Hey Aldean, I was raised in a small town. Let me tell ya' 'bout it . . .

[AndyS]

56. Oh Demobrat, I understand exactly what you say.

I grew up on a small family farm a few miles outside that town I wrote about. It was an idyllic life. As a child I wandered the fields, woods and streams around me. I learned to love all the critters that walked swam or crawled around me. I actually had a horse that I rode to herd farm animals. A jug-headed mustang named Maxie. Those memories and the way I lived move me today and is one of the reasons I took up photography. https://andyshanks.smugmug.com/

Still that doesn't change the hearts and minds of the people who are isolated there and feed on each other's insecurities and fears. It is an incestuous world like a snake eating it's own tail. I was one of those people until I left and found the other side of reality.

I lived a life surrounded by beauty, hard work, responsibility and all the things I posted in the OP. I've spent a lot of my life trying to reach the hearts of my own family. So far without success.

I will say this though; all the grandchildren are pretty far left. It may only be another generation or so until things change. Sad to say we just have to wait for the older generation to die off.