Farm country. What is known as ‘fly over’ country. That jet slicing through the sky far above? Those people aboard are important. They might be flying from New York to Los Angeles. They are doing important things. If they happen to glance out of their window to take a break from the important work they are doing on their tablet or laptop they would see below, in the aforementioned farm country, a patchwork of fields. Here and their a river would be seen. Small towns looking like nothing more than a grouping of buildings from up so high. Then the important soul who took that moment to look down on the little people below would turn back to their important work and immerse their minds in the task at hand. If they give any thought to the land and people below, the word that would come to mind would be ‘quaint.’ Quaint people doing quaint work living quaint lives. Barely worth their consideration.

         The important people, politicians or business people or entrepreneurs or entertainers or whatever it is that makes them so important, rarely think of the foundation that supports their lavish life style. They use eco-fuels because of their ‘concern’ for the environment, without any thought as to who produces the eco-fuels. They pick at their salads without any consideration for those who worked so hard to provide the makings for that salad. They pay their huge price to eat their tiny steaks without a second thought to the toil and science that went into the producing of that meat. Folks in fly over country are there because they haven’t the ability or drive to become important like they, the important people, have become important.

          And to accentuate just how low those people below are there in fly over country, the important people shudder because those country folks actually hunt. With guns that shoot bullets. They fish. And even more disgusting, they eat their catch! They drink water straight out of the ground. When the important people think about these activities, they no longer think ‘quaint.’ Now they think ‘hick.’ And those hicks have conservative beliefs and religious underpinnings. How foolish are those hicks down below. How do they survive? Apparently, no ambition.

         How can those hicks have any enjoyment in their pointless lives?

         When a holiday comes along, those folks in fly over country gather in big groups with family and friends and spend serious time with people they love and cherish. When a birth happens, whole communities rejoice. When Sunday comes those simple country folks will get in their cars and trucks and go to the church of their choice and they will meet there with other like minded worshippers and enjoy fellowship as they seek to encounter their God. When it comes time to vote they will go, in droves to their voting stations and cast their ballots. When their high school team is playing, whatever the sport, they will go and scream and yell and give it their all. When someone gets a new truck some of the neighbors will stop by and do a little ‘Ooo’ and ‘Awwww.’ When some dear soul is losing a battle with cancer, folks will go by with some fresh made meal and a kind word and/or a prayer for the family that is struggling. In fly over country, if one person is traveling north on some back road and another is traveling south and they pass, there is a little wave that is given from each driver. You don’t even have to know the other driver. It is just a bit of humanity.

         And, in fly over country, when a tragedy strikes, as we had this week when Dan was killed in an accident, those simple minded folks gather together. They give up their free time to reach out and help a stunned and grieving family. They spend a little extra time with their own family and friends. They do what they can and they want to do more. In fly over country, a sudden death not only affects the family. It impacts an entire community. No one out in the country lives in a vacuum. Everyone is touched in a deep and lasting way. And those simple people, many who have degrees and advanced degrees, pull together to create a feeling of family and place and home.

         The important people give no thought to their country bumpkin cousins, except, perhaps, to feel sorry for them and their simple lives. But it is those country bumpkins who should feel sorry for the important people. What is more important than family? Than friendship? Than rejoicing together? Than grieving together? Than worshipping together? When you are so important that you go from your sterile big city apartment to your smooth riding and well insulated, quiet luxury car to the atmosphere controlled aircraft, you are not really living. You are a slave to technology and isolation and alack of emotion. You exist. And the country folk? They live.

         In a big, important city, if you have a loved one who dies, who cares? Oh, the family does. But what about the guy who owns the deli over on Fifth Street? The cop on his beat? The cabbie? Lives among the important people come and go. They mean very little. But out there in the country, life is important. Life is celebrated. Life is enjoyed! And when life is ended, there is grief.

         On Saturday when Dan Haupert’s funeral takes place, his wife Roxanne, his son Ryan, his daughters Tara and Lisa and their families, his father Dean and mother Lois, brothers Steve and Tom and Neil and sister Denise and Shelley and their families, will be gathered together to share in their common grief and pain. But they will not be alone. There will be extended family. There will be friends. There will be church family. All will be grieving, all will feel pain and all will be loving Dan’s family.

         So, fly over. Look down on us. Feel superior. And be alone.

         One day, come out and see us and see what life really is.