The Happiest Man In America

Freelin Woodard is a friend of mine! As a matter of fact, getting to know him has caused me to realize the real reason I love being in the Western Carolina mountains, and in particular, Bryson City!

You see, I notice people and I watch their demeanor. I never really thought a great deal about my garbage - just bag it up and take it to the trash dump; but there was a gentleman there who was always willing to help and the whole while wearing a smile from ear to ear. I came to actually ENJOY taking the garbage to the dumpster. I live most of the time in a suburb of Atlanta and gathering trash there is not a plesant experience. As a matter of fact, it is quite a chore and the trash-truck driver is not a plesant person!

It is not just my opinion regarding Freelin; my wife agrees with me and I have noticed on many occasions other people lingering to visit after they unloaded their cars and trucks of their household garbage. It doesn't look or smell like a trash dump! It is spotless, and my new buddy Freelin is always standing by. I love taking friends with me to the dump to introduce them to the "happiest man in America". Where else in the whole wide world could one actually look forward to taking out the garbage?

One recent day my curiosity got the best of me, so I had to ask Freelin the question: "What in the world are you taking that keeps you so happy"? (I am a graduate of the University of Georgia School of Pharmacy, so my natural inclination was to believe that biochemistry was at work here). His answer proved me wrong.

He said, "You know, I like to keep this place clean for all my customers, but we don't close the gate at night. People come in here during the evening hours and sometimes make a big mess because they spill their garbage all over the place. I always try to come in early to clean up the place and make it look good before customers start arriving and when I first started this job it made me mad that people would leave such a mess, but I got to thinking", he continued, "whether I'm mad or happy, I still have to clean it up, so I decided that I might as well be happy. And you know, it just makes the job more fun."

Until I met Freelin, I thought the chief reason for my being here in the mountains was to get away from all the pollution and traffic congestion and to enjoy a slower pace of life while being surrounded by the majestic splendor of the mountains. These are all secondary reasons now! The reason I built a home in Bryson City is because of how this place transforms a person. Not what it is but what it does to your soul.

Most big city people wake up each morning and fight their way through traffic to get to their jobs that are slowly killing them ... myself included! They can choose to be mad or happy, but either way, they still have to go to work. Most people are not like Freelin because they choose to be angry. Bryson City has changed me! When I start to feel a little angry about something at work, I just think about my buddy Freelin and his big ole' grin. And I decide that I might as well be happy.

But everybody doesn't have a home in Bryson City! God bless Freelin Woodard!

George Goddard

(published in Smoky Mountain Times, January 12,2006, Bryson City, NC.)