I was talking with people in my small rural community Saturday, and about now I'm feeling pretty down and 'dumped on'. I've written several times about my community, it has 14 lots ranging from 1 to 5 acres each. We are next to the Corp. of Engineer land that surrounds Stockton Lake in SW Missouri. It is a private community with a private road and our own community well. It is difficult living in a small, rural community because of the diversity of the neighbors. It totally made me realize today how this country has become so politically divided. Everyone has their own agenda.
Saturday started off with a knock on my door about 9 am. It was my neighbor that has taken care of the community well fund for the last 25 years. He had a shoe box of receipts, bank statements, and a cashiers check payable to Turkey Creek Well Fund. When I opened the door he handed it to me and said, "It's all yours...I don't want nothing to do with it any more." This has been coming on for some time, since there has never been a meeting, statement of funds, or any information on the well fund available for people in the community. People in the community were always asking about the well, which happens to sit on my property.
Let me just interrupt that story to tell you about the title, because it was in talking with my neighbors today I learned that a neighbor's Great Dane was shot last week. The owner received a summons from the county law enforcement, a complaint about the dog being a nusance, so the owner shot his dog. It doesn't make any sense at all.
I don't talk national politics with my neighbors anymore, because I know most of them are Republicans. They know I worked for the Obama campaign in 2008, and some blame me for 'the Muslim terrorist' being in the white house. Most just believe everyone in government is corrupt, and we definitely don't need government involved in our lives. Sadly, that's the thinking that has divided this nation and has allowed the corporate media to push their message.
Ok, so I live in a redneck community full of biases, and today I wanted to get everyone in the community to sign off on the well fund being passed into my hands. The guy who passed it off to me said he was tired of all the B.S. He wasn't mad at me, but apparently he'd just had enough. Three out of the 14 lots haven't been paying the water fund and there is not enough in the fund to fix the well if something goes wrong. "You can't get anyone in the community to agree on things", he complained when he left the funds with me. He did sign off on my quickly written up petition to have myself and another neighbor take over responsibility for the well fund. Then I went up the road to see if I could get more signatures. My first visit was with the first house on the street; they keep to themselves and he just listened as I explained the situation. He signed my petition and closed the door without any questions. My second stop was where I got dumped on by 3 different neighbors. "We need to raise the rates so we can fix the well if something goes wrong. We need to have the well tested. We need to have the well cleaned. We need to fix the roof on the well house. We need rock on the road. We need to have a meeting. We need a survey of all the properties. We need to do something about the dogs." That's when I first heard that the Great Dane pup had been shot. My next stop was the neighbor with the Great Danes. I saw he had a large tent up on the back of his property, and he walked towards me as I drove up the driveway. He said, "I hope you're happy now. I had to shoot my dog last week cause I got a summons from the law. My wife threw me out of the house for shooting the dog." I stuttered, "I'm sorry about the dog. I'm not happy that you shot the dog. I don't think that was the best solution." He continued to blame me because his dog was being a nusance. Sure, I had complained to him for the dogs tearing up my garbage. I have had to pick up garbage nearly every week for the last year. I've bungee corded my trash can to the telephone pole and bungee'd the lid closed. The dogs would chew the bungee cords and knock the can over and chew the bungees off the lid and scatter the trash all over. Other neighbors had complained about the dogs too. I know two other neighbors had called the county law. I'd asked them to keep the dogs home, but they told me to shoot them if they were causing problems. I told them I didn't want to shoot the dogs. I just wanted them to stay out of my trash. So now, he wanted to blame me for him shooting his pup. He still has the mother Great Dane and I'm worried about its safety now. WTF is wrong with people! Why can't people be responsible community members?
What have I gotten myself into now? I got 8 out of 14 signatures today for my well fund petition, which will let me and another neighbor issue a fund statement and pay bills for the fund. Some of our neighbors only come for weekends or vacations; they don't live here all year. From my visits with people today I know that some are for raising the rates and some are for leaving them alone. No one wants the government involved, so that dashes my hopes for now of getting renewable energy for our community well. We went 11 days without electricity and without water a few years back after a large ice storm. Everytime the electricity goes out we have no water. We are poor and working class or middle-class. A few are college educated, most are not. We share a community well and that is our bond. Why can't we work together for the good of our community?
It struck me that it's like our nation. We can't gather support for the things the community needs because people don't trust each other, people don't trust the government, people don't want to get involved, people don't like the other people, and they want to be left alone in their fear of the future. Just close the door and don't worry about the future. Fox news and radio programs such as Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity are the norm around here. Climate change? Ha, carbon dioxide is natural in the atmosphere and climate change is a ruse that Al Gore uses to make money, doncha know? That's the kind of crap I heard yesterday. There has to be a change in this country and it starts with each of us doing our part to stop the ignorance and blame. We will not survive as communities or as a nation unless we find points of common interests and work for them. We can not survive on our own. I am not an island by myself in this world and as a civilized society it is time we move beyond darwin's survival of the fittest. That is my hope and prayer for our nation this day.