There is a small bridge in Greensboro, Maryland that crosses the Choptank river. As is often the case this isn't the first bridge on that spot. The one there now was constructed in 1995, it says so on the pillars. I drive over this bridge often to reach a major road that will lead you into Delaware or the town of Denton. You can gain access to Route 404 from this highway and 404 is the main artery. I noticed that date yesterday, 1995, and thought I remember when that was built. It'll be twenty three years ago this fall. I thought then, an entire generation only knows this one bridge. I wasn't born here but remember the old bridge. Somehow, that is a comfort, knowing that. I guess it all ties in with a sense of belonging. We all want to belong somewhere I think. We all question our existence on this earth and most identify with the place of their birth. It is, after all, where we first arrived. A familiar place. Even when our childhood memories are in a different location most of us will say where we were born. My own sister is an example of that. She grew up in East Hampton, New York but was born in Florida ! If asked, that is the answer see always provided.
I think for many of us that sense of belonging never fully roots anywhere else. I'll always be from Long Island. Some will ask , where is Long Island and I'll say New York state. Then, they will assume I lived in New York city. It's a joke but many seem to believe that is all there is to New York, the city. I chuckled when I first saw the " motto " for the town of Greensboro. It says, " The City " and I thought I've never lived in the City before. A rural farming town, population about 1882 a couple years ago, it is quite the contrast with the " City. " Perhaps it is a city to these folks although the county seat is just a few miles up the road, Denton Maryland population 4388 ! There official motto is, The Garden of America. " A grand claim. But I live in the " city " of Greensboro now and have for close to thirty years. I've gotten a sense of familiarity, if not belonging. My son is a town commissioner and has been for a while now. Born in Baltimore, his feeling is he belongs to Greensboro. Greensboro is his home.
Do I feel like I belong to Greensboro ? The honest answer is no, I do not. Greensboro isn't my home, I don't share a heritage with this town. Do I feel comfortable in this town ? Absolutely and it is a fine town to live in. I have made an effort to assimilate to the town. Fact is, it isn't that difficult as Greensboro isn't that much different than where I grew up. Greensboro has farmers, East Hampton had watermen. There are watermen here too, they are concentrated closer to the water, obviously, but no more than twenty miles or so from Greensboro. East Hampton and the surrounding areas had farmers too, mostly potato farmers and so that lifestyle wasn't unknown to me. There are other similarities as well. The farmland here is being sold to developers just like the farms back on Long Island. Greensboro will obtain suburban status eventually. Give it another few decades. It is all the people that work in the metropolitan areas that want to live in the country ! Well, as long as the country includes all the amenities of the larger towns and cities that is. The same story, different location.
I can't help but feel if I try to make any other claim it would be akin to cultural appropriation. Yes, we hear that a lot these days don't we ? Heritage it is often called. Heritage by definition is inherited, it isn't claimed. I can no more make claim to being a Greensboroite than I can claim a different ethnicity ! Could I fool some people ? Probably so, but to what end ? What could I gain by such a deceit ? Acceptance is the short answer. Funny thing is the only ones being fooled would be those that aren't native to the town anyway. You can't fake that stuff for very long. There are the old names and old places to deal with. Fact is I could go back to my hometown and talk with the generations that have followed mine and they would doubt my nativity. That would be because I wouldn't remember the things they do, simply because I have not lived there in over 45 years. That's two and a half generations ago !
I can't help but wonder. What if we stayed in our hometowns ? It appears that each succeeding generation has moved out. The American dream is independence. That is what we are taught. Get out there in the world and get your own. That fierce independence that made America, America ! Has the American dream stretched the fabric of the nation to its' breaking point ? Is that a contributing factor to what we are seeing today ? Are we losing that sense of belonging ?
It began with our neighborhoods. When our neighborhoods began to fill up with strangers, we began to shutter ourselves. It spread to the town. Soon the residents of the town didn't think or themselves as a town, they belonged to a development or sub-division based on economics. No different than the concept of, what side of the tracks do you live on ? It has progressed from there. Has our country filled up with strangers ? Yes, there are strangers that refuse to join the community. Those that cling to their previous " home " in your backyard. When you do not have attachments, abandoning the past is easy. Have we become disassociated with what America really is ? Traditions become just quaint memories. What was once important, is an amusement. Just leave it all behind. For some it is far easier to just quit, call it a day, and begin new. That's the easier path. Continued maintenance is costly and difficult.
We live in a throw away society now. Throw out the " old " concepts of morality, ethics and accountability. Certainly those men that wrote those founding documents almost 250 years ago couldn't have known what would happen. Those ideas are outdated. Imagine men that didn't feel like they had all the answers, calling on God for guidance. Well, we know it all now ! Take this gun issue for instance. Just take away all the guns and no one gets shot ! See how simple that is. All we need to do is trust the ones with the guns not to shoot us. How foolish was it of James Monroe, Madison, Jefferson and others to think your own government might use guns to rule ! C'mon, we elect these guys. Yup, we sure have learned a lot. The new order will be the old order, just without a King or Dictator. That's much better.
Each generation belongs to a time. No one wishes to see their time gone. In what can only be viewed as irony we are forced to watch it leave. No matter how much we protest, no matter how much we complain, we see it go. But for the wise, it is also a comfort. Time is eternal and will go on. This too shall pass. That isn't to say we should allow it to go quietly. Acceptance is not capitulation. Truth is eternal as well.
I think for many of us that sense of belonging never fully roots anywhere else. I'll always be from Long Island. Some will ask , where is Long Island and I'll say New York state. Then, they will assume I lived in New York city. It's a joke but many seem to believe that is all there is to New York, the city. I chuckled when I first saw the " motto " for the town of Greensboro. It says, " The City " and I thought I've never lived in the City before. A rural farming town, population about 1882 a couple years ago, it is quite the contrast with the " City. " Perhaps it is a city to these folks although the county seat is just a few miles up the road, Denton Maryland population 4388 ! There official motto is, The Garden of America. " A grand claim. But I live in the " city " of Greensboro now and have for close to thirty years. I've gotten a sense of familiarity, if not belonging. My son is a town commissioner and has been for a while now. Born in Baltimore, his feeling is he belongs to Greensboro. Greensboro is his home.
Do I feel like I belong to Greensboro ? The honest answer is no, I do not. Greensboro isn't my home, I don't share a heritage with this town. Do I feel comfortable in this town ? Absolutely and it is a fine town to live in. I have made an effort to assimilate to the town. Fact is, it isn't that difficult as Greensboro isn't that much different than where I grew up. Greensboro has farmers, East Hampton had watermen. There are watermen here too, they are concentrated closer to the water, obviously, but no more than twenty miles or so from Greensboro. East Hampton and the surrounding areas had farmers too, mostly potato farmers and so that lifestyle wasn't unknown to me. There are other similarities as well. The farmland here is being sold to developers just like the farms back on Long Island. Greensboro will obtain suburban status eventually. Give it another few decades. It is all the people that work in the metropolitan areas that want to live in the country ! Well, as long as the country includes all the amenities of the larger towns and cities that is. The same story, different location.
I can't help but feel if I try to make any other claim it would be akin to cultural appropriation. Yes, we hear that a lot these days don't we ? Heritage it is often called. Heritage by definition is inherited, it isn't claimed. I can no more make claim to being a Greensboroite than I can claim a different ethnicity ! Could I fool some people ? Probably so, but to what end ? What could I gain by such a deceit ? Acceptance is the short answer. Funny thing is the only ones being fooled would be those that aren't native to the town anyway. You can't fake that stuff for very long. There are the old names and old places to deal with. Fact is I could go back to my hometown and talk with the generations that have followed mine and they would doubt my nativity. That would be because I wouldn't remember the things they do, simply because I have not lived there in over 45 years. That's two and a half generations ago !
I can't help but wonder. What if we stayed in our hometowns ? It appears that each succeeding generation has moved out. The American dream is independence. That is what we are taught. Get out there in the world and get your own. That fierce independence that made America, America ! Has the American dream stretched the fabric of the nation to its' breaking point ? Is that a contributing factor to what we are seeing today ? Are we losing that sense of belonging ?
It began with our neighborhoods. When our neighborhoods began to fill up with strangers, we began to shutter ourselves. It spread to the town. Soon the residents of the town didn't think or themselves as a town, they belonged to a development or sub-division based on economics. No different than the concept of, what side of the tracks do you live on ? It has progressed from there. Has our country filled up with strangers ? Yes, there are strangers that refuse to join the community. Those that cling to their previous " home " in your backyard. When you do not have attachments, abandoning the past is easy. Have we become disassociated with what America really is ? Traditions become just quaint memories. What was once important, is an amusement. Just leave it all behind. For some it is far easier to just quit, call it a day, and begin new. That's the easier path. Continued maintenance is costly and difficult.
We live in a throw away society now. Throw out the " old " concepts of morality, ethics and accountability. Certainly those men that wrote those founding documents almost 250 years ago couldn't have known what would happen. Those ideas are outdated. Imagine men that didn't feel like they had all the answers, calling on God for guidance. Well, we know it all now ! Take this gun issue for instance. Just take away all the guns and no one gets shot ! See how simple that is. All we need to do is trust the ones with the guns not to shoot us. How foolish was it of James Monroe, Madison, Jefferson and others to think your own government might use guns to rule ! C'mon, we elect these guys. Yup, we sure have learned a lot. The new order will be the old order, just without a King or Dictator. That's much better.
Each generation belongs to a time. No one wishes to see their time gone. In what can only be viewed as irony we are forced to watch it leave. No matter how much we protest, no matter how much we complain, we see it go. But for the wise, it is also a comfort. Time is eternal and will go on. This too shall pass. That isn't to say we should allow it to go quietly. Acceptance is not capitulation. Truth is eternal as well.
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