“If you know who you are, you can go anywhere.”
~Mary Flannery O’Connor, American Author
Mary Flannery O’Connor was born March 25, 1925 in the southern city of Savannah, Georgia. With an uncanny grasp of the nuances of human behavior, life in a small town was what O’Connor knew best.
Keenly aware of her insights through her writings, I am guessing that O’Connor would have more than understood the fondness by which people look forward to the local Theater’s closing and, in turn, the annual re-opening of the Drive In. Not only does this transition signify the coming of summer, it also acknowledges more than six decades of small-town tradition.
And in O’Connor’s world, tradition is what defined small town living.
For O’Conner, small towns were a brilliant amalgamation of complexity tamped down by simplicity.
And this is why, Mary Flannery O’Connor is one of the truly great American writers.
As I walked along Mainstreet in Neligh, NE, I couldn’t help but think about the profundity of O’Connor’s work and the brilliance of her perspectives.
I mean can you imagine the places we could go and the things we could do if we could, once and for all, come to know the person that lives in our clothes?
May we all live long enough to see that day.
Mainstreet, Neligh, NE
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