Small Town Politics

A Quick thought on how Small Towns Run.

from JoeUser Forums
What a downtrodden time of year. Living in small town Indiana. In the winter. Ugh.

Small Town, America would be a nice place to live if your 60 and boring. Staying at home, knowing 75% of people you see at any given moment, personal greetings at the grocery store, all nice things if you grew up in the 50s and longed for the life shown in the fictitious world of “Leave It To Beaver”. But just like Leave It To Beaver, Small towns are fictitious.

Gossip, rumors, hear-say, fuel the adult world of the small town. Drugs, alcohol, and going to the neighboring real town fuel the youth world. Yes, I know it may be hard for some of you to grasp, but I’ve seen and lived it first hand. The adults like to gossip and talk about every one else around them to make themselves feel better. They like to hear gossip because it makes them feel better about the direction (or lack thereof) of there lives and helps there self esteem. The Youth, do to excessive boredom, turn to drugs and drinks to find some way not be be so fucking bored.

Of course not all of them apply. A lot of the ones that are college bound don’t so much apply because college is there escape. They’re the exception, not the rule. I’m mainly referring to the folks that are stuck here and have no urge or see no way of getting out. Just a thought....
1,155 views 1 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
I grew up in one of those towns that you can't wait to get out of. Now that I'm old, 34, I can see the good in those places but it took me living in some dirty, dangerous places before I could appreciate small town living again.

The town I live in isn't so small that you know everybody and we're just 20 miles away from a "real" town so we can still do all the big town stuff but come home to a safe town with good schools - I know I sound boring don't I.

Friendliness in small towns isn't overrated though. Wait until you go to some big city and they would just as soon spit at you as look at you and if you try to talk to someone they just look at you like you're a bug.

When I go home I am always impressed that people hold the door for me, even little kids that haven't been told by their parents. I drive around town and people who don't even know me wave to me. People will let you out in traffic or let you over, that definately doesn't happen in big cities.

And you're right I have to admit that when I was a teenager the thing to do was go out in the country and drink. We used to cruise our big downtown strip hah but the businesses thought we were too crazy and banned it.