town hall meeting....

Last night I had the privilege of getting together with my rural neighbours while attending a meeting about the urban development and upcoming road changes to my area that is being projected over the next 25 years. We are a community fortunate enough to live close to urban development but having property nestled within farmers fields and wildlife. The surrounding towns want apart of our untouched community and therefore road work and budgets are planned which will greatly impact our rural living. We were a strong force to be reckoned with last night with over 40 people showing up representing a 2km stretch of road hoping to maintain the status quo and stalling the future changes. I meet old man Tom, an 86 year old senior that was born in his home and has lived in this community all his life...in fact his picture was on the wall in the room of that town hall where our meeting took place. His young picture smiling back at us representing himself as the first legion member and community organizer. Farmer Don spoke about attending school in the one room brick house beside mine and travelling with his school mates out back throwing sticks into the ravine and chasing the girls on his tractor. Others spoke about the numerous wildlife sightings waking up to deer in their yard and falling asleep to the sounds of howling coyotes. One lady spoke with emotion as she retold her story about her families farming business and how she woke up at the crack of dawn to help her daddy harvest. This community I moved into is not just a place where I live...this community has a past...a history with faces and I can greatly empathize with their resistance to change...letting go of the past is saying goodbye and they are not ready to forget. We came away from the meeting feeling someone vindicated that our stories were heard but knowing that final decisions are made by the bureaucrats. My community will change over the next 25 years but the people that started it will be known to all those who come into my home when I share their stories of the past never forgetting how I was so fortunate to be apart of it.