate. Part of me wants
to congratulate them, another part
wants to warn them.
At graduation, you don’t yet know
what cards life will deal you.
I’ve often thought about doing an
article about my classmates and what
they’ve done in the years since we
graduated. How did life treat them?
Did they accomplish their dreams? If
they could go back to May 1977, what
would they tell their younger self?
Quite a few of my classmates still
live in the area. Others are scattered all
over the country; many I don’t know
where they are or what’s happened to
them.
Among us there are doctors, nurses,
politicians, professors, corporate ex
ecutives, teachers, coaches and farm
ers, among others.
I guess that’s what we were sup
posed to aspire to in our youth. We
were all raised as baby boomers in the
Post WWII era where “life” was often
measured by job titles. That was the
culture of the time as work often de
fined one’s personhood.
But there was another cultural thread
in our youth, too — the counterculture
and social upheaval
of the 1960s and ear
ly 1970s. We were all
in elementary school
when integration hap
pened, a moment that
represented a huge
social and cultural
transformation after
hundreds of years of
racial oppression and
discrimination. The
civil rights movement
was part of the fabric of our youth.
My class was too young to have
been counted among the hippies, al
though our long hair, clothes and mu
sic as teenagers was influenced by the
hippie movement, which was a few
years ahead our time.
By the time I got to college in 1977,
all of that was gone. A professor told
me that the hippie movement died one
night in the mid-1970s; the next day,
it just wasn’t evident on campus any
more.
That counterculture era was soon re
placed by the Yuppie movement where
nice cars, nice houses, nice clothes
and nice jobs had become the icons
of life in the 1980s. It was a backlash,
a return to the traditional norms of an
earlier time.
And yet, that was mostly just on the
surface. Underneath the shallow Yup
pie appearance of tradition, most of
my generation still heard the echoes
of the 1960s in our outlook and our
values.
We were not our parents after all;
we were a bridge generation that isn’t
really defined. We carry with us mixed
influences that are not easily recon
ciled.
• ••
Back in 1977, w could never have
imagined the world we live in today.
Although we had grown up in the
shadow of the Space Race and the
landing of men on the moon, our own
personal technology in that era was lit
tle changed from an earlier time.
As young kids, our televisions were
black and white; by our teens, they
were color. That was about the biggest
change in personal technology I expe
rienced.
Today, we can’t imagine schools
without computers and kids without
cell phones. Those phones are person
al computers that have hundreds of
times more power than the primitive
computers that put men on the moon.
The world exploded and trans
formed. I’m not sure those of us who
grew up pre-intemet will ever fully
grasp the transformation we’ve lived
through.
We have adapted to its norms, but
our minds were shaped by an earlier
time before the internet flooded man
kind.
• ••
I have mixed emotions about how
we sometimes remember our high
school experience. In some cases, peo
ple consider those years as the pinna
cle of their lives, a time when they had
numerous friends and were an athlete
or academic standout — golden years.
While teen experiences are indel
ible, I’m not sure they should repre
sent the highlight of our lives. To think
that our high school years were the
best moments of our lives means that
what’s happened since has all been
downhill. I don’t believe that’s true for
most people.
But there’s another side that is often
overlooked. For many people, high
school was a time to forget and move
past, a time remembered for isolation
and loneliness. That’s especially true
for those who, for various reasons,
“didn’t fit in” with their peers.
I suspect that mental health issues
among high school students isn’t
something new. There’s always been
mental health challenges for teens; we
just acknowledge them more today
and schools are more sensitive about
addressing them. But those issues also
existed in the 1970s, a time when peo
ple generally didn’t talk about mental
health problems openly.
• ••
Some years ago, I’d write an “ad
vice to graduates” column at this time
of year. But the older I’ve gotten, the
more I realize I really don’t have much
advice to give graduates. I’m not as
wise as I once thought I was.
The best advice I have to offer grad
uates would be to travel — go see the
world because it’s the best education
you will ever get.
No matter what you do in life, hav
ing a broader perspective about other
people and other places will serve you
well and enrich your soul.
• ••
Back in my own high school days,
I’d clean up the 1973 Pontiac Le-
Mans with its mag wheels and vacu
um its gold shag carpet to get ready
for a weekend date. Under the moon
light, we’d drive down the road with
Led Zeppelin playing in the 8-track,
a unit I’d installed beneath the dash
with help from a friend, its long wires
tucked under the carpet and running to
oversized speakers we’d mounted in
the back.
That car is now long gone. High
school is a memory tucked inside a
faded school annual that is collecting
dust on a shelf somewhere. The old
8-tracks were tossed out decades ago.
And now, Zeppelin’s iconic song,
“Stairway to Heaven,” echoes a new
and sadder meaning for a generation
that is starting to fade more quickly.
Maybe that’s the “cycle of life,” but
I damn-well don’t like it.
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of
Mainstreet Newspapers. He can be
reached at mike@mainstreetnews.
com.
No one is above the law
ing a deadly insurrection to
overturn the 2020 election.
Donald Trump has shown
us who he is: a fraudster
who will he and break the
law in order to cling to pow
er.
We must remember that
when we go to the ballot
box and cast our vote for the
next president.
Sincerely,
Marissa Williford
Mike Buffington
The Banks County News
Homer, GA 30547
Founded 1968
The official legal organ of Banks County, Ga.
Co-Publisher
Scott Buffington
Co-Publisher
Angela Gary
Editor
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Dear Editor:
Trump’s conviction in
New York reaffirms the
principle that no one—not
even a former president—is
above the law in the United
States of America.
The evidence presented
to the jury was damning, in
cluding numerous falsified
documents with Trump’s
signature on them. Falsifi
cation of business records is
a serious crime, and Trump
is finally being held ac
countable just as any other
American would.
Trump has often been
called a fraudster—and now
he has been convicted of
just that: fraud, and trying
to illegally pull one over on
the American people.
Trump’s felony convic
tion is not merely about il
legal hush money payments
made 11 days before an
election; it is about safe
guarding the integrity of
our elections. Trump has a
clear pattern of lying to the
American people and trying
to undermine our elections
in order to cling to power.
This trial was the first of
several—lie still faces three
additional indictments and
54 criminal charges, includ
ing federal charges for incit-
All-American qualities
of Alan Kinder
There
are so
many
all-Amer
ican
qualities
about
Alan
Kinder,
who grew
up on the
opposite .
side of the
country, but can say “y’all”
with the best of Hall Coun
ty locals, many of whom
would not know of Kinder’s
patriotic past without dis
closure from the media.
If you know anything
about World War II and its
survivors, you would expect
narrations of one’s combat
experience to be sheathed in
modesty and humility which
poignantly characterizes the
Greatest Generation.
Like so many of those
who helped bring about the
defeat of Nazi Germany,
Kinder, 99 years old, is a re
luctant hero.
I have never interviewed
a survivor of this war—and
there have been dozens—
who did not become choked
up at some point when they
recall that they had buddies
who made the ultimate sac
rifice, giving their lives to
their country.
“Why me,” they would
say, often wiping away a
tear. “Why did I get to come
home, be with my family,
and enjoy a life of success
and happiness—and they
did not?”
Alan Kinder arrived in
Normandy “behind” the in
vasion.
When he disembarked at
Utah Beach after dark on
August 17,1944, the Allies
had broken out and were
pushing across France with
alacrity.
Unfortunately, they ran
out of gas. Literally—the
only thing that could have
slowed them down.
Kinder had been assigned
to an instrument survey
battalion, appreciating that
he had it much easier than
those with whom he had
gone to basic training with
and became an infantry
men.
He knew his chances for
survival were much greater
which is why he has always
deflected tribute and glory
which he feels should be
reserved for those who saw
the fiercest of fighting.
However, his story can be
likened to that of the point
guard whose brilliant pass
allows the guy under the
basket to make the game
winning goal or the lineman
whose timely block springs
the fleet footed halfback
who scores the winning
touchdown.
Recently, as he prepared
for his Delta flight across
the Atlantic for the 80th an
niversary of the D-Day in
vasion, I sat and talked with
him and his grandson, Justin
Marsh, and Andy Anderson,
a longtime friend and career
Army officer, who is mak
ing his sixth consecutive
trip to the D-Day anniversa
ry celebration.
Kinder is the guest of a
patriotic non-profit which
is taking him and seven oth
er Normandy veterans to
France for the invasion an
niversary celebration.
He will appear, along
with three others, on ABC’s
nightly news June 4-6.
He has received a com
mendation from Gov. Brian
Kemp, all befitting of Great
est Generation survivors.
Kinder saw action at
Luxembourg, Nancy, and
Bastogne as the Battle of
the Bulge—Germany’s last
major offensive—became
Adolph Hitler’s last gasp
before the Nazi’s uncondi
tional surrender in May of
1945.
The most significant vi
gnette in Kinder’s miliary
career came later when Ja
pan’s official and uncondi
tional surrender came about
September 2, 1945.
“We knew that as the war
was ending in Europe that
the next thing for us was to
begin training for the pos
sible invasion of Japan,”
Kinder says. “We were all
so grateful for the Japanese
surrender. That was a high
moment for us.”
That is another thing that
has always been consis
tent with the veterans who
would have been called on
to join the invasion of Ja
pan, had the dropping of the
atomic bombs on Hiroshi
ma and Nagasaki not taken
place.
With estimates of a mil
lion casualties or more,
President Harry Truman’s
decision to drop the dev
astating atomic bombs was
universally appreciated by
American servicemen and
women.
Kinder, grew up on acre
age near Bellevue, Wash,
where he tended pigs, cows,
and chickens.
“We were more coun
try than Loretta Lynn,” he
laughs.
There were reports of
submarine sightings off the
West Coast and fears of
Japanese attacks from bas
es they had captured in the
Aleutian Islands, which are
2,280 miles from Seattle.
None of that came about,
thankfully, but there was
understandable doomsaying
and unending worry.
He was 16 when the Jap
anese bombed Pearl Harber.
Less than three years lat
er he was off to war in a
strange place with which he
had no familiarity or knowl
edge—on the other side of
the world.
“I grew up in a hurry,” he
says.
His battalion was as
signed duty near the front
lines where his unit used
sensitive microphones to
try to detect where enemy
artillery was located so that
Allied artillery and bombs
would have greater accu
racy in their attempt to de
stroy German firepower.
Following the war, he
enrolled at the University
of Washington where he
earned his degree, becom
ing a ceramics engineer.
He was and remains
thankful for the G.I. Bill
which enabled him to obtain
a college degree. He was a
Washington Husky then, but
now a passionate Georgia
Bulldog.
“I’ve become very Geor
gian, and I love that phrase,
‘How ‘Bout Them Dawgs.’
That is so wonderful. It is
a down home term I have
learned to love and appre
ciate.”
Business opportunity
brought him to Milled-
geville years ago, and he
found out that he liked the
people who were friendly,
courteous, and would “do
business on a handshake.”
When retirement came
about, he chose to remain
in his adopted state where
he has enjoyed a long life,
happy to salute the flag at
every opportunity and stand
erect with his hand across
his chest when the national
anthem is played.
Loran Smith is a UGA an
nouncer and a columnist for
Mainstreet Newspapers.
Loran
Smith