Darby Rural

Can’t Go Back

Why do stories of bygone good ole days always end with a wistful sigh?  Then a long pause, the conversation shifts and we return to soul numbing reality; working hard to achieve the “American dream.”  Why do so many of us continue slogging through life half asleep?  We have the wisdom of the past to rely on, let’s use it.  We can’t go back, but we can make the future what we want it to be.  Day after day, we are offered new wisdom through experience.  These day after days have been stacking up for generations, so we ought to have a well proven library of wisdom.  Are we awake enough to use it? 

What makes rural life and the good ole days so good?  Since we can’t go back – what wisdom can we bring forward?  A few hundred years ago we started a country.  We did it differently than anyone else in history.  Our country was built by people who were self-sufficient, free and engaged together in the kind of life they believed in.  When something threatened that life, they fought against it.  There is an example and a lesson here.  First, we must know what kind of life we want to fight for and second, we must be aware of what is happening around us.  With the amount of information coming at us, it should be impossible to miss what is happening.  But, it’s hard to hear a heart beat in a noisy crowd.  And that’s the problem.

We are not hearing our hearts or the past.  Lessons and examples are unheeded.  The American Dream has become about quick and easy.  We have allowed life to become pudgy and soft with comfort and entertainment.  Avoiding discomfort and inconvenience is the highest goal.  That is not enough.  Quick and easy does not allow for; deep relationship (too messy), cause driven adventure, passion, idealism, sacrifice, danger or inspiring glory.  There are no good stories told about quick and easy. 

Wake up, engage in your life.  Figure out who you are and what you want.  Share life with your neighbor.  Try the rural, small town approach.  It made us what we are today.  Let’s not let it fade away.

Rural life is not about geography, it is about the heart - Alan Darby