Embracing the Mayberry

As I'm sure you heard, Andy Griffith died this week. The majority of the discussion about the legacy he left behind in American pop culture has focused on the Andy Griffith Show and the fictional town of Mayberry. He was also not shy about the fact that Mayberry was a lie. It wasn't based on a particular town, they just made it up.

To me, Mayberry was a place where people were kind and good, neighborly, watched out for one another, and good family values prevailed. In our current world, things like this seem harder and harder to find.

I grew up in a town called Washington. It was smaller than it is today, didn't have multiple large department stores like it does now, and it's a place where everybody knows mostly everybody. Obviously this brings with it some local town gossip, and the running joke is that you always want to be careful what you say because there is a good chance they (who you're talking to) might know the person you're talking about, or even more likely, be related to them.

When I was a teen, the quaintness and small-towny feel got annoying. I was tired of knowing everyone's family tree — 'This kid is the son of Debbie, and she was this and that... oh and her grandfather owned this place...' on and on. It was folksy, and it seemed to me that the people of Washington don't get out much. I wondered how they could be so content to see so little of the world, and just stick to their hometown.

But now that I'm in my mid-twenties (still not that old, I realize) I find myself wanting to move back. As you know, we are planning to move back to Washington for a variety of reasons. But I have to admit that I feel myself longing for the Mayberry-ness of Washington; the neighborly aspect, the goodness, the familiarity. When I was in the hospital most recently, the outpouring of support and, well, love that I received from the people I know in Washington was very touching.

If we stayed here longer, I'm sure we would get to know more people and that sort of neighborly feeling would show itself. But the fact of the matter is, I'm not exactly the most social person and we've lived here for a year, and I still have never met one of my neighbors. Whether that's my fault or theirs is moot.

Yes, every place you look you will find good people, even in big cities. And yes, every place you look you will find problems, even in small towns. But you just don't get that community sort of feeling from a large city, that sense that people are looking out for you or living their lives in a certain way because it's the right thing to do.

Now I want to be a part of that community, and it's something we're going to do.