Behind the Fence

The south is thought to be run on the history of those who were hanged and those who remain bearing the trauma, not many know of the strength that lies within the Louisiana bayous.  There are those who don't tread carefully into the depth of Mardi Gras festivals and indulge into the heavily seasoned food that comes from the soul. Not many people know about the park where the children play despite the hatred amongst their parents. The outside world looks for the diamond in the rough so that they feel good about standing in the place they are in. 

Not many people see the big picture. Behind those wooden fences, and past the “mean” pit bull lies a family with a story that gets retold more than one. There's a daughter, a son, a mother, and a father. Those who are not familiar assume that this family is completely torn. The father is not meant to be in the picture. It's assumed the mother is the foundation. The daughter is fast when it comes to men, because the love that she should find in herself she seeks in him. The brother feels obligated to fill his father’s missing shoes and does so by swapping drugs by the streetlight. The father puts the family that he knows he has left in the back of his mind and he searches for a distraction in the very drugs he doesn't know his son sells.

It's a tragic means to an end, and this is the only story that outsiders know. It's a shame really. The light gets covered up by the darkness if no one takes a second glance at the bigger picture that's right in front of the waiting to be seen. What is instead of the behind that fence being a broken one, it was just a home. What if when that family returns they know that all they have is each other. What is everything that no one sees is what holds them together. Love.

I grew up behind a similar fence. It became clear that the depths of the south was only a conundrum of negativity for those who didn't live there. It is true that there is an overwhelming amount of hate, but how could anyone forget the abundant amount of love that overshadows it all. The outsider will choose to see the glitz and glam of a struggling community, whereas we tried to live through it.