BEHIND THE BADGE: Let’s work to chip away at divisiveness in 2022

As we near the end of 2021 and look ahead to 2022, I hope and pray we can start to chip away at the divisiveness we’ve seen in our country over the last year or two. 
I grew up in Kasson-Mantorville. As a kid, I watched Sesame Street every day. Absolutely loved that show growing up. 
One walk down Sesame Street, and you’d see way more diversity than I’d ever experienced growing up here. Back in the 70s and 80s, the Kasson Mantorville area was not very diverse at all.  Growing up I had a couple great friends who were part Indian, and one who was part Japanese.  That was it.   
In the early days of Sesame Street, we had Gordon Robinson who was a teacher. His wife Susan was a nurse. They both were African-American. Louis Rodriguez was Mexican-American and ran a fix-it-shop.  
Maria was a Puerto Rican teenager back then who worked in the library. David was the second African-American male resident (after Gordon) who worked part-time at Hooper's Store while studying law.    
There were these great characters plus Bob Johnson the music teacher, Mr. Hooper who owned the candy store, and all the crazy Muppet characters. This mix of cultures and backgrounds made up what we knew as Sesame Street.
In the early days of Sesame Street, I don’t remember them talking about color. There weren’t white people and black people. There weren’t white people and people of color. They were just people, they were just neighbors, they were what made up Sesame Street. 
There are some serious racial problems in many communities across the United States, and I understand certain areas in our country have some real challenges they’re facing – fortunately we just don’t see much of that here in Dodge County. 
Instead of dividing us with rhetoric, with special interest groups, and with politics – why not learn from our differences and celebrate what we have in common. Our love of family, our love of community, and our love of our heritage. Our desire to be safe, to have good jobs, and to have quality schools to educate our kids. Our wish to see our kids and grandkids succeed and have a better life than our own.  
We can celebrate our differences and still be one as a community, as a country. We are all different in different ways, and we should embrace our differences and be proud of them - but we are all Americans. 
What made our country great is all the different cultures that immigrated here for the same purpose  – freedom. All working together to form the UNITED States of America. I hope and pray in 2022 we can find some of that unity again.
Remember, our kids and our grandkids are watching everything we say and do. Let’s teach them how we can embrace and be proud of our differences, and still respect other heritages, other cultures. Let’s teach them how together we can use our emotions and our energy towards uniting our communities, instead of dividing them. 
Thank you for all your support for our men and women serving here in Dodge County. They need to see and hear your support now more than ever.
Merry Christmas everyone and please have a safe and Happy New Year.
Your Sheriff,
Scott