Community & Entertainment at Gregg Motley

The final part of my analysis on why rural America is shrinking has to do with growing cultural trends of preference for entertainment experiences and electronic filtering of relationships through social media. This assessment is more empirical than statistical, but current lifestyle trends are certainly more suited to urban living than traditional rural experiences.

For example, some of my fondest memories of my youth are sitting on the front porch of my grandparents’ house, overlooking the bandstand in the center of the town square in a farming community of 1,300 people. We husked corn, beans, peas and cleaned fish while listening to the St. Louis Cardinals on the radio. My most magical summer was “Chairman of 1964,” the year the Phillies collapsed in the final two weeks of the baseball season and were overtaken by my red-hot Cardinals. It was an experience that brought together families and communities across the Midwest.

Seven of my city-raised kids turn pale at the thought of spending a summer listening to the radio, gossiping about religion, politics, world and local news, and sports. My 11 grandchildren will ask about the strength of the WiFi signal on the porch and tolerate it until they are allowed to access their game consoles again. Do I sound like I’ve lived 70 years?

Most of us can identify with this huge generation gap on one side or the other. It remains to be seen whether social media, games, exotic vacations, movies, binge TV shows, etc. are healthier and more constructive than sitting on the front porch, but one thing is for sure: cultural changes have severely impacted small communities of perceived value . The “brain drain” of our best and brightest to large jobs in major universities and big cities continues with no end in sight.

What can or should rural communities do to address this megatrend that is causing us to lose our population so badly? We certainly can’t compete with the entertainment and shopping venues of major metropolises, and it would be foolish to try to a large extent. To provide the next generation of world-class job options, we will have difficulty recruiting Fortune 500 companies in our county. We should do everything we can to popularize high-speed internet access throughout the county.

I believe we need to be who we are: a place that provides time for community and contemplation; a place with natural advantages and the social and recreational aspects that come with it; a place with history, at one of the most pivotal periods in American history One played an important role; a place where there was time to love and be loved. Sounds like heaven to me.

We need to be the best Bourbon County. We must rely on each other, support each other, and jointly cultivate mutual trust in the county. One day our culture will want what we have again, and I think that represents the best of human nature. Meanwhile, we wait, we work, we pray, we connect, we build…together.

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