Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Small Towns

I spent a few days in a small town in Southern Alberta last month. I was there for my uncle’s funeral, but it was the first time I’d ever visited his town. I have always lived in the city and imagined life in a small town to be so boring. No movie theatres, no big auditoriums, concerts, sports centres, no fancy restaurants, just less stuff going on altogether. I went for a few walks in this town, and I realized that I could walk from one end to the other in about half an hour. The population was about 1000 people. Even though it was small, it had everything you might need right there on main street: grocery store, hardware store, post office, second-hand store, department store, cafĂ©, bookstore, library, funeral home, furniture store, accountants and lawyer’s office, and a senior’s centre. It was so nice, so quaint, so comfortable, so easy.

I suddenly realized that in many ways, it would be EASIER to live a low-impact lifestyle in a small farming community than it is in the city. I live in a really nice residential neighbourhood in the middle of the city, but there are practically NO services within walking distance. Obviously, we have all the services that you could possibly dream of, but I need a car to them. Sometimes, when I’m running errands, I try to imagine how I would go about doing it by bus. One or two hours of errands would be a full-day ordeal by bus or bicycle.

On the weekend, I went for a walk around my neighbourhood, and I realized that there are probably about 1000 homes in my community. The size of my neighbourhood is almost exactly the same size as my uncle’s small town. I bet that there is at least one teacher, doctor, nurse, veterinarian, accountant, restaurant owner, physiotherapist, lawyer, carpenter, plumber, electrician, mechanic, and every other type of service I could ever need right here in my own community.

My uncle knew hundreds of people in his town. I think he knew almost everyone. I hardly know anyone in my neighbourhood. I recognize about 2 dozen families from my children’s school or soccer or from the playground, but that is hardly the same as knowing them. My city is filled with these little neighbourhoods full of people who hardly know each other. Some areas are better than others, I suppose. Some places have very active community leagues while others are begging for volunteers.

I just wonder what it would be like if each neighbourhood was organized like a small town, and the people in it acted like we lived in a small town. What if we had a little “main street” with our own post office, drug store, grocery store, doctor’s office, etc. What if more of our friends lived within walking distance, instead of spread across the city?

Maybe the first step to living more lightly is to get to know your neighbours.