photo #1682410

There are those of us who've seen real ghost towns. Not the tourist traps, but entire towns abandoned by everybody. Out west, it was usually due to lack of water, and people HAD to leave. Sometimes, it was due to a mine being shut down. Whatever the reason, the emotions well up in you. You start asking unanswerable questions because there's nobody left to provide the details. You'll find broken toys and abandoned dolls. Some houses still have furniture. Some still have dishes two inches deep in dust. Proof of previous occupancy can be found everywhere. The mind becomes transported back in time, and mental images of family gatherings, holiday celebrations, births, deaths, wonderful as well as terrible times all flood the mind. Picturing the pain experienced by those who had to leave for whatever reason becomes acute, because we compare it to times we've ALL had in our lives at moments of failure before we scratched our way to where we are today. Dreamers contemplate finding out who owns the property the town's on. They contemplate how to fix the situation that caused it's demise, and question if they could bring it back. Maybe invite friends to move there and give them one of the buildings. Maybe fill the town with like minded people. Maybe bring it back to it's former glory days. Try and preserve the look for posterity. Establish a one room schoolhouse. Help refurbish the hotel for visitors. Equip the general store. Return the post office. Open a bank. The possibilities are endless. So, why isn't it being done? The vast majority don't see things as a possibility, they look at the problems and overwhelming effort to do the work and quit instantly. They'll take their photos, and go back to their quiet lives of misery and despondency, never even contemplating their own salvations that could be gained through hard work, effort, and dedication to a cause. Most of them were raised in a disposable society and will never understand that the true values of life cannot be bought with money. The parallels to today's society aren't lost on me. Yes, I'm a dreamer, and I've stood in those towns. I've started businesses in those towns, and sold them to people who wanted them, but subsequently closed them due to the amount of work involved. Now, as I stand in the beginnings of our crumbling as our former society, I can't help but believe we can restore it to its former glory if we can continue to ferret out more like minded dreamers. Yes, it takes work, commitment, thinking of others over oneself, and a dogged ethic. It's exactly like staying married instead of divorcing. It's like paying twice as much for a quality tool over one that fails every time you need it the most. It's understanding quality of effort over quantity. It's believing in a Supreme Being rather than narcissism. It takes being a part of the greater good rather than striving for your fifteen minutes of fleeting fame that ends up as dust on the dishes of failed experiments. It takes the Moxy of men and women of yore. It takes stamina. It takes a total commitment to a cause rather than a child's mere wish.This is a time for people like those who landed on Plymouth Rock, not those who landed on Gilligan's Island ! Listen me hearties, yo ho ! Let's grab the bootstraps and get busy !