Small Towns

Dear Editors and Community Members,

There has been a big flap over a song and an artist that purports to speak for the small town and what one can’t do in a small town. The wording is: “Try that”. I thought I would think a bit on this and about my own experience in a small town.

I can write a check in my small town and it is accepted without question as all the proprietors know me and know my check is good. Heck, I can pretty much write a check in my small county and the next county over. I can even say that I will get back in the day or even tomorrow as I forgot my checkbook. I will not be chased down and put in a choke hold or kneeled on or punched in the face by the local gendarme even if I should innocently pass a bogus tinder of a US bill. There will be legal and just procedures.

I can check on my neighbor and have a friendly hello to any in the neighborhood or town, even if our very firm views about politics are different. I, as a Democrat, have hugged and have gotten hugs back from Republicans, in a couple of small towns within our county. Now that is a mark of a small town. There are no threats or shunning.

I also know from my children and my own experience that there are places in cities and suburbs that have this same kind of “small town community”. We have experienced it from California to New York, NYC no less. We also know that there are those on the edges… those that have been purposely pushed to the fringes. It is done usually by policy. It is done by “that’s the way it is or that’s the way it’s always been done, and what can one do?”

Whether we are in a small town, (Downieville is one of the smallest, with Sierra County one of the smallest counties), in one of the largest states, WE MUST BE ENGAGED in these communities. There is always something, whether large or small, that each of us can contribute in the most positive way. Please do.

Your neighbor,

Linda Guffin