Ruminating on "God Save Texas"

This morning my book club met at my house to discuss Lawrence Wright's book God Save Texas, A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State. I had read the book a few years ago and loved it and was to pleased when we decided to read it for our club.

I think it's practically impossible to understand the myriad of feeling that belong to a person who lives in Texas... a person who has spent well over half her life here. I have called Texas home for 47 years. Many times I've said I felt like I was home when I first rolled into the state on a June day in 1975 with my husband, Dan. 

We left friends, family in Georgia and headed for San Antonio. It was almost a miraculous feeling getting here. I loved the city of San Antonio, its people, the culture, the history from the minute we got settled. I doubt I ever told Dan how much I loved it all. (Well, maybe he can read my blog.)

It was the first time I'd been around Mexican-Americans, the first time I'd been around women who seemed so independent, the first time I was in a city and state of many cultures... cultures that were celebrated. It was the first time I felt like I could see for miles and miles. Texas is vast... the vistas are enormous; the sky is wide and high. It was a glorious feeling. It still is.

About a year later I went back to visit family in Georgia and I felt so claustrophobic ... I couldn't get a good view of the sky because of the massive amount of trees. As I've aged I've considered moving back to be near family either in South Carolina or possibly Georgia, but it's awfully hard to think about leaving Texas. I have many friends who have become family... people in my town, in my neighborhood, people with whom I've taught and worked. It's been 15 years since I retired and these teacher friends and I are still close. We don't get to see one another as much as we did a few years ago (the pandemic slowed us down a bit) but we get together for lunch and we definitely talk on the phone a lot. I think we are there for one another as if we lived on the same block or in the same town. 

Forty-seven years later I'm still in love with the land, the people, the idea of Texas. Mind you, my Texas ideal may not be that of another Texas resident, but I love my idea of it. People who are friendly and caring of their neighbors, of strangers, and willing to lend a helping hand. I want to think, to believe, that the majority of people do care about other people, their state, democracy, fair play, and love thy neighbor regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, religious (or non-religious) and political affiliations. Maybe there is something wrong with me but I do believe people are inherently good and that goodness is what should be celebrated. 

And back to God Save Texas, mostly it covers the good of this beautiful state... but like any truth it speaks to the good, the bad, the ugly. Lawrence Wright is a life-long Texan. Of course, he has lived in other places but that likely brings a greater understanding of life in all its complexities. The New York Times stated in a review: " It's a testament to Wright's formidable storytelling skills that a reader will encounter plenty of information without ever feeling lost." 

Lawrence Wright is a staff writer for The New Yorker and the author of nine previous books of nonfiction and a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for The Looming Tower. He resides in Austin, TX.

(Photo by Jeff Gooding of me at Pedernales Falls State Park near Johnson City, TX. A gorgeous Texas blue sky is in the background.)