Beech Tree News Network

Our son-in-law, Thomas, is at his core a rebel.  I have always admired rebels.  I think that’s because I’ve never had the courage to be one.  A few columns ago, I told you about his propensity toward breaking rules and taking chances.  (Remember the cows in Ireland?)  Evidently, he has been that way since he was a young boy.  He tells the story of one summer, during his youth, having had so many accidents, that after his mom had taken him to Urgent Care for the umpteenth time to get stitches, she told him she was just going to use butterfly closures for the rest of the summer, so he had better be more careful.

              Thomas concedes that he is a risk taker, but says his risks are calculated and not ignorant.  A few years ago, Garey and I saw the Grand Canyon with Nikki and Thomas.  Thomas crossed barriers and walked out onto ledges that caused me not a little consternation.  Nikki waved it off with, “That’s just Thomas.”  After eight years of marriage, I guess you get used to it.

              This summer when we traveled to Europe, several times I looked around to see if Thomas was still with us.  When he wasn’t, Nikki would assure me, “He’ll be back.”  He would be.  Reappearing magically, as if he had teleported from a different time zone, after he had been exploring, like the scouts of old, out on the prairies.

              Back in Louisiana, where he and Nikki live, Thomas parks in spaces at retail stores, clearly marked for customer grocery or package pickup.  Nikki tells him he shouldn’t do this.  Thomas tells her that they have a ridiculous number of spaces set aside for those people.  “She is so afraid of breaking the rules,” he tells me.

              When we were all in London together, we toured the Tower of London—dating back to the 1500s—where prisoners, many who opposed the crown, were held then executed.  Thomas pointed out that in the 1500s alone, there were seven prisoners with the first name of Thomas.  “It must be in the name,” he grinned.  Like those prisoners who stood up against the unfair practices of the few in control, Thomas is a Libertarian.  Although he is a native of Louisiana, he is a big supporter of the ideas of Ron Paul and his son, Rand Paul, our Kentucky senator.  Although I can’t say that I am a fan of Rand Paul, I bought Thomas a RAND PAUL FOR PRESIDENT sticker that he immediately placed on the back window of his car. 

              On our return from Europe, In the Chicago airport, as we were being herded like cattle in and out of roped areas and through various check points, Thomas observed that this method could be used to condition people to do what they are told to do and go where they are instructed to go.  A similar process called assimilation was used on the Native American Indians in this country.  Also, during the Great Famine in Ireland, the English enacted a set of Penal Laws that took nearly everything the Irish owned and starved many of their people to death.  As I considered those two events, I thought it might be a bit extreme on my part to compare them to the process of herding and checking that takes place at US airports.  However, when we were in the boarding area, waiting for our flight to Nashville, Thomas showed me his boarding pass—the one that had been checked at least five times at various check points.  Nikki had inadvertently printed both passes in her name, and nobody had noticed.  Possible conditioning of our citizens at US airports…hmm?  Thankfully, Thomas didn’t bring it to the attention of the powers that be, so he is not on the No-fly list.

              The name “Thomas” means twin.  It is a befitting name for my son-in-law.  He has enough daring, determination and foresight for two people.