OKEMAH, Oklahoma — Woody Guthrie had a unique way of looking at the world. He lived in a different time that some days seems so far away and so close other days.
He never stood still. He wandered, and he explored. Most of all, he never lost his curiosity.
“Life has got a habit of not standing hitched. You got to ride it like you find it. You got to change with it. If a day goes by that don’t change some of your old notions for new ones, that is just about like trying to milk a dead cow.”
I don’t necessarily agree with everything he said, stood for, or believed. But diverse opinions are the American way — or at least they used to be.
If nothing else, he could make you think.
I wasn’t sure I’d ever pass through Okemah, Oklahoma. But when the chance arose, I jumped at the opportunity.
America’s folk poet has been a divisive figure in his hometown. That has changed in recent years.
I wonder what he might think of these monuments to him.