A Sheriff Dies and a Community Mourns.

Nostalgia overwhelmed me as I read the reports that Wayne County Sheriff Carey Winders had passed away on Friday. Growing up, I heard only positive comments about him. No, I never met him; but I remember feeling proud as a child that my county had a sheriff we could boast of. I remember feeling as though I lived in a safe community because we had a capable sheriff.  Just the idea of having a sheriff and deputies made me think that we weren’t so far away in time from those years of the Wild West, an era I was fascinated with. Looking back, I suppose I overdid it. I mean, he didn’t ride a horse to work, and I don’t think a cowboy hat topped his head every day. But, even as I dismiss those childish notions, I still hold the man in high esteem. I admire him because he loved his community. I honor him because he worked diligently to improve his surroundings. I applaud him because he possessed the patience and the fortitude to invest twenty years in the same position and in the same county.

Perhaps it’s that last point that also makes me envy him to a certain degree. Why? Well, I’m somewhat of a modern nomad, and while I love moving to new places and meeting new people, I am in awe of those who can faithfully and simply remain. As God has moved me through four different states and to one foreign country, I have come to appreciate the simple beauty of a community. Sheriff Winders led his community. Our world today so quickly identifies the United States of America with the office of the president or with famous fast-food chains or with Hollywood hypocrites, but those shallow connections miss the quiet depth that many American communities have developed. It is that depth that Sheriff Winders helped to create in his county. His life, in many ways, defines what America, in part, was designed to be: individual citizens striving to fulfill their personal responsibilities while working to improve their surrounding communities.

I don't know that I will ever live in Wayne County again, but it is through people like Sheriff Winders that I realize the importance of investing in my community, wherever it may be.