We Live Here

We are reaching a point in America's social fabric where soon 70% of the population will live in an urban area. Boy, if that's not a statistic that makes you think we are all followers, I don't know what is. 7 in 10 Americans will soon not know where their food comes from, they will not know what a farm or ranch looks like, they will not understand what sense of community and strength of personal character it takes to live isolated from large crowds, Walmart, Target and....gasp....dare I say Starbucks! (I mean that too, being away from decent coffee can wear you down real quick.) And that's okay, no really it is. I don't want more people living near me. You don't pack up your bags, head to the upper Midwest in your early twenties and find yourself living in Brule County, South Dakota, and not love the wide open space. More people aren't going to move here, but I would sure like to keep the one's we have.

More importantly, I would like for people to look at rural communities, and small towns and see that there is opportunity, if you want to live the lifestyle. I don't want people to crave small town living, but never come to it because they don't see opportunity. The latter is what worries me. It worries me to see moms, dads, aunts, uncles and grandparents tell their children to leave, to go some where they can 'spread their wings' or 'make a difference,' because you know what, you can make a difference no matter where you are. Size does not matter.

We have been our own worst enemy. Change has to start from within, and frankly small towns across this country, but particularly in the Midwest, have done a terrible job of keeping our youth. We have raised them, educated them, given them sense of community and understanding of responsibility. And then lined them up and pushed them out on the first ticket towards what we view as opportunity. After all, big dreams can't happen in a small town can they? Surely no one wants to raise a child that wants to stay back in the family business, or that wants to open a local small town store. Or, heaven forbid, teach at a small rural school. See, that's where I think the problem starts. We all want our kids to be succesful, and I ask, successful against whose measuring stick? Is it success to move to the huge urban centers in America and follow the same path as well over half of all other American's? Is the only way to success working for big box companies, living in standard cookie cutter housing? Success to not only not understand but not even know where your food sources come from? There is no doubt that it is for some people, and I respect and support their life choice. I am happy we have large cities and I love to visit them. But purposefully pushing our children from rural hometowns and not just supporting their choices but convincing them that no matter what, no matter how much they miss us, love us, want to be part of our community - it's just not the successful choice. That's plain silly.

This sounds absurd, that a small close knit community wouldn't want to grow it's own, keep those that want to stay. Sociologists study it, they've written books, lots of books in recent years, around the drain rural America is seeing. "Hollowing Out the Middle: The Rural Brain Drain and What It Means for America" (http://www.amazon.com/Hollowing-Out-Middle-Rural-America/dp/0807006149) is a great read- heavy read but enlightening none the less. We know we like to push the young people out of the community and we know we aren't really friendly to outsiders that want to come into our community. That sounds like a winning formula and we keep allowing it to happen.

We have to stop it right now. We have to find a way to connect early and effectively with kids. I'm not talking about teenagers, I am talking about 7 and 8 year olds. That's when we need to start to make the strong connection that the small town they are growing up in needs them just as much or even more than the big world beyond. I'm not saying the big world beyond doesn't need experienced - because believe you me, it does.

It is time that small towns and rural communities change their thinking. We can teach our children that they can live big in a small town. We can stop telling them they need to live some where else to live their dreams, because, frankly that is just not true. Let's start showing our young children, as early as we can, that being part of a small community is important. That we need them, we need their ideas, their hands, their hearts. Embrace the opportunity we have to work side by side and hand in hand with our future and stop the cycle of telling our children we aren't good enough.