Arnold, CA…We have been covering our little corners of small town America for over 15 years now. Over the last few years we have had the growing conviction like many of you that our society is in need. Our bonds as communities and countrymen are fraying and breaking.

The things that ostensibly were designed to bring us together are tearing us apart. Take social media for example, we are all “friends” and “groups” now right? We have moved what were analog connections in the physical world to digital ones based on our “interests” and “connections”. In the digital world choices are binary either on or off. In the real analog world Frenemy is a very useful and vital category.

Connections in the real world are analog & nuanced. In the real world in our small communities we actually know our neighbors, business people, educators, law enforcement & elected officials. They are people we know and if not trust believe are working on what they believe is the best solution.

Sure, we disagree, disappoint and fail to measure up to not only each others expectations but our own. We know however that in spite of or maybe because of our limitations that when it matters our communities come through.

We have seen it during Rim & Butte Fires, storms, droughts, horrific crime events, deaths, business failures & beginnings. We have seen it through our annual community events, celebrations, parades, frog jumps & more.

Here locally you know who is doing their best to move the community forward and those who aren’t. Very rarely does this fall along neat party or political lines. We all know people who on paper or by professed ideological positions we agree with but are actually destructive to our communities.

We also know people with whom we know we disagree on many issues that are invaluable in keeping our little corner of the world moving forward. We can disagree on politics and still know when push comes to shove they will do the right thing. In our increasingly algorithm driven world all of this is lost.

Here we know were all in life’s journey together! Each business, each school, each job & each member of our communities matter. It isn’t a theoretical exercise as these business owners, teachers, healthcare workers, law enforcement and more are actually our friends and neighbors.

In major metropolitan markets the community bonds are fraying, increasingly broken or literally burning down. Solving problems doesn’t seem to matter as long there is someone to blame.

Seeing the world right now would you rather be in Minneapolis, New York, LA or here? I would choose here as at least we can still agree to disagree on some issues and actively work together on most others.

Maybe it’s time for the cities to learn from us for change.