Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Where are we going?

I live in a section of Tennessee that in my opinion is in the midst of an identity crisis. Houses and commercial buildings are going up at alarming rate. Just within sight of my little base camp I can see houses getting closer and closer to me by the day. I would say that within the past year more or less, there has been at least 100 houses built within 1 mile of my place. Some call it progress. I call it ridiculous! We live in a mountainous region of the state, and in that lies the beauty and the very reason I stay here. I really don't consider an enchanting view of someones back deck to be my idea of the perfect view. Has the almighty dollar became an obsession with us to the point that we are truly endangering the community we live in? Most if not all of these new homes are being built on what once was one of the largest dairy operations in the county. Ever wonder why the price of milk is so high? Well.....it's not rocket science, dairy farms are becoming extinct thereby causing the milk of the products they produce to go nowhere but up. Come on people.....Do you really need a "starter home" that costs more than you could ever hope to afford? It's all well and good to dream but there comes a point that dreams are not dreams any longer, they are more like fantasy. Without fail, homes that are barley one or two years old get sold two or three times because the buyer discover that his or her fantasy doesn't match up quite so well with their income. Be realistic, face facts and stop jumping in the deep end without first learning to swim. You will always loose on those types of deals. The only person who wins is the developer of the property and the bank. They get to sell the home many times over and reap the rewards and cash in on your lack of good judgement.

Now that the preaching is over, I'll get to my original point, the identity crisis. What do we want? Do we want to continue to be a semi secluded mountain region and community or do we want to throw all that to the wind and become another Atlanta? Crime is going up no matter how you measure it. Violent crimes are at astronomical rates in the area. Ever wonder why? It's simple really, too many people, too little space. Everyone is interviewing for the same job that pays $6.50 an hour. What was once a pleasant drive to and from work is now an all out race to the next traffic light. I work in a city with a population of roughly 58,000 people, I live in a community of roughly 4,000 people, I grew up in a community of at most 200 people. There will come a point when the powers that be need to make a very real and historical decision, "What do we want to be"?

Natural resources are still in abundance in this little corner of Tennessee, but that can't last forever. We only need to look at civilizations in antiquity to see that we can't continue on the current path we have taken. It has been discovered and proven that there are many cultures in history that had exploited their resources to the point that entire cultures were wiped from the face of the earth. Do we want this? I sure don't.

Western North Carolina is a decent example of how we could use our natural resources to promote and spawn cottage industry that doesn't adversely impact the path on which we trod. The Pisgah NF is a shining example of what we can be if we choose a different path to travel. The Pisgah is the birth place of forestry in America so it only stands to reason that they would be at the front leading others to a better place of co-existence with nature, natural resources and the environment. They aren't perfect and I'm not saying they do everything right the first time. But they try. that is the difference between Cherokee NF and Pisgah NF. Brevard Nc and the surrounding area is humming with outdoor activity. I have been going there for many years to enjoy exactly the same thing we could have right here in our front yards if we could only be more concerned with watching the tree grow into a massive monument to our belief in who we are, what we are and what we wan' to be, rather than cutting it down to build pallets or another "$180,000 dollar starter home".

Sometimes I suppose I get a little more philosophical than I should or maybe even am allowed to be since my background isn't philosophy. My background is pretty simple when you step back and take a hard look at it. I grew up 2 miles from a landfill that polluted the ground water (we all had wells back then) and is even blamed for the death of at least 2 people that I can recall, one was less than 1 year old. During the Civil War this same valley that was to become a regional landfill had the distinction of being called "Pleasant Valley" had is referred to as such in American history books. Pleasant Valley was home to a small scale mining operation that produced iron and other minerals that was moved by rail to Charleston to manufacture cannons, cannon balls, ammo and other products to fight the cause of Southern America. I'm not getting into the debate of the Southern cause, that isn't the point of this writing. The point is, where is Pleasant Valley now? It doesn't even have that name any longer. It is now and has been Bumpass Cove for as long as any of my ancestors living and dead can remember. As a matter of fact my grandfather worked in those mines as a young man to support his family. Are we all going by the way of Pleasant Valley or are we heading towards a brighter future with all this "progress"?

I spent my nights this week getting Mr. Mountain Bike back in running order. Maybe that's what I need, a little weekend trip out on a few bike trails to make me forget about what I now see out my front door.

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