Can’t Never Could

January 16, 2018

It’s a fresh year, a time of optimism and big plans. In that spirit, I bundled up a few days ago and decided that it was time to take down an old stretch of rusted barbed wire fence that was grown up with blackberry brambles. It wasn’t the easiest task in the first place, but it was all the more complicated because I was doing it while keeping an eye on an inquisitive toddler who loves to get into adventures in the great outdoors.

As I stood there with clippers in hand, wondering where to start, I thought of something my Dad used to say, “Can’t never could.” It’s a mantra I heard many times throughout my childhood, and it’s a good reminder of something we all know: Whatever we try to do in life, we may fail, but it we do not try, we will surely never succeed.

The opposite of “Can’t never could” is what I sometimes think of as the unofficial motto of Fannin County, “There’s nothing you can do about it.”   There is a deeply ingrained cultural belief here that our problems are so intractable, that the powers that be are so indifferent, that it is pointless to even try to make things better.

For those of us who have been fighting to save our little corner of the county from the ravages of the sand mining industry, sometimes it feels that way. Sometimes it feels like we are beating our heads against a brick wall. Plenty of people have thrown up their hands and given up. But for those of us still holding on, who still think we deserve safe roads and the right to stop the destruction of our community, I offer you the words of my Dad. “Can’t never could.”

Some things are worth fighting for, even against great odds. And by the way, I got that fence down.

Happy New Year from Citizen K and the Fannin County Sand Mining Report!