cultures

My intention this morning was to take two photographs to illustrate the clash of culture that is occurring in our area. Heavily developed and rural agricultural communities are living side-by-side without a buffer zone of any type. I remember traveling from the open ocean to the inner coastline of Belize, and understanding the importance of the dense Mangrove swamps with buffered the transition between salt and fresh water ecospheres. In culture, as in nature, this buffer zone is important.

I intended an mildly amusing post demonstrating my premise that we are perhaps the only place in the United States where a Coach handbag store.......



stands within 2.5 miles of this scene:



which is Johnsen's Livestock Feed and Supply store - closed on Wednesdays, by the way.

I was running a few errands early so stores at the lifestyle mall were closed when I pulled in front of Coach to snap the photo. What happened next slammed me back into the reality of this culture-encroaching-culture scenario. I sat there for less than two minutes, and one unmarked and one marked security detail approached. I was stunned and pulled away slowly, they followed for quite a distance and then turned away to attend to some other danger, real or imagined.

We have chosen our communities because we value the connection, trust and cooperation that they provide. The advancing development is bringing the opposite - mistrust, crime and suspicion and people who are disconnected. Does crime exist in rural communities? Yes, but rarely in our community and even more rarely committed by someone in our midst. you are not very likely to commit a crime against a man you know, and one whom you might need to depend on for your survival.

The Johnsen's employ a security force also - a big dog that runs out to the roadway and barks at you a bit. There lies the difference and hence there lies the problem for us.