Everyone knows the 21st century will be an urban century. People have been leaving farms and countryside in a steady stream since the Industrial Revolution began. Nobody seems to have any real vision for what it means to be rural - especially not government policy-makers. It makes me wonder if that's because the people who make policy come from sub-urban and urban backgrounds . . .but, the idea that people can live a fulfilling live in the country (or a very small town where most people are on a first-name / kinship basis) seems to be at odds with today's society.
I grew up in the country. I still miss it - I miss the smell of the air, the rhythm of the seasons, the woodsmoke (the wood heat!!), cold brooks, big stars, earthy gardens and silence so thick you can drink it in. And I used to bike 2 kms on fall and spring mornings to get to Debec Elementary School, where my extended and immediate family have attended since it began in the 1960's.
Soon DES is closing, and with it another chapter of rural life - along with the passenger trains, the barn raisings, the end of horsepower and the blacksmith, and locally-raised food. I know the 21st century will be a liberating one in many ways - notably for women and the LGBT community worldwide - but I also wish little Debec Elementary had a place in that century. I owe it a lot.
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