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Blog 512 – 01.02.2016

A Tribute To Small Town
I was not born in a small town but in the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Just down Rossville Boulevard where I spent most of my young years is a small town called Rossville. Small as it is it straddles the state line between Tennessee and Georgia. So I grew up having the best of both worlds, being a city boy but also very much a small town boy. I heard one of John Melloncamp’s hit songs, Small Town, again recently and it is a wonderful tribute to small towns. He sings, ” I was born in a small town.” And goes on to innumerate many of the great things that happen in small towns.
Many great people come from small town and many more live and die in small towns. It has been my privilege for most of the last six years that I have lived on the road to have lived most of that time in small towns: Livonia, Michigan; Kenai, Alaska; Baggs, Wyoming; Loveland, Colorado; Hudson, Colorado; Delta, Colorado; Crawfordsville, Indiana; Naperville, Illinois; Joliet, Illinois; Fultondale, Alabama; Lone Rock, Wisconsin; and Mineral Point, Wisconsin to name a few. I have seen hundreds of other small towns in my travels with my work and it has been quite a change after spending most of my life in the big city of Houston, Texas. That seems now like a lifetime ago – like a different life.

A dear and beloved friend expressing some frustration with my wandering life claimed I no longer had a place in my life for her – Not true. Another dear and beloved friend that I reconnected with through social media over a year ago said he was grateful to have me back in his life even at a distance. I commented back that in this wonderful dream world that we live in distance like many other things is illusion. Love is real and people in small towns seem to sense that more than big city folk.

The Desiderata, that I quote in its entirety below typifies small town life as it should be, life as I think it should be. We should live deliberately, consciously, on purpose. And in the big scheme of things we have but one purpose – to love and to be. And if that sounds like two it is not for we are love and it is our true and only being. Thank you, for all the small towns where people still take time to be.
 Desiderata 
“Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for there will always be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe; no less than the trees and the stars, you have the right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labours and aspirations in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace with your soul. With all its sham drudgery and broken dreams it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.” 
 – Attributed to Max Ehrmann 1927
Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White