Small Town Living- Not What It Used To Be

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I was born and raised in a small town, where people knew my parents, my grandparents, my older sister and it was common for your parents to hear about your wrong doings before the time you got home.  (Obviously not me, as I was a small child.)  A place where small town meant home and the city was the city.  There were events that brought mountain folk together, festivals that made you want to get out of the house and join in.

Something has changed in the last 20 years, or more realistically, the last 30 years...  People from the city have decided to join my small town, but instead of taking the mountain slower pace of life for what it was- a change came about.  Not necessarily bad, but not very good either.  Soon there were talks of becoming a city.  Events were cancelled as people complained, no more festivals as there was no longer an active interest from the residents.

Things change- but here they didn't change for the better.  People have gotten greedy and have forgotten what small life is.  Small town life is being able to close roads for a 4th of July festival, having a jazz night, enjoying fishing your local lake, taking the trails for afternoon strolls- all without the fear of being ticketed or worse having your vehicle towed.  Organizations can say it is for maintenance but in reality it is just another wad of cash in a big corporate pocket.

In addition to all of this so called "change," residents have gotten lazy and taken on the "manana" attitude and hope that everything comes out ok, even if it means tapping into their own pocket book to avoid confrontation.  We have lost accountability and allowed unscrupulous people to have the upper hand.  Many feel at a loss as to what we can do to change it.

One word- accountability.

We need to be accountable for the visions we see of our futures, our homes, our towns and furthermore we need to be accountable to make others accountable.  Sure bitching and whining on facebook and other social media outlets is a good way to voice frustration, but the problem is that the people we are trying to make accountable don't read these rants.  They take them as nay-sayers with nothing better to do.  We need a sense of community, we need to stand up for what is right for our small mountain town and furthermore we need to STOP allowing ourselves to cajoled by using terms like "better for the community" and "local business".

It is high time we come together, as a community and stop allowing ourselves to be taken advantage of.