Like lots of people raised in the sticks, we were taught that everyone living within a few miles of us was our neighbor and that being a good neighbor means pitching in whenever needed. It means driving an elderly neighbor to medical appointments or the store, or giving a different neighbor a ride to work after they get an OUI. It means plowing someone’s driveway just because you can, checking on people during power outages, or helping stop a controlled burn that’s gotten out of hand. It means inviting someone to hunt on a woodlot, or gifting venison after you hunt on that woodlot. It means trading and donating childcare, baby things, and outgrown kids clothing. It means shared work parties for big building projects and inviting people into your yard for maple sugaring near the end of winter. It means helping those with less formal education or resources navigate any of the various bureaucracies that the world asks us to navigate. It means helping those with less experiential expertise or knowledge navigate things like using a chainsaw, canning, or basic house repairs.
All of the above also means engaging in what I think of as gentle gossip: gossip that may be a bit nosy but is never malicious. Instead, gentle gossip functions kind of like an ultra local paper in that it’s a bunch of information relevant to your community, and whose intent is not harm but awareness, including of who needs help at any time.
Anyway, what I’ve been thinking about lately is that one thing being a good neighbor didn’t mean was that you had to be friends with any of these people or agree with them about world events or share their views. Nor did it mean turning a blind eye. It just meant that proximity can be its own kind of affinity and a starting point.
LINKS:
“The Last Generation” is a photo essay by Bob Miller about Jackie Allen Jr., a farmer in Kentucky who’s facing the reality that the family farm likely ends with him.
“The Pride of Rural Life and the Push to Leave it Behind!” Jean R. Francis of Kansas State on said push: “My dad no longer wants me to come back.”
“Little Medicine Thing” features North Carolina herbalist Emma Dupree in her own words; I learned about this video reading Khalilah L. Liptrot of THE BLACK THIRD.
“A Secret History of Psychosis” is set in New York state. I was struck by the dignified way Ellen Barry portrays Cohen Miles-Rath, Randy Rath, and their rural home.
“Chuck Norris Played Too Good a Bad Guy to Stay One” Christ Klimek on the man who gave the world Walker Texas Ranger. (Must admit I don’t really get the title.)