Sean Dengler.

What I loved and miss from growing up in a rural town is everybody knows everybody. This is a double-edged sword because everyone can be up in everyone’s business. It might not be like stories I have heard from the past where people listened to other people’s phone conversations when lines were shared, but words can spread fast in a small community.

When thinking about the better parts of everybody knows everybody, it is when the eye doctor, the insurance agent, the teacher, and other professions show up in diverse ways across one’s life. Seeing each other in the community and outside of their typical role matters. Big cities can also be similar nor are all small communities exempt from this rule but having this aspect builds a level of trust.

If I own a business and live and participate in the community, it would be bad business to act maliciously towards my customers or perform actions where my integrity is compromised. This builds connectivity between people. What is happening in society is the opposite of this. In rural areas, where schools close, stores close, farms consolidate, it leads to the tearing of this connectivity fabric.

The connection between the person’s role and their participation in society is missing. It hurts society. When we are left with less independent business owners, everyone feels more part of the system. Consolidation has led to people being a cog in the system while they are making someone in a far-off distant land to make their money. Wealth is not staying in the community.

When this issue builds upon itself, this leads to the push of individualism. It is not that everything should be collectivism, but when everyone looks out for themselves and only focuses on getting their paycheck, it is at society’s loss. When the diverse types of careers and business owners’ paths are shut off due to consolidation, a sense of community is lost.

This sense of community is lost in Urbandale when visiting the larger chain stores. Some of it comes from not knowing everyone, and being able to go incognito is nice at times. This aspect of when doing business only goes through large chains not associated with the community makes building a community and keeping this connection tougher. When the economy has consolidated into fewer businesses, it is harder to maintain this connectivity and believing in each other is tougher.

This lack of connectivity leads to distrust, angst, and to what we are seeing in society as whole. Maybe this is how it has always been, but as made evident by the documentary, Join or Die, declining community engagement is creating the issues we see in society. Humans are meant to connect with each other. They should see their doctor, their mechanic, and whoever else in various aspects of life.

Traer and Dysart gave this opportunity. I am forever grateful for this part to see what is possible. Maintaining these connections and communities in cities small and large will matter in the years ahead. Sticking together is more important than anything because we are all humans. Getting to know who we interact with is the first step in building a community.

Sean Dengler is a writer, comedian, now-retired beginning farmer, and host of the Pandaring Talk podcast who grew up on a farm between Traer and Dysart. You can reach him at sean.h.dengler@gmail.com.