My dad is a natural historian. He tells great stories from
his 1930’s depression era youth, spent three years writing the history of his
home town (Surry, Me.), and has done an incredible job with preserving our
family history and accomplishments through his OCD approach to saving every
article, letter and award that related to members of our family.
Several years ago he was asked to be the guest speaker at a
Surry Historical Society meeting. In developing what he wanted to talk about he
said to me, “Do you think I should tell them the story of Shaker.”
I was perplexed, as I had never heard anything about Shaker
or who he was. I replied, “Who was Shaker?”
Surprised, dad said, “I never told you the story of Shaker?”
“No.”
There was a momentary pause and then dad continued. “ Shaker
had thirteen inches soft.”
It took a second for me to understand what dad was saying
and then I started howling with laughter as dad continued the story, obviously
delighted by my response.
“Shaker would sneak to the edge of the blueberry fields
while the women were bending over raking and then he would take out his penis,
shake it at them, and run off into the woods.”
Dumbfounded, I asked “Was he arrested? Did anyone do anything
about it?”
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| Dad and Mom grew up in Surry |
“No,” dad replied, “people just seemed to accept it and
called him Shaker. He wasn’t hurting anyone.”
To put this in perspective you need to know that this
occurred in the 1930’s in a coastal Maine town with a year-round population of
about 400 people.
I have told this story many times and the response is always
one of shock and laughter. Over time as I watch what is happening in our
society today and I think about the other stories dad has told me, I think
there is a deep lesson we can all learn from the way that this community
reacted to Shaker.
Dad also had a close friend named “Bullfrog” Trundy.
Bullfrog sat on a bullfrog when he was six years old and was forever known as
Bullfrog.
Bullfrog’s mother was unwed and lived with a black man.
Again, from Dad’s experience, nobody cared. The community reacted to the family
in the same way they reacted to any family. Everyone helped each other.
Abby and Lena were a well-known and respected gay couple who
were members of the church and productive members of the community. Again, from
dad’s experience, nobody cared that they were lesbians. It was simply live and
let live.
This combination of stories, the timeframe in which they
occurred, and the way the community reacted with kindness and common sense is
inspiring and puzzling to me.
How were they able to do handle things so simply almost
eighty years ago when some of the same issues cause us so much stress today?
In my mind it is simple.
As a small town, where most people were in the same socio-economic
situation, it was easier to develop trust and understanding. With that trust
and understanding racism and negative judgment is reduced and people develop
forward thinking, instead of acting angry and distrustful.
Who knew we could learn so much from Shaker exposing
himself?
If you’d like to hear these stories in dad’s words please
click on the link below.
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