Regular readers of this column (when it was a regular column) know that I grew up in a small town called Greensboro near Greene County. People who grew up in small towns have similar experiences, and to some extent people who grew up in cities with many neighborhoods have similar experiences.
In small towns you can see people up close and they are watching you. There is constant interaction. Your school teacher is also your customer when you work at the store, your neighbor’s pew at church on Sundays, and maybe even your cousin. People in small towns can’t hide who they are, and they can’t hide who they are. Everyone knows someone who can’t stand money, drinking, or love. And there’s gossip that you’re guaranteed to keep up with.
Small towns are hard on introverts and designed for extroverts. Because life is a constant cycle of interaction, and we encounter people everywhere. And people ask how you are and your spouse and kids and your mom and dad congratulate them. heart.
You live under the watchful eye of others, but there is also a built-in sense of forgiveness. You may have changed and people will say, oh, he’s always been like that since he was a kid. His father was like that. You can feel sorry, and those who have always known you will forgive.
The important thing is that small towns are life’s laboratories, where you can find just about any type of person you’ll ever meet, so that when you go out into the wider world you’ll know yourself pretty well. It means that it becomes. Human nature in all its manifestations. You’ve seen them up close before. You know their type.
Athens has always been a unique small town for those who grow up here. Because Athens is home to the university and all the temporary students and faculty from all over the world, as well as the fans who come here for sports. But people who grew up here know each other in the same way that we, who became Athenians along the way, will never know. Because we’re not from here.
Still, the fact that it is a university city has always given Athens an attitude of accepting newcomers and evaluating them on their merits. During my eventful career here, I have found many opportunities to have friendly interactions with political opponents. When I was part of the group that was charged with trespassing (twice) for his sit-in in the UGA president’s office, I was able to enjoy after-hours drinks with the prosecutors. “Mr. McCommons was definitely honest, but so was Adolf Hitler.”
In later years, despite intense political struggles, flagpole, was always welcome at the local Republican Party’s annual Christmas party. Our old adversaries welcomed us with warm smiles and overlooked our rash attacks while we forgave their mispolitics.
But the last time I stopped by for a Christmas party, it was a room full of strangers. No drinks, just a sit-down dinner. They couldn’t understand who I was and I couldn’t understand who they were. I made excuses and relaxed.
Since then, I have lost contact with others and lost touch with them. I hope Republicans and Democrats can still enjoy a beer together, but I worry that the Trump era has changed everything here too. There are signs that it is no longer possible to separate politics from personal relationships. I hope I’m wrong, but I think it’s unlikely that a group campaigning for a book to be banned will later enjoy a beer with the people they just confronted, and vice versa.
The salvation of politics is the give and take of ideas, understanding that none of us is always right, none of us are always in control, and that, like a small town, it takes a certain amount of patience to accept differences. That’s true. . But when politics becomes a religion, there is no discussion, no opportunity for honest debate, and opponents become enemies. This is how we lose our democracy and our republic. That’s why small towns avoid discussing religion and politics.
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