Cheer up, Charlie

(Originally published May 9, 2010)

I know I'm biased, but I believe that people who have been in Colorado Springs since infancy are inherently different from those who haven’t; I have no scientific evidence of it, but gazing upon that magnificent mountain, day after day, for as long as the eyes have been seeing, must have a profound, inestimable, mystical affect upon a person…helping to hone such characteristics as honesty, loyalty, sincerity, integrity, kindness and courage.

We are different from those who stayed after having been stationed here, and those whose parents moved here when they were young; we are worlds apart from those who just happened by, liked the climate and the view, and decided to hang out for a while.

When I consider some of these transplants and their unceasing efforts to reshape this town into their utopian Dream City…into their warped view of the way the world ought to be, I end up asking myself: where did these people come from? Why’d they leave there? How did they end up here? Are they still welcome home now? If so, might they consider returning?

I swear, we elect unknown outsiders into office, and for all we know, the people of their own hometowns might have run them right out on a rail for their weird ways and outlandish notions. What has become of all those Colorado inquiring minds, delving deeper into things…well...just because?

It’s quite obvious Charlie Bobbitt is a Colorado Springs native; he’s the only member of the Colorado Springs School District Number Eleven Board of Educators in possession of a real heart and strong spine; the only one up there with a genuine conscience and soul; he’s the only one up with a clear memory of how life and the people who live it was and once were.

Watch him on T.V.: patiently suffering all of the faces and all the voices of all of those liars telling all of those damnable LIES; graciously side-stepping the many piles of steaming asscrap being shat by the rest of the Board, and the superintendent, and the assistant treasurer, and all of those respected “educators” and "friends of public education", lying straight in all of our faces…the slimier hypocrites so practiced, they don’t so much as bat an eye or skip a beat, as they simper their scripted insights and insults with forked tongues and just a hint of friendly smile…

…it’s not mere skepticism and doubt one detects when Charlie speaks, but rather downright wonderment -- at times, bewilderment -- all of it, so very merited. I’m sure he’s often rubbing his eyes to make sure he’s not dreaming, and puzzling, “Can it possibly be that I just heard that right!?”

 How abjectly, patently and absolutely lonely he must sometimes feel.

If anybody else up there besides Charlie is a life-long resident of the city of Colorado Springs, in the county of El Paso, in the state of Colorado in the great land of these United States of America, well then homie: ya sure fooled me, and shame on you:  with all your slick agenda-thrusting and treachery-spewing, I guess I mistook you for an auslander and a traitor -- my bad.

Cheer up, Charlie...it may seem as though no one’s paying attention or so much as even gives a damn, but I got your back. I thank you for questioning the shady policy and bully “governance” being rammed through by Tom and team. I thank you for your thorough once-overs and thoughtful double-takes. I thank you for giving voice to disbelief, reason and correction.

Up there on the Board, you are utterly without peer…an oasis in the most desolate of deserts…and you are, without a doubt, one of the strongest and bravest men I have ever known. I can only hope to mimic you.  You honor each and every one of us with your excellent representation; please, never stop standing up for students and education, for schools and communities, and for Colorado Springs and our country.