Last week I went on a bit of an adventure. It probably wouldn't be a big deal for most people but it was for me because it involved a massively large amount of people. I don't do large masses of people, if I can help it, but I made an exception in this case. In all fairness I could only deal with it for a few hours and I won't lie and tell you I had a great time (see my above stated dislike for lots of people) but it actually isn't the point of this missive.
It was what I witnessed while there that was truly an eye opening experience.
Here in Missouri we have, in the south western part of the state , a small city called Branson. The city is known as the Christmas Tree City and it is about as family friendly a place as you could imagine. They have museums and theme parks, as well as the old city, filled with shopping. Is has been referred to as the Las Vegas of the region, without the casinos or the call girls. It is arguably one of the best know tourist areas in this area and literally people from all over the world go there to visit and enjoy all that it offers.
Probably the best known park there is Silver Dollar City. It has an old town feel, many shops, several theaters for live shows, and rides galore. It is also unabashedly Christian run.
Starting in July they start putting up millions of lights and displays for the Christmas holidays, and start lighting it all up the first of November. People come from all over the country, and the world, to see this display. This year we were among them.
I don't know how many vehicles that their parking lots can hold, but to say thousands would not be an exaggeration. The fact that they have multiple large parking areas should tell you as much all by itself.
As we were walking up to the entrance (that was a much longer walk then it sounds) I was looking at license plates and I saw plates from all over the country. Predominately the surrounding states but still there were folks from as far away as Minnesota. These were just the ones in my view.
Then we got to the main entrance.
Having lived in a blue state for most of the lock downs I was waiting for someone to tell me to put on a mask or ask about stab status. Crickets. We still had to go through security and have our bags checked but not a word about anything else.
As I mentioned before, I don't like crowds, but when put into that situation I tend to find a wall or something to have my back to and I observe.
What I observed in a normal world wouldn't seem all that strange. People were having a good time. People were smiling ( no masks ,with a few exceptions ) and laughing, even when standing in line for rides or food. Folks were genuinely enjoying themselves.
There were all the colors of the rainbow (people) circulating about and several languages being spoken. People were generally friendly and polite. Did I mention there were thousands of people there? All at the same time?
No one was living in fear. There were no “Karens” yelling or lecturing people. It was the world as I remember before everyone started giving in to the fear porn.
Now the powers that be are talking about a new variety. The media has hyped it, again. It seems they don't want the fear to ever end.
What I saw there was an extreme lack of fear and it gives me hope for the future.
Seeing so many people together, having a great time and not oozing fear made it all worth while.
I still don't like crowds. Probably never will. But it was worth it just to see people being free.
By the way the lights were great.
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