“People say that a large family was raised in this old house long ago, and that it was a real pretty place, with a lovely garden and roses climbing all over it. It was full of little children and laughter and songs; now it’s empty, and nothing ever wanders through ‘cept the wind. How lonely and sorrowful it must feel to those who once lived here. Perhaps they all come back on moonlit nights…the ghosts of the little children of long ago and the roses and the songs…and for a little while this old house can dream that it’s young and joyous again.”
~Lucy Maud Montgomery, taken from Anne of Avonlea
By nature, people who inhabit the Great Plains are resolute in their will to survive. They are accustomed to hard work and they accept the reality that life can be unfair. To cope, they have been taught by their ancestors to temper their expectations and dream small dreams.
For me, I think it’s precisely this mindset that makes failure particularly heartbreaking in the Middle West. More often than not, it seems like a lot of decent people spend their whole lives trying to make ends meet by working a small, insignificant piece of land and, after all is said and done, some banker winds up with everything.
The disintegration of small farms throughout the Midwest has become one of the most visible economic and cultural tragedies of the last 30 years.
What do you think?