Over the last several decades one thing can be agreed upon, the human interaction gap has spanned, and the search for meaningful connection with one another is stretching to fill the void.
He remembers years ago when his brother had neighbors that came over unannounced too often to drink beer on the porch. Too often was replaced with the loss of those friends and the reflection of days and times gone away. For a long time now we have been living further apart physically and more important; emotionally. That may be changing, and as the plethora of individual resources diminish, the collective approach is looking more appealing.
In a small town in Iowa the last few days underscored this thought. A free guest pass at the old crumbling YMCA provided the backdrop for conversations in the sauna with the elders of the town. “Things eventually will return to the basics” the ex-mayor offered. “In what way” he queried. “Folks are remembering why we all live close by in a town, why we even have an economy, to pool our efforts together for the benefit of all the people” he replied. Another gentleman spoke up, “we rural folks have always used terms like cooperative, collective, and sustainable, to describe how we do things.”
Later, at the Whistle Stop Café, over cups of steaming hot coffee, conversations continued over similar lines. “We had green roofs many years ago in South Dakota, just made sense to insulate with natural materials back then” exclaimed on farmer when asked about alternatives to filling landfills with petroleum-based materials. The fella on the last stool chimed in, “Heck, we had water cisterns (equivalent of rain barrels) a long time ago to capture the rain water and reuse it, stead of wasting it.”
One thing they all agreed upon was the sense of reliance they have with one another. “No one will starve in this town, I guarantee ya” an older but stout woman stated proudly. And pride did seem to be the fundamental emotion running through them all. The fact that city folks are starting to gravitate toward more cooperative living only underscores the fact that nothing here is foreign to us. Humans have known how to get along and survive for a long time. Many of us just need to remember.
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Also, consider checking out
spiesconflictresolutions.blogspot.com
