What can a modern urban and cyber society learn from small-town living?
I’ve always thought of small towns as a microcosm of American life. A character in my novel Old Dogs and Children says, “You can’t stay mad at somebody when you have to look ’em in the eye every day.” That’s not universally true, but in small towns, people have to learn to get along with each other, warts and all, because there’s no place to hide. You may not like a fellow, but you have to sit next to him in church and at the high school football game, so you learn to accommodate. There’s a tremendous diversity of people in my hometown, and they don’t all like each other all the time, but they manage to get along. That’s what America’s about — managing to find ways to make things work despite our differences. Then too, in a small town, you can’t help but see what other people need. When they’re hurting, down on their luck, in need of a helping hand, they’re right there in front of you. You can’t ignore the brotherhood thing. So you develop this sense of community out of both shared ne
