Community

This was published in the March 25, 2021 edition of The Fish Wrap.

The lock downs and isolation of our ongoing pandemic give us a chance to pause and reflect on the qualities that make life worth living. Many are looking forward to ‘getting back to normal’ but what are we really yearning for? Suicide and deaths of despair were rising steadily even before the pandemic. Most of our food is shipped thousands of miles and we rely on Walmart, Dollar General and huge corporations for most of the products used in our community. Politics and entertainment have become fused, meaning our leisure time is spent on doom-scrolling social media, streaming entertainment and polarized politics at our fingertips.

What did you miss most during lockdown? Going to church? Eating in a restaurant and running into old friends? Chatting with your work buddies over the coffee maker? Sharing a holiday meal with 4 generations of your family? Making a new friend at the senior center? What we miss are the things that make us part of a community.

What if what we are yearning for is not the normal of 2 years ago but rather the normal rural ag community of 100 years ago? Local farmers grew food and there was a grocer, butcher, baker and mill in every little town. We came together to help each other through hard times and celebrated our good times together. 

We can get back to the community that enriches us. Our community will not be saved by windmills, solar farms, Bayer, or either political party. We can organize solutions at the local level. It could start with helping families in need get fresh, healthy foods. We could entertain each other with community events. Remember when you could be friends with someone who had different political beliefs than you? We were united by our reliance on each other.