"in America, perhaps more than any other place, and in the South, perhaps more than any other region, we go back to our homes in dreams and memories, hoping it remains what it was on a lazy, still summer's day twenty years ago."

-Willie Morris, North Towards Home

last night, i listed my home and family on a list of my top 5 most favorite things. maybe because they were fresh in my mind from spending several weeks in louisville this summer, but i know i'd include them any time of the year. as noted mississippi author willie morris recalled in the above quote, we really do like to think that all of those former memories still exist and that a town is as unchanged as ever. as i rode down the streets of my childhood, i remembered many things that were once common. and yet, things were changing all around me. we don't think of change in our small towns as an ever-present force. we like to think that things move at a slow pace and under a watchful, guarding eye. however, our small towns are changing rapidly; they have given way to modernization and globalization just like our large cities and our nation. the main street and downtown area of my hometown has had to gain its footing as wal-mart and many other chain businesses move to another, more busy, area of town. this leaves behind ugly, ill-maintained (if maintained at all) buildings that are an eyesore. are schools are failing our children as well, leaving them with the urge to get away as soon as they are handed a diploma.

are we willing to accept this as a by-product of the changing times? are we going to look up one day and see a ghost town for a main street and dwindling numbers as our population? our small towns have just as large of a part in the workings of our nation. a strong and committed local government is crucial to the thriving of our towns. don't abandon the places we love, the places that hold our memories and hearts, because it may require a little work. and don't shut your eyes to the transformations around you. because one day you may return, be it twenty years or twenty days later, and you will see a changed town just as i did. i didn't include my hometown on that list because my family lives there, or because its where i return every few months. i wrote it down because i love all that it was and is and that it can be. and because i have a passion for it. one day i will be back, for as willie morris stated in his book, "i would never wander very far away."