Homecoming Day
The following may seem like a departure from our normal title blogs, but hey, how much can you really say about title work? Since we're here to bring calm, give space, and make room, why not use that space for a thought or two about the deeper waters that we all paddle around every day but rarely have the time to look into? The next few blogs are going to wander a bit further afield as we reflect on life, land, home, and whatnot. Enjoy!
Having once put his hand into the ground
seeding there what he hopes will outlast him,
a man has made a marriage with his place,
and if he leaves it his flesh will ache to go back.
-- “The Current” Wendell Berry
Restless America
There is something in the American blood that makes us restless. You could say that restlessness is our inheritance, passed down to us from our immigrant ancestors. John Steinbeck described this phenomenon perfectly in his travelogue Travels with Charley: “I saw in their eyes something I was to see over and over in every part of the nation- a burning desire to go, to move, to get under way, anyplace, away from any Here.” The Germans have a word for it: Sehnsucht. Sehnsucht is a longing for something; a kind of sweet, painful homesickness, that drives us to search for Home. It is the same impulse that brought our ancestors to this continent, and that drove the bravest west until they hit the opposite coast, it’s what spurred the creation of these immigrant villages that we call home here in Central Texas. We all experience it. The impulse is strongest in our youth when we’re full of piss and vinegar, but I imagine a tinge of that longing exists until we take our last breath. We all long for home– even the rolling stone longs for a place of permanence.
Whether it’s because of our restless American blood, or the mobility that modern life affords us, the reality is that many struggle to find a place of permanence to set down roots. If you happen to have a conversation with someone in Boston or New York, the likelihood of them being homegrown native is slight. If there’s a Whole Foods in the neighborhood, there’s a good chance that gentrification has already pushed out the longstanding locals. What you have left is a hodgepodge of young professionals from every corner of the country. You can easily spot them— they order cortados from an app on their iPhone, carry around a satchel containing another Apple product, and they walk everywhere fast, looking at nothing, seemingly going nowhere with AirPods in their ears and New Balance shoes on their feet. They’ve cast off any vestige of the culture in which they were reared. They’ve become city people: citizens of the world, anchored to nothing, tethered to nowhere.
Dandelion seeds or acorns?
Constantly picking up and leaving a place is akin to repeatedly repotting an oak tree: there might be some growth, but it will never be able to grow thick, solid, and tall unless it is planted in the earth in a single location. Caricatures of backcountry hicks who have never left their hometown may come to mind, but think rather of the ancient oak that’s become a fixture in the land, giving shade and a home to birds, squirrels, and insects. Committing to a place does not equate with backwardness or simple-mindedness. Rather, setting down roots is an opportunity to grow and expand in ways that aren’t possible in a transient life. It means creating something that will outlast you, that you pass down to successive generations to continue building on. In the simplest terms possible, it means stability.
Perhaps we're being a bit unfair to the transient and the yuppie. The truth is, many of them would love to build their careers and settle down in the place where they grew up. But they just can’t afford to, especially if they grew up in Fredericksburg. There simply aren’t many opportunities in here to jump from a college degree into an affordable living. So they leave home and move to the city, take their talents with them, and invest their gifts elsewhere.
Native Kentuckian author Wendell Berry wrote that “People are motivated to care for land to the extent that their interest in it is direct, dependable and permanent…there must be a mutuality of belonging: they must feel that the land belongs to them, that they belong to it, and that this belonging is a settled and unthreatened fact.” As is, even those who feel they belong to a place don’t have the means or the recourse to stay. Fredericksburg, for many, is no different.
It feels like home, but…
The things we love about our town attract people from all over: rural charm, quaintness, a sense of history, and a place where people know their neighbors. It appeals because they feel they can speak their minds and get back a vision of small-town America that is vanishing with astounding swiftness. In a word, people find a home here. That’s because we’ve had generations of families commit to this place and have worked hard to make Fredericksburg what it is. There are deep roots here, but often the next generation leave for college and then head to the big city. Few return to invest their talents and continue the traditions and memories of our community. But does it have to be that way? Why can’t our younger generation settle here and raise their families too?
The fact is, it is just darn expensive to live here. There is a great amount of wealth – but few ways of making it. So really the point of this blog is to ask some questions. How do we provide opportunities for younger generations to live here? To buy a home and raise their families?
There are no easy answers, but we felt like it would be good to ask them. Berry writes that “as the children depart, generation after generation, the place loses its memory of itself, which is its history and its culture.” Plainly stated, if the young have to leave to establish their careers, what will Fredericksburg become? We don't want it to look something like a Floridan retirement community: pensioners sitting on fat nest eggs, playing shuffleboard and bridge, waiting for the day they come before St. Peter’s gates.
Let's make this town a home for generations
Fredericksburg is a great town that is worth loving and caring for and it's got a solid foundation to continue building on. But to be a real place, the younger generations need to be able to find their feet and make their own way here. We need them to raise their families here to preserve and build onto the memory of our town. Otherwise, we’re just sending our youngest and brightest as a tribute to the city. Even if our young leave, whether, for education or a job, we have to make Fredericksburg the place they long to return to (and can afford to live in).
Lots of questions and few answers means space for a conversation. What do you think? Let us know. If these musings made you think of someone who would be interested in joining the conversation, forward this blog on to them and bring them into the conversation.