Times Flies, But to Where?

How things change.

This aardvark was born and raised in a very typical American small town.  But back in those days, it was a thriving small town.  There was one primary employer, but it wasn’t the only one around.  Manufacturing was still in vogue in those days, and there were plenty of jobs, of opportunity, around.

And since there were major employers around, there were other businesses in this town.  Of course, there was a Wal-Mart.  What average-sized community doesn’t have one of those in this time?  It was almost always busy, filled with customers who had money to spend.  I worked at our local Wal-Mart many years ago.  There were times it would be busy until 2 or 3 in the morning, when a lot of the locals who worked evening shift jobs would come in and shop after work.

And like flies following a cow, other businesses followed where the Wal-Mart went.  The plaza in our town was always bustling, always busy.  There was a grocery store there, a clothing store, an electronics shop, a couple of other stores, and 2-3 eateries in this little plaza.

The town itself was always moving.  There were multiple grocery stores, a plethora of locally-owned businesses, and fast food restaurants popped up like weeds in this town.  It was rare that you could drive through our little community without encountering traffice almost as far as the eye could see.

Sunday afternoons tended to be the one exception to this.  Like most rural villages like mine, a lot of people were church-goers.  There would always be a spike of activity on Sunday morning, with people first going to their house of worship, and then to Sunday lunch.  After that, things would die down for a spell.  But in small-town America, there was also Sunday evening worship. So of course, the traffic would pick back up some around 4:30 – 5:00 or so.  And after church, some of the die hards would go hang out at the fast food joint of their choice.  Maybe some late-evening grocery shopping, a last-second errand, something of that nature.

Which is what led me to writing this week’s post.

Over the holidays, I had to make a couple of brief trips into my small town, my home town, actually.  I rarely venture there these days.  My job takes me in a totally different direction, as does my social life.  I knew it wasn’t the same place that I grew up in. I think that’s the case for everyone.  It’s never like you remember it.  But wow.  How things have changed over the years.

The big employer changed hands, and is a shell of what it used to be.  Most of the manufacturing jobs disappeared from our town, just like the rest of the country.  The Wal-Mart maybe employs a third as many people as it did when I was there.  That plaza it’s in?  It’s still busy, but nowhere near like it was.  More often than not, it only has a fourth of the cars in the parking lot that it used to have.

The grocery stores are still there, but nowhere near as busy.  A lot of the locally owned businesses dried up and shut down.  Of course, you always have newer shops pop up, filled with hope of prosperity.  But, they, too, tend to disappear in the wind.  One or two of the fast food places shut down.  Even some of the ones that are there … well, I don’t see how they stay open, based on the lack of traffic I see around them.

My most recent trip to my small town was just last weekend.  I had visited my home town from time to time in the past, but this time, it just really struck me.  It was around 5:00 on Sunday, and the town just had a feeling of impending death over it.  Even the Sunday evening go-to-church traffic wasn’t there. The “main street” of town was practically empty, not even many cars driving to somewhere else.  Just stillness.  The local Wal-Mart plaza was mostly empty.  Even the grocery store lots seemed to be barren.

I recently read an article about another small town, a couple of hours from my own.  The article talked about how, in spite of the best efforts of everyone there, this particular town was dying away, little by little.  It talked about how no one really had any answers.  The locals.  The politicians (on both sides).  No one.  It was just a fact of life.

And then I drove through my small town.

The town in the article was in the heart of coal country.  That industry is on the decline, and it talked about how that town tried to change its economic focus, but that those efforts were failing.  But my small town isn’t like that.  It had a lot of manufacturing, but hasn’t been very successful in replacing that.  A lot of younger people are leaving my small town, because they really don’t have a choice.

Yes, things change.  That’s just part of life.  And a lot of times, change can be a positive thing.  But in this case, I’m not so sure.

I guess I see what passes for people’s values in this day and age, and I think maybe this world could still use some of those small-town values that used to be.

But life, and time, marches on…..