In our modern industrial culture it is not unusual to hear mention of a “global village.”
Often touted by utopians, scholars, and demagogues as a benchmark of progress, the notion of a global village is really just a stand-in for an actual, localized village. I don’t consider it a village at all.
I belong to an actual village, not an abstraction—a hamlet in fact, which by definition is a small, churchless village. All stripes of individuals call our village home, which makes for a truly diverse community. In its diversity there too exists a unique social thumbprint, one that is characteristic of any given neighbourhood. But the point of this brief post is to help prepare the newly minted or would-be rusticator for an uncharted foray into rural society.
I can’t write authoritatively on the matter because I have only experienced this social ecology for less than five years so far. To me, that’s a long enough period of time to share with you a disclaimer that rustic social life is not for the meek!
When I was metropolitan, my social life was actually quite narrow. Despite neighbourhoods teeming with humans, all overlapping and complex, I congregated with the same people. This friend-silo subdued my growth. In that way, my social life was actually more insular than it is now in the backwoods! Go figure.
As a newfound rusticator I found the dramatic change in socialization to be rather unexpected. Holy moly. Let me tell you.
The village is much more populated nowadays, so I’m still learning how to adjust to the changeable dynamics.
In a village, a sense of reliability and goodwill is crucial to healthy relations. To be simply available from time to time can mean the world to people out in the sticks. Demonstrating trust and neighbourliness; keeping one’s word; staying modest, tender but firm. Rural dwellers—especially the olden ones—hold such qualities in high esteem.
To develop and practice social intelligence, good graces, and tact is a currency all on its own as a rusticator. If you’re thinking of making a flight from the city, better make damn sure you’re willing to mix with people that put you outside your comfort zone for good or for ill.
I’ve stated it before in another article: country folk can be pretty eccentric and almost mythical in their strengths and abilities. Not to mention their melodramas and shortcomings.
Best be on your p’s and q’s. Village integration depends on rapport, bond-building, resolution, and creative communication through and through.
The so-called global village doesn’t demand much social intelligence from us. It smacks of an appeal to conformity with a digital gloss, rather than a sincere call for natural, land-based community development.
The way I see it, our children will not learn to socialize very well from the dubious fantasies of the nonprofit-industrial-complex and the bankers that fund them.
We ought to see to it as rusticators that we foster our heritage as adept social creatures by drinking from the nourishing spring of village society.
How the rusticator socializes with the hayseeds of the country will determine the fate of one’s prosperity in a new land.
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