What Have We Become?

Sometimes the universe is subtle. Other times, it plops a billboard in front of you. This is a story about the latter of the two. I’m writing this after a day of hiking in record high temps in God’s country as part of my annual get away to the UP of Michigan. It is a time of reflection, rejuvenation, and relaxing. Today was no exception – but this cobbled together billboard outside of Paradise, Michigan provided some clarity.

 When did signs like this become ok?

This comes on the heels of our local library posting the agenda on Facebook for its upcoming meeting – only to have someone from neighboring Bayfield proceed to call everyone who lives in Iron River Nazis, after bragging about her inclusive Carnegie Library where all are welcome. The comments were hurtful, yet so outrageous, you cannot help but wonder why someone would say these things about an entire community. Frankly, about anyone.

Then again, is it?

A more subtle editorial from a Washburn resident points out our unhealthy restaurants they see as they drive through our community and somehow that becomes the foundation of an argument about the values of our community.

Really?

Multiple individuals continue to proclaim they represent the moral compass of the place I call home. That somehow their voice matters more than mine when it comes to how I feel about parenting, religious, inclusion, and frankly humanity – that somehow if they just keep yelling enough – their voice is the only voice that matters.

What happened?

What happened to if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all? I’m not saying be silenced. I’m suggesting that perhaps we recognize that words matter. People matter. That many of us are in fact doing the best we can with the tools available to us today. That before you judge us, you take a moment to get to know us and our community.

Our community, like yours, is full of complex problems and people. But, we are more than that. I see an incredible community of individuals who care. I see an active VFW with a Friday Night Fish Fry. A community center with a new playground and pavilion built by volunteers and paid for by the Lion’s Club. An incredible thrift shop run by area churches, fundraisers for friends and neighbors in hard times, Fish and Chicks, Blueberry Festival, a Community Thanksgiving Dinner, produce and food distribution, an incredibly active PTO supported by area businesses, donated rafts at our local beaches, a phenomenal library, well-maintained ATV trails and so much more.

Sure, we cannot seem to make the economics work for a year-round coffee shop. Economics are tough. Drugs are present. Housing is scarce. Broken homes are all too real. But show me a rural community that isn’t struggling with similar hardships?

It is easy to point fingers when you don’t live here. It is easy to judge us when you don’t get to know us. Facebook makes it all too easy to say whatever you want – without thinking of who might be on the receiving end.

I’m not known for being Pollyana. If anything, I’m the Eeyore of my gang. I’ve been known to say things I regret or lash out at someone in haste. After all I’m human. But, seeing this board outside Paradise, on my way to hike in some of the most prestigious wilderness around, I couldn’t help but wonder how we got here and more importantly, where do I go from here.

The words of Michelle Obama keep ringing in my head – “when they go low, we go high.”

I love living in rural Wisconsin. Sure, it has its moments, like any complex relationship does. But at the end of the day, it is home for me. And for those who keep trying to tear it down, I’ll still be here defending it. And my little library. And the people that make this place so great. 

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