A Tax On My Happiness

For the past three years, or however long this cursed pandemic has been going on, I’ve gotten out of bed and went straight to the park for a walk. Exercise isn’t a cure for depression and anxiety, but it’s as good a bandaid for it as I’ve found. It’s funny, the relationship I have with bugs. When I see them in my house, I declare biological warfare on them, but when I hear them chirp their sweet songs in the woods, I’m grateful for the soundtrack they’ve provided me as I try to sweat the sad away. Same goes with freshly cut grass and/or hay. I absolutely love the smell of it because it immediately takes me back to being a kid playing baseball and football with my friends. A time when mental illness didn’t plague me, or at least a time when I was too young to know it had. On the other hand, though, it sends my allergies into fits and I spend the rest of the day hockin’ loogies into a trash can with a splitting headache. The older I get, the more I realize that almost everything good comes with a price. It’s like the gods are taxing our happiness.

The park I walk in is actually pretty famous! The Chickamauga Battlefield is widely known as the site of the bloodiest two day battle fought in The Civil War. These types of places have been a subject of great debate for longer than the internet has existed, but like anything, the internet made it worse. Some people are wholeheartedly against Civil War statues no matter the location, some people staunchly support them without even trying to understand the very valid reasons some people would be against them. This is one of the very few things where I actually fall somewhere in the middle.

I’ve seen just about every inch of this park and do my best to read the plaques and monuments not only so that I can understand their relevance, but because they all tell a story. You read one plaque that tells you that “this is where the Indiana Brigade stood and fought” and then you follow a trail to the other side and read about who they were trying to shoot. Not to sound like The millennial that I am, but it’s like walking through a podcast!

Very surprisingly, there is not a Confederate Flag in sight. Don’t get me wrong, the actual town is full of them. They fly from the back of pickup trucks, decorate the porches of houses, and are even adorned on our street signs, all of which are named for different Confederate Generals. I believe this is because if the streets were all called “Loser Avenue” people would get lost in a hurry.

But in the Chickamauga Battlefield it’s not like that. I truly believe that if you walked through here not knowing where you were, you could just as easily believe you were in Union Territory, not only because there are a great many Union monuments, but because everything is presented as it happened and seemingly without bias, at least from my perspective. I like that. I think Civil War monuments and plaques that just tell the story should not only remain where they are, but should be encouraged. Learning from history is far from a bad thing.

Now as for those monuments glorifying the Confederacy that were placed in town squares all across the south in the Jim Crow era specifically to scare Black people and to make sure they understood who was still in charge. No. Knock ‘em all down, or at least put them somewhere that they have to be placed in context with what they actually did and stood for. That’s not some leftist propaganda opinion.. those statues were absolutely put there for that reason, and everyone with a brain who cares to actually read about something knows it.

I want to say “I miss nuance” but I’m not really sure it was ever there. People like to pretend that we are more divided than ever, but how can that be when during the era that these statues were erected, some folks were literally not allowed to use the same water fountain as me?

Its the internet is what it is of course. Everyone has always had stupid opinions, but up until now they hadn’t been handed a bullhorn. Twitter is one of the most divisive tools that we have, and unfortunately, as an entertainer I’m basically required to have one. If you’re not careful it can really get to you. When this happens and I need a break, I always go for a walk to clear my mind and get away from the constant bickering and arguing. Then I pass a Civil War monument and am reminded of it again.

Yet another tax on my Happiness

Y’all have a great day

‘Corey