3.19.2007

Integrity: Where do you come from?

WHERE I COME FROM
By Rhett Laubach (circa 1991)

Where I come from there is a spot of grass in an open field
The field is a couple of acres in size and the grass soft and friendly
The closest highway is a country mile away
The closest city is thirty city miles away

Not many strangers pass by this field
Course, not many strangers pass by anywhere around there
Where I come from no one is a stranger
Just a friend you have not made yet

Where I come from you can stand in that field and feel safe
The kind of safe you can not get from locks or whistles
That field and grass hold more than security where I come from
They hold a window to a way of life

You can stand in the middle of that field on a clear night
You can see every single star in the sky
You lay down in that soft grass and just stare
The only noise you hear is the distant howl of the coyote
The sound of your thoughts

Where I come from life is simple and clean
Where I come from family, friends and the land are paramount
Taking care of all three is at the very being of who we are
It is where we draw our strength and our values

We understand who we are because we have had time to think about it
That is why we respect that field and that grass so much
When you are lying there in the cool night, just you and the coyotes
The land and the heavens become one

This place of freedom which I hold in such regard
Is right behind the house – the home where I grew up
Where I come from heaven was in my own backyard

If I could have one wish
It would be for everyone to have a backyard like that
Their own little heaven just to think, feel ultimately safe
Appreciate where they come from

I am who I am because of this life building experience called where I come from.

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