Much to my delight, this humble blog of mine was mentioned on MY96, a local radio station, this morning. I believe that in the last 24 hours this blog has received more attention than it has since its conception, a detail that I am not at all opposed to! Before I get into the meat of the post I simply wanted to thank local DJ Grant Buchanan for that.

I can see why people would think that a city should act like a city and town should act like a town. The higher the population the more work there is to maintain a degree of order. There is a huge difference between the two of course – this is not a point I would ever argue.

However, when people hear the words ‘small town mentality’ I think they can’t help but wince. After all it is a label that is given with nothing less than horror and derision.

Yet other than the stereotype that involves a lack of privacy, what is so terrible about it? Heaven forbid that those in a city would know kindness, consideration, have a low crime rate and a sense of community. I can’t see a single thing wrong with the ability to come together as a group when tragedy strikes. What greater success would there be than a city that manages to maintain some aspects of the small town mentality?

No matter where I move to in this life of mine, big city or small, I hope I never become so jaded as to believe I need to become the kind of person who would be inconsiderate to others simple because they may have inconvenienced me. I am not so naive as to think that all of the 60,000+ people who live in this city are quality individuals, but for the moment I will give each one of them the benefit of the doubt, and treat them with the respect that any human would deserve.

Perhaps it is because I would like to believe in the fundamental goodness of the human race, but I would like to think that this kind of small town opinion would do far more to benefit the residents of a city than it would to harm them.

Viva la CHAIR!

:)