There’s Hope In Small Towns
As many of you know, I have a weekly podcast that airs on Spotify and Apple called, “The Heart of Rural America.”
The show focuses on entrepreneurs, connectors, doers, innovators, farmers, ranchers, and main street business owners who are creating new opportunities and pathways for young people to succeed in small town USA and the flyover states where we call home.
It’s not politicians advocating for “economic development” through endless spending and building bigger government to prop up mega corporations.
Instead, it’s a focus on the people who have lived and worked in these communities for generations. People who have fought for this way of life. People who have raised their children and grandchildren here. People who still love the hometown church, and the rural schools, and the foundation of community where you have a village of support and people who genuinely care.
The show has offered me the opportunity to connect with folks all over the country. With each interview, I am left inspired, hopeful, and full of energy to continue on my mission of keeping agricultural producers on the land, safe and affordable food on the dinner table, and the entrepreneurial spirit alive and well, not through government but through the private sector in a free and fair capitalist market.
Yet, I’m not naive to the challenges we face in this country — rural main streets often are left with empty buildings of businesses that once were; schools and churches are closing; and fewer young families choose to plant down roots in these quiet that we grew up in.
Those challenges were reflected in an article published in The Atlantic, titled, “How Rural America Steals Girls’ Futures.”
An excerpt from the article reads, “Death in a dying town. The county’s median household income in 2021 was $40,763. Almost everyone goes to an evangelical church, and in the halls of the town’s only high school, everyone know everything about everyone else, or seems to: whom you dated, where you bought your clothes, how you acted on weekend, and even your destiny, inherited from the generations that came before you.”
The overall theme of the article was that there was no hope for young women in small, rural towns. Gossip. Poverty. Hopelessness. Your future set in stone based on your limited friend options and previous generations’ habits and wealth.
The article was clear — Run, girls, run, as fast as you can, to the nearest big city and urban center. There you’ll find careers that pay. There you’ll arts, music, museums, and a culture of success!
Yet, how divisive the article reads — especially in an election year. If they can’t divide us by race or religion or party line, they’ll try to divide us by economic status and rural vs. urban.
The take-home message — folks in rural America are poor and dumb. They have no future. The city’s sophisticated and fast-paced populations are far above the slow and meager country mice.
Give me a break.
Now don’t get me wrong — I believe expanding your outlook on life by traveling and exploring new places around the country is a great thing! However, one of the greatest mistakes we make is outsourcing our best talent and not encouraging them to come back home to start businesses and raise their families.
When I was in college, I had several internships that helped me grow my worldview, with countless lessons and a strong network that I brought back home with me to the family ranch.
In my teens and early 20s, I lived in Washington, D.C., Denver, Minneapolis, and even Argentina. I treasure the memories, the friendships, and the insights gained, and know that each experience played a role in the stepping stones of my career and future.
Yet, when it came time to get married, have children, and start businesses of my own— the concrete jungle of urban metropolises didn’t hold a candle to what awaited for me back at home.
Nowhere in the Atlantic article did it mention the hopelessness, depression, loneliness and despair that so many of our nation’s youth face. Nowhere did it mention the lack of work ethic or the entitlement being bred in our society. Nowhere did it mention the Godless humanism and the general population leaving the church in droves. Nowhere does it mention the rising divorce rates, broken homes, and children being shuffled between parents with eyes set on an iPad. That can be found in urban and rural places alike.
Yet, the solution can only be found by prioritizing community, family, church-life, and building a village of support with friends surrounding you to help you through the ups and downs of life.
That can absolutely be found in small, rural towns, and it doesn’t have to come at the sacrifice of economic, career opportunities. With high speed internet access, mentors, business connections, customers, and entrepreneurial pursuits don’t just have to be limited to the small town you grew up in.
Some of my best friends, colleagues, connections, and business advisors can be found in every state of the union. And at the same time, I am able to raise my four children in a loving home, in a quiet rural setting, in a school where the teachers and parents know our family, with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins close by, and a community of friends who have known us for generations — who at the drop of the hat, would come help us in a crisis.
To The Atlantic — shame on you for your divisive, skewed, and agenda-driven article. There is hope in rural America. There is also love, loyalty, respect, and community. Our future depends on us recognizing that and showing our children and grandchildren the way.
