Ellenton, South Carolina

(March 30, 1994 - 4321 7th Ave. Rock Island 8:35 am)

by David B. Rhaesa

This is a eulogy a burial prayer for a town lost to the cold war. What is a town? What is a village? What is a city? How does a government sacrifice a community tear apart families and friends in the name of fighting a distant enemy like the government Orwell foresaw at the height of the Cold War Ellenton, South Carolina you felt Big Brother’s wrath some forty years ago. Now we know of your fate. Now we grieve the loss of your community. Now we fear that what happened to you could happen to us in the new search for a post-cold war enemy. Who will be sacrificed next? What will we make warfare against next? Why can’t we even conceive in this nearly Aquarian Age the simple concept of "Give Peace a Chance"? Why can’t we believe Melanie’s Woodstock words "There’s a chance peace will come in my life. . . ."? Can we really have any hope for peace in this world when we individually harbor so much hatred so much anger so much resentment so much vengeance? Can any of us honestly sing the old song "Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me . . ."? Can any of us honestly sing "Let there be peace on earth the peace that was meant to be. . . ."? If peace begins within each of us can we hope for world peace while harboring hatred towards any of God’s creations? "Give Peace a Chance" in my life "Give Peace a Chance" in the memory of Ellenton, South Carolina Rest in peace lost town ghost town and let the trees which rest where people once walked sing your story to the centuries ahead.