The following article was written by Walter Boomsma in the spring of 2009 as part of a National Grange Essay Contest… and it won second place!
One of my greater pleasures in life is attempting to explain the origins and purpose of this organization called “the Grange” to excited third graders as part of our “Words for Thirds” program. I start by attempting to determine what they already know and I’ll always remember the young girl who waved her hand enthusiastically and announced “I was born there.”
It took a little thinking to realize she’d heard me say “LaGrange” – one of the small, rural communities here in Maine. Her answer was certainly amusing, but it was also insightful and telling. Like the organization she was learning about she was proud of her roots and heritage. She announced her connection and kinship to LaGrange just as enthusiastically as I announce my connection to the Grange.
That sense of connection attracts people to rural small-town America. But even small towns are experiencing a “social disconnect” as things like regional school systems and “social networking” using the Internet change the traditional model of community. We now have cell phones, PDAs and computers to stay “connected” with people – in many cases people we only rarely see and certainly can’t touch.
But beneath all the communicating, we still want
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