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My
small rural town in the 1950s was a close community where it was understood
that each life impacted the entire town.
If there was an illness or injury, no one needed to ask for help. Assistance flowed into that family’s home.
There
was an understood, unspoken responsibility each person maintained for the
people of the town. If one had an
alcohol addiction or was mentally unstable, everyone
knew about it. Everyone cared about what happened. And, each family actively supervised their
problem. What this one person did
affected every other person.
Many
many years after I had grown and left this town, things changed. A generation died off; my generation relocated
where there were jobs. The dynamics
shifted and new unknown people moved into the emptied houses. This was a different town.
There
was a boy who was odd—that’s what my mother called him. When he was in school,
no programs or aid had existed for this boy who was essentially barely able to
button his shirt, let alone talk or read.
When he was about ten, his parents kept him home and attended to his
needs.
One
day, this mentally disturbed and developmentally delayed boy (now grown to a man)
went to the grade school. Thirty years
had passed since he had been there, but this man still possessed great anger
about those years in the back of a classroom where he was teased and
belittled. Angry about the teacher who had
been ‘unkind’, he took a double-barreled shotgun with him.
There
was a confrontation, but everyone knew him and was able to prevent what
could have been horrific. The teacher
retired shortly after.
If this
happened in my small hometown in the 1980s, why is it any surprise that crazy
events happen now…most people live in one town and work in another…neighbors
come and go…most towns have been merged with other towns into one big city glop…
Be
watchful and speak up. See someone
behaving strangely? Call the police. Don’t ignore the obvious signs of
danger. Pay attention. Keep yourself and others safe. The responsibility is ours.
