Long before national standardized tests New York State had the Regents exams. High school curriculums were designed to ensure that each student had the required courses in the appropriate year. At the end of each semester there were 3 hour exams in each subject and, if we achieved a passing grade, we moved forward, working toward accumulating the correct number of points to graduate. The June exam my senior year included an essay topic, "Every town has one."
As my friends and I walked home and talked about what we wrote, we all chuckled that a town drunk was something we each had thought of, probably because of the character Otis on the Andy Griffith Show. At that time we weren't aware enough to realize that it was probable that many of our classmates probably had an alcoholic family member. Fire departments were a touchy subject since our school had burned and students and teachers died. Writing about a town's school was a fairly obvious and safe choice, and some admitted they took that route.
Me? I wrote about the flagpole on the town square. A place where people gathered on a day like today, a day then known as Decoration Day, a day marked with parades and cemetery visits, not mattress sales. I wrote about the Girl Scout troop assigned to Tuesdays and how they carefully and reverently hoisted the flag in the morning and lowered and folded the flag at night. Decades later I served on a condo board where we had to enforce a 'no flag of any kind' rule.
If presented with the 'every town has one' topic today, I might write about gathering places. From a large suburb to a tiny hamlet, every village has a place where folks come together to talk, play, vote, worship, learn, celebrate or share a meal, be it the school auditorium, city hall, diner or town square. So on this day when traditionally people get together, may you enjoy whoever you are with, whether friends, family or fictional characters, and let's all toast those who have died in service so that we might do so.
Marilyn
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