A few weeks ago, I was able to take some time off and visit some friends of mine up in the mountains. Their place is located about 20 miles from a small town. They own two large mountains, and their house is located in the valley, which has two streams that flow beside their house.

We arrived at dark, and after unpacking the car we started into the house. I went back to lock the car, and my friend laughed and said, “You don’t have to lock it up around here, nobody locks anything.” I could not believe that they don’t lock their cars, houses, sheds or anything.

Outside of the house you could hear nothing! And I mean nothing, no traffic, no horns, no boom-boom music, no sirens or anything. You could hear the sound of the wind blowing through the trees and the awesome sound of the water flowing over the rocks in the mountain stream. It was total silence, and we seemed to go back in time.

My friend did have neighbors, about a half mile down the road, and we went to visit with them the following day. Who visits their neighbors anymore? For the sake of this story, I’ll call him Mr. Joe. Mr. Joe and his wife of many years cooked on a wood stove and also heated their home with the wood stove. He cut down trees off the mountain to get his firewood and then split it with an axe. Mr. Joe carried water from the mountain stream that flowed through his back yard into his home. You cannot image the things that this man had built using his hands. One of the things I must tell you about was a small container he made from pine needles he had gathered from his yard. This was a work of art and was truly unbelievable to see.

Further down on the main road was a house, and on the front porch were several refrigerators. The sign read eggs, milk and soft drinks. The items were inside the refrigerators, and if you ran out and needed something, you stopped in and picked it up and left the money in a container that was also on the porch. You made your own change and never saw the man. It was known as the honor system.

A few miles away, a man made shoes and boots at his home. You just stopped in, and he measured your foot and made the shoe you wanted. You returned for the perfect fit. Later in the day, my wife saw a sign that had flowers for sale. We stopped only to find that the flowers were priced and the sign in the yard read, “Four plants for $10. Please leave your money in the jar on the table and take the planting instruction sheet, have a nice day.” We went over to the jar to put the money in and saw that the jar contained fives, tens and ones from others that had also stopped in to buy her beautiful plants. Both of us being in law enforcement could not believe what we were seeing. Again, it was the honor system!

The people in this area don’t have to worry about drive-by shooting or someone trying to rob them or steal their property. Why, they don’t even lock it up. This way of life was hard to imagine. It almost seemed unreal, but we saw it with our own eyes. It was a wonderful thing to see.

Our fore fathers lived in a time very similar to this, and some of them got together and said let’s write something down and keep this way of life. They did just that and they called it, “The Constitution of the United States.” But, something has happened and the words that were written are now being twisted around by our so-called leaders in Washington. D.C. The Statue of Liberty that stands with her head high and her arm stretched out holding the lighted torch stands for freedom and the rights of the American people. What if she could come to life and talk? What would she say about our country today? Would she kneel down, lay down her torch and put her hands together while bowing her head. Would she ask what has happened to my country and the so-called leaders today? Would she question why people are losing their jobs, homes and their freedom? Why children are being killed while trying to learn and can no longer pray in school?

I think she would want us to join together and change the way our country is being run in Washington, D.C. Maybe we should slow our lives down, take time for one another and give respect to our fellow man.

Wayne Norwood is a lieutenant with the St. John thhe Baptist Sheriff’s Department and owner and operator of the Louisiana Treasures Museum.