Grow Clay County
Have you ever heard the phrase, "Just do it?" Of course you have. But time and again, we find that there is more talking than doing. Have you heard the phrase, "You're not from around here." I have, and it is hurtful. Beyond emotion, however, it speaks to something darker about human nature. It summarizes all the local rural areas in America. The Midwest is a big place. It is sad to think about it as a patchwork of "around heres" that elevate their own self-worth based upon where they came out of their momma, and how long momma's family have been there, and so on, etc. To base one's self worth or perceived intelligence on a locale is just ignorant.
I have lived in Kansas for 8 years now. I claimed my first Homestead Refund on my taxes for the first time last year. I am officially a homesteader. I am no different from the people who got their free 160 acres 150 years ago, nor the cabbage patch rejects who fell off or were pushed off the back of the wagon in the great westward expansion. I am the same as anyone who was born alive and has half a brain, regardless of my relative geographical location for the past some-odd years. But time and again, the first question that I am asked by strangers and business people alike is, "where are you from," In some moods, I reply that I am from a certain part of my mother's anatomy. That doesn't go over well, but it gets my point across. Being asked if I am from around here makes me feel like someone is calling me the n-word. It also make me sad for them.
More importantly, this local attitude stifles life, growth, creativity, and general happiness... in everyone. I have never lived in a place where people feel more free to take everything you have said in a casual conversation and spread it all over town within 5 minutes. It's as if everyone is a collective "we" and you are an "it." And we are superior to it, by some arbitrary self-righteousness. Jesus said to be righteous. Not self-righteous. So it is also surprising that people who claim to be good Christians are the ones running their mouths the most.
But moreover, it just erodes basic common courtesy and a sense of duty to the public as a whole. Customer service suffers. Local government service, public service, constitutionality, a magnanimous sense of universality, all die slowly, until we are left with a bunch of people who just want to gnaw at each other and sap all of the happiness out of life. There is no Esprit de Corps, except for the people who fake it to try and make others look sad. It's a competition of fools, with the brinksmanship leading to just a pale pallor of despair in ineffectiveness.
I say stay frosty. Welcome outsiders with open arms and hearts. Give people a chance. Rome wasn't built in a day. If you want to Grow Clay County, then stop asking people where they are from. They are from here.