Thorngate decision makes it kind of tough around here

One, two, three, what are we fighting for?

The next stop could be Vietnam or some other exotic destination. Hartmarx is the parent company of the makers of Hart Schaffner Marx suits and other lines of clothing. It claims to be the largest suit maker in America today. Hart Schaffner Marx also touts that its suits are carried in more than 1,000 stores in America and that its suits meet the high standard for being considered a fine clothier. Only the best for the best!

Earlier this spring Barack Obama made a surprise stop in Cape Girardeau and addressed employees at Thorngate Ltd., a division of Hartmarx, about running for president. It was exciting and quite a surprise for plain country folks like us here in Southeast Missouri.

We hadn't seen such a fuss since Rush Limbaugh visited his relatives. Well, maybe, I have to take that back. There was that time Brad Pitt stopped at the airport, and I there was another time when Sheryl Crow came to church with her sister. Oh, and there's always the SEMO District Fair every year just about when football season starts to heat up — right before deer season.

Sorry. Back to my thoughts. Yes, sir, Obama a came to town and surprised everyone by visiting that fancy suit-making place. You know, the kind all the important people wear.

Well, this week we got an even bigger surprise for the people at Thorngate. It made the news and got folks excited.

The fancy suit-making place is shutting down its sewing department. Over 200 workers will lose their jobs. I guess we won't ever see a presidential candidate speaking there again.

It's sad. It going to be hard for folks around here. Jobs are hard to come by already. Things keep changing — just like Obama said they would.

I hope we see a fix to it all.

Why, just this afternoon, I was in my local discount store and saw some of its new fall collection, Almost all those new clothes were made in Pakistan and Bangladesh.

On the way home, I heard on the radio where Pakistan will shoot American solders if they do things wrong in their country. That's hard to understand. Maybe Rush Limbaugh or some other fancy suit wearer can explain it to me.

I thought the Pakistanis were our friends. Just like in Vietnam, we helped the Pakistani people by giving them millions of dollars.

I got some of their things last year for Christmas. You know, shirts, jackets and sweaters made in Vietnam. I never thought of them as exotic. Not even when we were fighting over there did it ever cross my mind that it would be like this.

I wonder where those items will come from this year — or if we'll have a Christmas at all. It sure won't be an exotic holiday around here. I hope we can get over to see ma and pa. It's kind of tough around here.

Dennis Mayfield is a Jackson resident.