Traveling across country, my husband and I have watched many a parade in small towns. Some have been standouts like the Mardi Gras parade in Iberville, Louisiana, where we stood on the steps of city hall to watch. Afterwards, the mayor invited us in to tour their museum of costumes for the past parade kings and queens.
The most memorable Fourth of July parade we ever watched was in Mason, Texas. All of the entries from the mayor to Miss Mason County to the floats were in carts pulled by goats. And the parade wound around the historic courthouse not once but twice.
Although we were a thousand miles from home and the goats were the stars of the show, I felt the same sense of patriotism I do every time I watched a parade through the streets of any small town. Nothing matches the community spirit of small town America like a parade.
I learned recently that the Mason courthouse, an historic 111-year old landmark, was victim of arson in 2020. Fortunately, as the county had prepared to renovate it with grant money, all of the records had been moved to a safe location. The county still has the grant money, insurance money and citizens have started a fund to raise enough additional money for the estimated $12 million restoration to the damaged building.
Goats are big business in the hill country of Texas. Today, the demand for goat meat and milk has increased dramatically across the country. More people in the world consume goat milk than milk from any other animal.
Goats have a long and storied history. According to the Smithsonian, goats were one of the first domesticated animals. In early Hebrew tradition, the goat was chosen as the sacrificial animal for the sins of a nation - thus the concept and the term “scapegoating.” We, who don’t want to take responsibility of our own sins, are always looking for our own scapegoats to blame.
In sports, a “goat” is the person whose one costly error bring defeat in competition. It’s not a complimentary term.
Yet the 21st century brought us a whole new concept - G. O. A. T. While an athlete never wanted to be ‘the goat,’ all work to earn this new acronym, G. O. A. T. - the Greatest Of All Times. A number of folks have been bestowed with the designation - Mohammed Ali, boxing; Tom Brady, football; Simone Biles, gymnastics; Ken Jennings, Jeopardy champ.
However, in sports, records are broken and the G.O. A.T. mantle passes forward. This title passed from Michael Jordan to LeBron James in basketball and from Mark Spitz to Michael Phelps in swimming. That’s one way to redeem a connotation.
According to Charles Curtis, writing for For the Win, the copyright for the term was secured by Lonnie Ali, wife of Mohammed Ali who had earned the title of “The Greatest.” However, Curtis cites a 2016 Rolling Stone story which credits rapper LL Cool J as popularizing the term with his 2000 hit album, G. O. A. T.
And what does all of this have to do with the United States celebrating its 246th birthday this year? Of course, goats are a viable part of the country’s agricultural products. And, we’ve constantly claimed the G.O.A.T. title for our country, much to the chagrin of other nations. We like to brag. We have much to brag about.
And yet, we the people who love parades and picnics, fireworks and patriotic concerts, also are quick to label a loser, “the goat,” and to seek scapegoats for our own shortcomings. Life itself creates problems daily. When we fail to to protect our young from crazed murderers, to heal wounds, to work for equality for all citizens, and to address injustices, then we forfeit claim to the title of G. O. A. T. When greed for money and power, rather than compassion and justice rule, we relinquish any right to the G. O. A. T. title. Status quo always sends any entity on a backwards track. Until all citizens can enjoy the “unalienable Rights…of Life, Liberty, the pursuit of happiness” and the opportunity to vote without a manmade lengthy wait or hoops to jump through, we remain a nation in progress.
This Fourth of July, let us take on the responsibility to keep improving this country, step by step. Failure to enable the country to serve all citizens leaves us as “the goat.” Let us work together toward the United States of America truly earning the title,
G. O. A. T.
2022
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