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© 2004 Hal Yeager, The Birmingham News Introduction Essay for Alabama 24/7 Salvation in Alabama By Robin DeMonia As soft as the sway of a front-porch rocker and as rowdy as the roar at Talladega's speedway--that's Alabama. And here, whether you're watching the grass grow or watching fast cars go, certain principles hold true: Family. Community. Church. Hard work. Tradition. To live in Alabama is to grapple with the poisonous offspring of racism and rancor--some defend the Confederacy, even now--and to walk daily with the ghosts of those martyred for civil rights in places like Birmingham and Selma. Yet, for all the pain it embodies and all the forgetting it encourages, our past binds us in soulful ways, too. You feel it in the backyard gardens we tend, in the old songs we sing, in the woodlands and creeks where we hunt and fish. You see it, too, in the rock-hard faith that is our basis for hope. Okay, maybe Chief Justice Roy Moore was stubborn and un-American in his sponsorship of the Ten Commandments, but he and his defiance of the U.S. Constitution are gone for now. In Alabama, we simply don't see religion as something from which people need protection. It's salvation. It's love. It's people who have almost nothing giving to those who have even less. It's a way of life that's both simple and full of contradictions. Recently, Alabama voters rejected a plan that would have raised taxes on many but eased taxes on the poor. Republican Governor Bob Riley tried to sell the plan with scriptural commands to "do right by the least of these," but Alabamians weren't buying. Another contradiction: Though we won't easily give our money to our government, we unflinchingly lay down our lives in our nation's wars. An Alabamian, CIA agent Johnny "Mike" Spann, was the first American to die in Afghanistan. Even in times of peace, it's getting harder to keep to ourselves. The world closes in every day. Not that it's all bad, this global economy. Alaba-mians whose ancestors scratched out a living on farms now earn good wages building cars for Mercedes and Honda. At the same time, those plying old trades--shrimping in Mobile Bay, making socks in Fort Payne--are getting squeezed out of their lives by overseas competition. It's a time of opportunity and apprehension. Some grasp the possibilities: The University of Alabama School of Medicine has earned a national reputation for research and clinical care, thanks to a faculty as diverse as the United Nations. But others sink into the paralyzing fears and low expectations that bubble just beneath the surface. Alabama is a heartbreaker. But, ah, her beauty fills even a broken heart! Prepare to be captivated--from the blinding white beaches of Gulf Shores, to the lush wonders of Little River Canyon, to all the good folks who live along the way. To look at Alabama's people is to hear them sing their music--the plaintive wail of Hank Williams, the old-time Gospel hymns wafting through the pines, the allegro of laughter, chatter, and love when friends and families get together. That's my Alabama. Glad you stopped by. Browse    View All    Salvation in Alabama    Hearth & Home    Hard at Work    Alabama at Play    Reason to Believe    Our Town Photos: 116 Photographers: 33 Towns: 54

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