John Amos in the Free Lance-Star reminiscing about the Town of Orange he remembered as a child, and what has been lost over the years:
I recently spotted a signboard in front of a local business exhorting us all to ‘Shop Orange First.’ That’s a tough sell. Long ago Wal-Mart, Target, Lowe’s, the Home Depot and a thousand other suburban mega-stores beckoned; and we all heeded their siren song. Of course, what we gained in selection we sacrificed in community. And what we saved in dollars we lost in personal connection. To my mind, it wasn’t an even trade.
Interesting article. In an era of connectivity, where broadband access enables you to speak to others thousands of miles away, have we lost the personal touch? Sure, it is amazing to be able to connect to people around the world, to compare internet vs wifi and learn so much about the world around us without leaving home, but are we more or less civil than we used to be?
Virginians are fond of remembrance, and always in a positive light. Orange may have changed from the argarian community it once was to the commuter town it is today. Finding a new civility or connectivity amongst our neighbors is an elusive target, but I can understand what he means.
Fredericksburg certainly has gone through that change, as people have moved away, passed on, or as we’ve grown as a city.
There are few inevitabilities in life: death, loss, taxes, and change. How we meet them is what our children will remember as “the good ol’ days.”