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Green Lake resident Jesse Bethke enjoys a Father’s Day fishing outing on the Al Barclay Memorial fishing platform with daughters Brynlee, 7, left, and Natalee, 9.
Divide & conquer ain’t working.
It is crippling our country, polarizing our politics and transforming the American collective can-do attitude into a psychological funk.
Presidential candidates focus on “woke” issues rather than discuss substantive matters dealing with the economy at home and threats abroad. People who should know better dispute scientists’ claim that climate change is man-made or question whether it’s even real. Americans view many issues as binary: Pro-choice vs. pro-life. Red state vs. blue state. Climate change vs. climate deniers. Vaccine vs. anti-vax. Election fraud vs. free and fair elections. Second Amendment vs. gun grabs.
And just last week: A former president lied about possessing national secrets vs. the Department of Justice is weaponized to attack only Republicans.
At a time when America seems to be at war with itself we need to look harder to find ways that folks are reaching out to each other, meeting in the middle and championing a new dictum:
Include & conquer.
Here in Ripon, we don’t have to look too far.
Ripon’s Early Bird and Noon Kiwanis clubs recently announced that they are joining forces and collaborating with Fond du Lac County to build an all-inclusive playground at Riggs County Park.
This Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant “motion Cruiser” has enough room for two wheelchairs and two benches, enabling up to 12 children of all abilities to play together.
Kiwanis clubs seek help to finish fundraising for all-inclusive playground
That’s right. They’re not figuring out ways to exclude, divide and demean.
They are their brother’s keeper, and so are in the planning stages of creating a play area that will include 43 features for 238 users with a range of abilities.
Recognizing that traditional playgrounds offer amenities inaccessible by disabled children, the clubs believe that all children, whether using a walker, crutches, in a wheelchair or in some other way physically challenged, should be able to ride a swing, use a balance beam or “climb” using a ramp.
The two clubs, with help from the county, have accounted for $190,000 of the estimated $270,000 that will be needed to build the playground. They are counting on the public to donate the remaining $80,000.
About eight miles west of Riggs, a Green Lake man has spearheaded an effort to build a wheelchair-accessible fishing platform that juts out into the inlet.
Al Walker was inspired by his buddy, Ripon High School ‘46 graduate Al Barclay. As Barclay was dying in 2015, he said to Walker, “I wish I could go fishing one more time.” Walker promised Barclay that he would one day construct a platform to enable disabled and abled angers to toss out of a line.
With the help of Barclay’s estate, donations and volunteers, Walker kept his word to his dying friend. The platform was built last year and recently was donated to Green Lake County.
So there you go.
Whether in Ripon or Green Lake, compassionate people are going out of their way to look out for each other, particularly those who may be on society’s sidelines, wondering how and where they fit in with others.
Their compassion believes in moving the mainstream to the margins, to encompass more people. For such folks, “inclusion” and “diversity” are not dirty words but calls to action to make sure that they fulfill the observation of one who, 2000 years ago, is reported to have said: “As you did it to the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me.”
That fellow not only didn’t divide anything or anyone, he united much of the world through his love and mercy granted to all people.
— Tim Lyke
