Change From Within

Change means more than change in Washington, though of course that kind of change is important. But change in southern West Virginia, means confronting some pretty big problems with a new way of looking at things.

Historically since the 1960's anyway, McDowell County in particular looked to outside resources to improve life here. Whether it was the “War on Poverty” or even networking as families either left the region one way or another, the tendency to look outside ourselves was reinforced in ways that effect us to this day.

The image and device called change, that is so powerfully expressed in the 2008 election is probably more or equally important to McDowell County, than nearly any place in the United States. Gracing the bottom of too many lists in American statistics, McDowell's numbers may in some instances be of our own making.

While we may have missed the times of prosperity in our nation in the national goals to integrate our mountains into the national presence as well, the time is both right and ripe for us to look at this goal from our perspective rather than other's perspective. This in the opinion of not a few, is where the “War on Poverty” may have failed.

The greater truth, is that we live in one of the most temperate beautiful mountainous regions on earth. Even adjacent regions in the mountains often are not so diverse, complex, temperate and for us I'm sure beautiful.

And we live in a region where early settlers were willing to do near story-book like amounts of work to find ways to live in our rugged beautiful mountains, long before tools were common to make this work easier. And the diverse people who came to southern West Virginia to mine the coal were equally hard working and for many, create color and culture that give the very idea of multi-culturalism it's validity.

Moreover, the modesty of rural mountainous lifestyles that was seen as poverty in the early days of the “War on Poverty”, simply was rarely poverty in the spirit that it was presented. Different? Yes. This dynamic has actually been true among mountain communities globally, when people look from the outside to the inside of a region, and then interpret what they see from that outside looking in perspective.

But today, several things are coming together in the spirit of 'change', but also in broader social trends that in ways, express that those who have persisted in our region were correct all along. Not the least of these new resources is technology. But what people are doing with technology provides the opportunity for we in southern West Virginia to get back to the business of living and now thriving in our beautiful mountains.

Profound changes in how we can deliver health-care, education, and just basic information are maturing quickly, though we are just learning to understand and hopefully use these resources. But the ability to just get back to basics and underwrite our lifestyles is very very exciting in today's world. We no longer have to step aside and say, 'it was just not meant to me', when that challenge presents itself..

But this local/regional perspective is something that we have also always known about, a reality that people adjacent to urban centers all over the nation are only beginning to, actually re-learn about. Building a lifestyle locally from the ground up, has become the new sophistication as ideas such as local food production and sustainability mature along with technology.

But that outside looking in thing mentioned earlier, really has not been very effective--some feel harmful even. When in our small towns, communities and county seats we could once aspire to send our children to Julliard on some levels, we are now sending them to drug recovery centers. Based on this reality alone, one may interpret that the “War on Poverty” failed in many ways.

Let us give the benefit of doubt and say that “The War on Poverty” was grounded in good intentions. The good Lord knows, our region's military history was grounded in good intentions. So during this election as we think about change and “Wars on Poverty”, it's time to really take leadership in addressing our problems, but in some exciting, and renewed ways, simply building on what we already knew and learned by living in rural mountains—and take this leadership based on what we know rather than what others may thing we 'should know'.

I will get this review of change started by suggesting that change starts small, and that change starts modestly—perhaps at home and in our own families. . Further, change means finding ways to simply take care of one's most basic needs. But in today's world, just the information resources in helping take care of ourselves are truly phenomenal—especially on a basic level . Considering myself a master gardener, has truly been ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration; and, I define master as simply underwriting a lifestyle from my own efforts that has both quality and variety.

For example, I've not had an issue in over fifteen years or so, that I could not resolve by researching on the internet. Also, as I learned to add things to my gardens, my success rate was much greater simply because I knew how to ask the right questions. What are those spots on the grapes?

But my experience goes beyond that. I can now use technology to help learn about the more advanced things I'd like to understand in creating a life. And finally, my mountain common sense know how to share the things I have extra in helping my friends and family either benefit from the things I've learned, or simply sharing the extra produce from the gardens.

So in starting a discussion of change, my input into the environment is as follows. Simply use technology to learn how to be successful at simple things that truly add quality to your life. Whether it's learning how to grow things not commonly grown here, or reconstituting skills that keep us warm or healthy, technology is present that will allow nearly anyone, to live anywhere, with satisfaction.

Then learn how to share freely, not only in one's comfort zone, but with anyone really. My vision of change is to help build not only a farmer's market concept in the War areas eventually, but to do some other things that really do have to come from the ground up. This building modestly and in real terms is the spirit of grassroots in a way that takes the idea out of the committee meeting, and into the communities.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama makes the point elegantly about a “sense of urgency”. This sense of urgency is nowhere more obvious than right here at home. And given our current environment I think are learning clearly, that it is we average people who now must steward change on our own terms.

This blog will discuss some ways at looking at the change aspect of grassroots efforts over time. Often ideas make it to the discussion and recorded level, but just do not make it into action. Change in McDowell will by necessity come out of committee meetings and into the lives of average people in terms that we in McDowell County can understand and use.