Over the Fall Break, I visited Silver Dollar City for the first time. I went with my fiancée and her family for her brother’s birthday. We got there as the park opened. We joined in the raising of the American Flag, the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of the National Anthem. For a warm-blooded American like me, it was a great start to a day.
The aesthetic was amazing. The property was beautiful. The rides were fun. The lines were short at first, and then unbearably long. The temperature was cool, and the breeze was nice. The water rides felt great in the afternoon. The roller coasters were tremendously fun and better than the ones at Worlds of Fun. We were all enjoying ourselves, making small talk in the lines as we patiently waited our turn on adrenaline producing rides.
But some people couldn’t seem to want to wait their turn. Several times, while a hundred or so good Americans were waiting in line, a group people would think that they had special privileges and could simply skip to the front of the line. Not with a prepaid Trailblazer pass, nor because they were special needs or disabled. No, it was simply because they thought the rules didn’t apply to them.
We all understand that certain people get to cut in line. And most people will willingly let the family with the paralyzed child or the severely autistic son cut ahead of them. The wheelchair bound are more controversial; we have to stand in line, and it feels justified to me to say they can sit in line and wait their turn. But even then, I know I’m in the minority.
But to have the audacity to simply think that you get to cut everyone in line for no reason is a moral blight. It was never one person. It was always an adult and young kids. And those kids always looked very guilty and even sorry, while their parent smugly lied and came up with empty excuses to cut in line. My mother-in-law teaches at an elementary school here in Missouri and my fiancée worked this spring as a substitute in the same district. And let me tell you they did not appreciate the lessons these parents were teaching their kids about common courtesy and the importance of lines.
Our nation is a Great Experiment in self-governance. It requires people to buy into the system and follow the basic rules without being told to. It requires us to put the shopping cart back rather than leave it in the parking lot. It requires us to teach our kids about waiting in lines like everybody else. If we can’t even wait in line at an amusement park, then how can anyone take seriously the idea that we can govern ourselves? If I can’t wait my turn for amusement, what hope is there I will wait my turn for something more important? If you can’t trust me to follow the rules in a card game, then would you trust me to follow the rules in the voting booth? Or how about when I do my taxes?
