Changes

As we come into a new year, change should be on everyone's mind. While some change is good and beneficial, other is not. The change that I noticed is in the country, not the United States, but the rural lands that support agriculture.

35 years ago, when I first drove on back roads, everyone I waved to waved back. Some even waved without a start from me. One pathetic specimen saw my beard and gave me the finger. I was on those same roads last week. Not one in five folk responded to my waves, neither the drivers nor the folks on the side of the road. What's happening?

Rural communities are losing their young people. There aren't enough jobs or possibilities to hold them. They leave to seek life elsewhere and seldom return. Even farmers are affected by the current trends... especially that of demanding instant gratification of wishes. Farming just doesn't give a person instant gratification.

There has been a trend toward the idea that a business that doesn't grow dies. That's just not true. Small stores and restaurants have stayed in business for years without needing to grow. They keep their customers by giving them quality products and good service. People come back to them time after time; and their children do it too. The drive to constant growth is mostly driven by the stock market and those who invest in it. It is that drive that has changed business' outlook from the long haul to the next quarter's bottom line. That kind of short sightedness can only hurt, eventually.

None of this is new. An ancient Roman once moaned, "Ah tempore, ah mores." Our mistakes haven't changed much in two thousand years. But then, neither have we.