There are many things I am currently reflecting. Unfortunately for you all, none of them are developed enough for me to share in this venue. And in this particular instance, my writing it all out on a blog would only create more internal upheaval, so it's best I not go there. However, there were two comments made this last week that have some interesting food for thought. Both of them are somehow related to family or community.
Over the last few weeks I have been visiting a chiropractor which has proven quite helpful with a problem I've had since, well pretty near elementary school, actually. He is a very nice man who utilizes the latest technology rather than the old-fashioned manual manipulations. He is the only one in my area (or at least in Kewanee) that uses this method. During my visit this week, he mentioned how it was nice to see a young, educated person stay in the area. His own daughter sought to pursue her career for elementary education in Washington state. She had spent some time teaching in the Chicago Public School system, which was what she thought she really wanted, but found this other school out in Washington and relocated. He observed how young people don't like to stay in the area because of the limited opportunities, yet wouldn't these opportunities be created if there were some people who stayed to create them. How can an area develop without these sorts of educated individuals willing to create businesses that provide opportunities or introduce ideas that encourage growth? If children from non-urban areas who earn an education continue to move to urban areas for the lifestyle or to reach professional goals, where does that leave these non-urban areas? It leaves them in the hands of the small segment of the population that does have some level of higher education or to the majority of the population that doesn't. It's playing into a vicious cycle where certain areas will be developed to meet the needs of the educated while others that have the potential to meet those needs can't reach that potential because there's no expectation to do so. It's an issue of supply and demand. Without a demand of young, educated individuals to create businesses in an area, there won't be any.
Does this mean I'm going to feel inclined to stay in my area even if I decide farming isn't what I want to do? Not necessarily. I'm only suggesting that it is an interesting consideration that people my age don't necessarily consider. As we graduate from college and desperately seek employment, we notice the trend in where the jobs are. Some of us are willing to relocate to these urban centers sometimes hundreds of miles from home. There are others of us who are not. Sometimes it is a matter of financial stability. Sometimes it is how despite a person being willing to relocate because they feel stifled at home, no jobs have opened up yet and it is financial suicide to move to a particular locale without that necessary employment first. And sometimes it is purely a matter of fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure. Fear of growing up. Fear of success. "Fear of success," you might be asking yourselves. Why would anyone be afraid of success? Success is a good thing. Earning success by honest means, by using your own intelligence and skills, should be something everyone aspires to. And success is defined differently by every individual. But if achieving that success requires you grow and act and think in ways that separate you from the life you know, people can be afraid of it. They are afraid of what the implications of that success are. That they are no longer accepted into the community that raised them. That they are no longer the person they hoped to become. Yet they enjoy the success that brought these changes. I realize that there is a very fine line here because if you did earn your success than these changes would have happened at your own prompting or at least had been accepted during the process. Still, I don't think it is difficult to fear success. And once that kind of fear, founded or not, takes hold, there are problems. Fear can be a healthy thing. Largely, I think it's because that at some point, it pushes you into action. Your body cannot function on fear alone. It overloads your systems. When these other systems start to feel this, something in you finally takes hold and gives you a big slap in the face. You get tired of living in fear. Living in fear is exhausting, emotionally and physically. At some point, you start to realize that taking whatever risk you were afraid to take is better than this constant exhaustion. It's just a matter of whether you have to hit rock bottom before you have this realization. Sometimes you do. Sometimes you see what's coming and decide to act before it happens. It depends on the person and their situation.
Well, I guess this became something it wasn't meant to be. Looks like I did need to think some things through via the blogosphere. The second thought I had this week related more directly with family. It is about new legislation that would prevent farms from employing anyone under the age of 16. If this law passed, anyone below the age of 16 couldn't operate any machinery, work with livestock, or work with chemicals. Only this last is one I agree with. The question comes from the small, family farmer. What about our teaching our children values? Teaching a work ethic? Understanding the value of a honest day's work? Needing to work and earn what you get? What about organizations like 4-H and FFA who teach children and young adults leadership skills? So many kids work with livestock projects in 4-H and FFA and those projects give them savings for college. Do people not realize that if you work with your animal, get grand champion or reserve grand champion at the 4-H fair and decide to sell your animal at the auction, you get thousands of dollars? Most kids put that money in savings and have a nice nest egg by the time they get to college. It is especially true of kids who do the show circuit. What about family farms whose survival depends on every member of that family contributing? There is no harm in teaching a 14-year-old to drive in an empty field, then let them move machinery from point A to point B once they learn how. Yes, farming is dangerous. Yes, there are certain tasks that kids shouldn't do. But if you are talking about the family farm (which is mostly who you are dealing with because large corporate businesses really couldn't legally hire anyone younger than 16 not to mention the fact that having a valid driver's license is a must for those kind of farms), most parents are not going to knowingly endanger their children. My dad never let my sister or I work in a silo or bin or work with chemicals or climb a silo or drive certain equipment. Safety was always first. And I would suspect that 90% of all family farmers feel the same way and act appropriately. Sigh. This legislation is still under debate, but I feel strongly enough that I intend to write to my representative. I just can't see how this would work, not to mention how it would be enforced. Unless a farm is acting in such a way that lives are in danger (that goes for animal lives as well), the government has no business telling us how to get our work done. What are they going to do, have inspectors come and record whether a 14-year-old halters their yearling steer for the 4-H show? Really? How do you think that would work? There is a place for regulations, and this doesn't seem to be one of them.
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