Alfredisms
The Polk Progress was a Nebraska treasure that ceased publication in late 1989 after 82 years as a weekly newspaper. From 1955 until its last issue, the editor and publisher was the late Norris Alfred. In its last few months, the Progress had 900 subscribers in 45 states. Alfred was a remarkable Nebraskan with an uncanny eye for connecting the present with the future. Prairie Fire has collaborated with the Alfred family, the University of Nebraska School of Journalism and the Nebraska State Historical Society to locate and archive many of Norris's writings. We are capitalizing on our good fortune to present many of the Norris Alfred writings to our readership. We believe that his observations are as fresh and relevant to today's world as they were when originally written.
“Polking Around”
Oct. 2, 1980
A cock pheasant strolled into our backyard Sunday morning. He was obviously exploring new territory, taking cautious steps, stopping to glance warily at the house, pecking at something in our crabgrass lawn and, finally, after peering intently at the neighbor’s rhubarb and asparagus patch, disappearing into it.
We thought about that pheasant spending a lifetime always on the lookout for enemies and wondered what it would be like to lie a lifetime of fear, always on the alert for danger and death. We go about our daytime activities with little or no thought of danger and death. The security of a rural Nebraska village is taken for granted. Our enemies are mostly imaginary or, since we might not recognize them face to face, we are told who the enemy is.
At five years of age we watched the Polk Home Guard hang, shoot and burn in a barrel of oil, an effigy of Kaiser Bill. The year was 1918 and we were told he was the enemy. During the drought and depression years of the 1930s we were told greedy capitalists were the enemy. Then came Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, Mussolini and his fascist gang, Stalin and the communists, all dictators with their willing stooges, and they were the enemy. The Chinese communists and Mao Tse-tung were enemies. North Koreans and North Vietnamese have taken turns being enemies. The Japanese have been enemies.
All these enemies have failed to disturb the tranquility of Polk, Neb. We don’t go about our daily tasks looking warily around every corner, searching behind every door, watching overhead and keeping a gun handy, just in case. If we did, we would probably be next on the psychiatrist’s couch.
We realize our security depends on many factors beyond our control. That cock pheasant in our backyard was totally dependent on himself for security. He has many natural enemies besides human beings with their automobiles and guns. We don’t know the survival rate of a hatch of pheasant chicks. That cock pheasant survived to adulthood and he may die a natural death. Chances are he won’t if he relaxes his watchfulness while wandering in backyards. We wanted to tell him that rhubarb patch wasn’t a safe place. He is doomed to spend the rest of his life searching for a safe place and never finding it. He doesn’t know that and we wouldn’t tell him if we could.
We all need hope to sustain us. A rural village can provide a hopeful environment more readily, we think, than an urban area. We like living in a place where even a cock pheasant feels safe enough to venture in for a look. We like having his seal of approval. It rates higher than “Good Housekeeping”’s.
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