Wake up call
Growing up, I never had to worry about walking down the street in my town alone.
I was never scared being home alone, and my family never locks our house.
I am from a small town, and when I say “small” I mean less than 600 people.
I grew up in a comfortable neighborhood that hardly ever had trouble with crime unless you count high school kids stealing street signs on weekends.
The only reason I locked my car at school was so nobody could play a trick on me over lunch break and hide it somewhere.
Now that I live in Fargo, I had a rude awakening to what the rest of the world is like.
This became even clearer after I heard about Mindy Morgenstern, the girl from Valley City who was murdered.
I know people who live in that same apartment building and it scares me to think that something like that could happen to someone I know.
It definitely makes me more aware of what’s going on around me and how over-trusting I am of complete strangers.
In my hometown of Turtle Lake, ND, strangers are generally treated like anyone else in community.
Morgenstern was from New Salem, a town whose population contained only about 300 more people than Turtle Lake.
It’s kind of a rude awakening for me.
I wave at everyone when I’m driving around and on occasion almost catch myself doing it even here in Fargo.
I’m also the type of person who will smile at you in Wal-Mart if we make eye contact.
That’s just the way I am and I never stop to think that maybe it could get me in trouble someday if I’m not careful.
I even get surprised when I hear about someone getting harassed or almost abducted in parking lots.
I’m reluctant to admit it but I think that in some ways, growing up in a small town has made me naïve to what its like in the real world.
Although it has always been a dream of mine, I’m not sure if I would be able to handle living in a big city like Minneapolis, and I definitely couldn’t fathom New York City or Los Angeles.
I don’t want my children to grow up in a world where walking to your vehicle can be considered dangerous.
So I wonder which is better — growing up in a small town, sheltered by the absence of crime and the generosity of the whole neighborhood — or is it better to grow up in a larger city, being fully aware of what’s going on around you and knowing fully what could happen to you if you let your guard down.
It’s scary to think about where our country might be ten or twenty years down the road. Will there be many small towns left?
I sure hope so because I personally believe that even though you miss out on some things, a small town can in some cases be the best way to grow up, but then again, I’m pretty partial to small town life.