Yes, I am being glib. Yes, this is a bit tongue in cheek.
Saying there are a few hippies in Portland is like saying there are a few dogs at the Westminster Dog Show. Portland is progressive. We recycle everything. There are two different buttons on the toilets that change how much water is used. The light-bulbs are the kind that burst out unflattering light and last for forever. There is a giant farmer's market across the street from where I live.
As far as cities go, this is a pretty "green" thinking one.
So it's understandable that people here are fairly idealistic. I mean, how can you want to be extreme about your carbon footprint and NOT be an idealist?
As you know, we're talking about the Zapatista movement. Last time, I was pretty upset. In fact, I'm still pretty upset. But that's beyond the point. The Zapatistas were interested in making it so the indigenous people of the Chiapas region could be able to farm the land that belongs to them in a way that would be sustainable to their community. The Mexican government was (and still is) interested in giving this land to companies that will turn it into industrialized farms. This is not the model the indigenous Mayan people want. Obviously.
So my class (filled with hippies) got into this discussion about farming practices and urbanization. We talked about the fact that the Zapatistas have used the internet to transmit their cause to the world. The consensus amongst some of my classmates was that urbanization is bad and we should all have our own plots of land so we can be "sustainable."
So, my opinion of all of this is that subsistence farming works for Chiapas. It doesn't necessarily work for the US. But that doesn't mean that we are in some kind of wrong and they are in the right. Nor does it mean we're right and they're wrong.
When it comes to culture, there is no "right" answer. I feel like I've stressed this before, but I'll mention it again. We cannot pass judgement on a culture unless we have lived a life there and we can truly relate to their way of life. Not to mention, any kind of comparison is ethnocentric; you cannot make a claim that some culture is "wrong" or "right" unless you're using your own culture as a comparing base.
And it is pretty entertaining to listen to a bunch of city kids talk about how wonderful subsistence agriculture is. It's pretty funny to listen to people who have no clue about farming talk about how it is the best way to live.
I grew up in Boise, Idaho. We all know this. And after struggling with my identity for what felt to be an eternity, I will be the first to say I am a hick. I've been to Cabela's. I have a knife collection. I have had to herd cattle before, and I've seen a bear on my porch. I've ridden a horse; for the record I hated it. I've gone on hayrides. I've been to corn mazes. Stetsons are cool. Guns aren't a big deal. I am a hick. It's okay; quite frankly, it could be worse. But I am also a city kid. I grew up in a city- as small as it may be, Boise's still a city. I found amusement in dropping things off the roofs of parking garages. I can jay-walk like a New Yorker.
And so I feel I have a foot in each realm. I can relate to a rancher and an accountant. So when I hear someone romanticize farming, I can't help but laugh.
I mean, are you kidding me?
Without urbanization, we would not have most of our modern medical technologies. Or laptops. Or those infernal iPads.
Farming is necessary for our society. But it isn't easy. The people making these claims have probably not dealt with rogue cows. My guess is that if handed a shotgun, they would flip out. These are the kind of people who are shocked to find out I carry a three-inch knife in my pocket. It's silly.
My mom pointed out a good thought. Most cities on the Pacific Coast tend to think along East Coast lines. They're not like Denver or Salt Lake. They don't know many ranchers. When these people talk about farms, I can't help but think of a Vermont dairy farm. They're thinking of some clean little farmhouse and the big red barn. I have some news for these people- this isn't what farming looks like in the West. In the West, if you live in a rural area, you go to the grocery store, like Costco, once a month. You drive an F-150. You probably own a tractor.
And it is not a nice life. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of good things about it. But there are a few bad things, too. The opportunities at Cascade High School are not quite as numerous as those found at Boise High. 4H is pretty big. You neighbor is probably a good fifteen-minute walk away.
City people tend to view rural life through rose-colored glasses. Take, as an example, a family up at my cabin that is from Eagle, Idaho. Now, they are from the new Eagle- the one that involves planned communities and stucco-covered buildings. The one that looks like someone flew it up from California. Now, these people bought property out in the middle of nowhere and built a log cabin- not Little House on the Prairie style, more like plasma screen in every room style. They put a salt-lick on their porch because they thought it would be cute if they got some deer to come and visit. Because, you know, we all love Bambi.
Instead, they got a dozen cattle camped out around their place. The fence was down a ways down the line, and the cattle figured shade and a block of salt was as good as it gets. The guy who owned the place was furious and immediately tried to sue the owners of the cattle. The wrong owners. In the wrong county.
I mean, what did he expect? If he wanted tame wilderness, (oh, the irony) he should have bought a place in McCall. Or Sun Valley. Or Pasadena. Here he was, romanticizing what a place in the middle of nowhere should look like. Instead, what he got was reality. And he tried to sue someone over it.
People from a rural setting are probably going to go with what they know; same thing with people from an urban setting. We can only help but romanticize the other side of the fence- certainly, I thought moving to Portland and living in a city would be awesome. Instead, I realized I was happy with the culture in which I resided. I think that if we all just stopped trying to tell each other how to live, our own lives would get better. If you want to live on a farm, that's fine. But making an assertion like "everyone should live on farms" is like saying "everyone should only be in heterosexual relationships" or "everyone should vote Republican." I'm tired of listening to people talk about what everyone else is doing wrong. Why don't we all work on what we're doing in our own lives.
And, I realize I'm rambling. Again. I guess I just think it's interesting when people glamorize rural life, when for so long I glamorized what it would be like to live in a city. There's no right way to live life, and the sooner we stop telling each other how to live, the better.
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