The Best Place on Earth
By: Zach McKnight
My hometown of Ethelsville is my happy place. I’ve lived there all of my life. It’s a nice town full of nice people. There are no disturbances, which means no police. It’s an empty, peaceful little town. We have a fire station and a little local store that everyone goes to. Ethelsville is a place where families come together and make lots of memories. It is a very rural town on the outskirts of west Alabama, about 10 to 15 minutes away from the eastern state line, depending on how you drive. When you drive through town, you can smell freshly cut grass and the flowers from all the little old ladies’ gardens. Occasionally, there is an aroma of pine trees when a few log trucks come through the town. It is a good place to go for a stroll. You will hear birds chirping, squirrels playing in trees, and you might even see a few deer. You will hear dogs barking, people talking and laughing, and the horn of the Minister of one of the local churches. When he leaves home, he blows at every person he sees. It’s a town where just about everyone is kind and everybody knows everybody. There is no place on earth that I would rather be.
I have many memories there, like the time when I killed my first deer or caught my first fish or flipped my first 4 wheeler. The memories were mostly good, and even in the bad memories, I had a good time. One of the great memories I have in Ethelsville is from two years ago. It was at the Martin Luther King Jr. annual march. It has been around since my pawpaw was thirty years old. He and a few friends started the march in the neighborhood along with one of the local churches. However, the march from two years ago was different from the other marches. There were people from all over the state. We had members from the NAACP board, police officers, preachers, and lots of people from other cities. When we saw all the people, we realized that there was not enough food, so we rushed to Columbus, Mississippi and spent around 500 dollars on food for all of the people. When we got back, the speaker was just finishing his speech.
The Chief of the fire department and I walked in with all the food. As soon as we walked in, we were given a big round of applause for rushing to get the food on such short notice. Along with the march, we collected donations for the fire department, and we were very surprised with the outcome. We collected a little over 1,500 dollars. After we all ate, the chief gave the closing speech, and the last words of his speech were, “I am so pleased with this crowd in front of me. I would like to thank everyone who participated in the March. It really shows how much love people had for Dr. King. It shows how much he brought the black community together, and how far we have come since he left his legacy on the nation. Also, thank you all for your donations to help the fire department.”
The people all stood up and clapped for a good two minutes. After the speech, we released balloons and sang the song “Up Above My Head.” Then, we all stood around and talked to everyone for a little bit until the chief called the members and thanked us all for our participation and helping make the march such a success. Everyone went back outside and talked to all the visitors until the crowd went home. So as you can see, Ethelsville is a great place, which I love so much.
By: Zach McKnight
My hometown of Ethelsville is my happy place. I’ve lived there all of my life. It’s a nice town full of nice people. There are no disturbances, which means no police. It’s an empty, peaceful little town. We have a fire station and a little local store that everyone goes to. Ethelsville is a place where families come together and make lots of memories. It is a very rural town on the outskirts of west Alabama, about 10 to 15 minutes away from the eastern state line, depending on how you drive. When you drive through town, you can smell freshly cut grass and the flowers from all the little old ladies’ gardens. Occasionally, there is an aroma of pine trees when a few log trucks come through the town. It is a good place to go for a stroll. You will hear birds chirping, squirrels playing in trees, and you might even see a few deer. You will hear dogs barking, people talking and laughing, and the horn of the Minister of one of the local churches. When he leaves home, he blows at every person he sees. It’s a town where just about everyone is kind and everybody knows everybody. There is no place on earth that I would rather be.
I have many memories there, like the time when I killed my first deer or caught my first fish or flipped my first 4 wheeler. The memories were mostly good, and even in the bad memories, I had a good time. One of the great memories I have in Ethelsville is from two years ago. It was at the Martin Luther King Jr. annual march. It has been around since my pawpaw was thirty years old. He and a few friends started the march in the neighborhood along with one of the local churches. However, the march from two years ago was different from the other marches. There were people from all over the state. We had members from the NAACP board, police officers, preachers, and lots of people from other cities. When we saw all the people, we realized that there was not enough food, so we rushed to Columbus, Mississippi and spent around 500 dollars on food for all of the people. When we got back, the speaker was just finishing his speech.
The Chief of the fire department and I walked in with all the food. As soon as we walked in, we were given a big round of applause for rushing to get the food on such short notice. Along with the march, we collected donations for the fire department, and we were very surprised with the outcome. We collected a little over 1,500 dollars. After we all ate, the chief gave the closing speech, and the last words of his speech were, “I am so pleased with this crowd in front of me. I would like to thank everyone who participated in the March. It really shows how much love people had for Dr. King. It shows how much he brought the black community together, and how far we have come since he left his legacy on the nation. Also, thank you all for your donations to help the fire department.”
The people all stood up and clapped for a good two minutes. After the speech, we released balloons and sang the song “Up Above My Head.” Then, we all stood around and talked to everyone for a little bit until the chief called the members and thanked us all for our participation and helping make the march such a success. Everyone went back outside and talked to all the visitors until the crowd went home. So as you can see, Ethelsville is a great place, which I love so much.