Friday, May. 16, 2008
Hanging on to small-town charm
By PATRICK McDONALD
Teen Scene Writer
Those were the days. A rural town that once had one high school separated into two campuses, a Wal-Mart, and two fast food places rocketed into a city with four high schools, a thousand stores, an even bigger Wal-Mart, and fatty foods on every corner. All this growth in just a matter of 10 years. Within a decade, we’re a legitimate city. Is this a good thing?
On one hand, we have anything we need right here instead of wasting all that gas going into Arlington, and in a time when gas is more expensive every day, that’s pretty helpful. But on the other hand, we are losing our individual identity by beginning to look like every other mainstream city in the country. There used to be rivers instead of pool stores, trees instead of hardware stores, and livestock instead of burger joints.
What attracted many people to Mansfield in the first place was the fact that it WAS NOT Arlington, Dallas, Fort Worth or any other surrounding, sprawling city. But where is everyone going to move now that we have become just as busy as them?
Some steps are being taken toward preserving our small-town identity, though. Historic Mansfield is still standing strong, and the linear park that stretches across the whole city keeps our nature alive. But keeping material things is only half the battle. We must also preserve our attitudes. Even though we have more big business every day, we can still keep the small-town personality that attracted people here in the first place.
The simple hospitality, the sincerity, and the simple generosity of old Mansfield can keep the attitudes alive, and if we act like a community and not just a holding place for business, we can feel like part of a bigger whole again. Have a block party. Talk to the random person on the street. Be nice for once!
Just because you can go out to eat in more than one place does not mean that our city has gotten too large to be friendly. We can get our small-town charm back, little by little. Just be friendly. and patient. And while you’re being patient, you might want to get some food. So go ahead, you have plenty of choices!
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