Bright Lights, Bigger City

"You gotta go where things happen."
A League of Their Own (1992)

The 1992 hit "A League of Their Own" tells a fictionalized story of the short-lived All American Girls Professional Baseball League during World War II. It specifically focuses on one team, the Rockford Peaches, and its roster that was composed of athletic young women, mostly from rural towns across America. There's a scene in the first third of the movie (during the recruiting phase) where Marla, one of the most talented recruits, (whose gentle demeanor and rough tomboy exterior make her, perhaps, one of the most endearing characters among a thoroughly charismatic and colorful cast) is hesitant to leave her father, a widower, and their small Colorado town to go play in the league. He stands next to her at the train station and hands her a baseball glove and says tenderly, "Nothing's ever gonna happen here. You gotta go where things happen."

It's an incredibly touching scene of fatherly love and, of course, we want Marla to get on the train and bat her way to baseball glory. However, there's also a sentiment in the message of that scene that has managed to remain a common cornerstone of the small town mentality: "You gotta go where things happen." Bright lights, bigger city.

As a result, children in small towns all across the nation have been the targets of rhetoric that suggests the road to success begins with heading to a larger metropolis (typically by way of college) where their dreams will be fulfilled (Glinda described it to Dorothy as the "yellow brick road" to a land called OZ.) High schoolers and even college students are typically conditioned to believe that if they're really talented, bright, or have a hunger for success, they'll need to find a bigger stage to shine. Bigger cities mean the big time, and it's time to "go big or go home." So they follow the bright lights to the bigger city. Because they want to go big, so they rarely go home. In fact, the 2010 census revealed that urban population growth increased 12.1 percent from 2000 meaning that now over 80 percent of the American population lives in an "urban area."

This is somewhat problematic.

What happens to small towns as each class of newly minted high school grads sets sail for college and those bigger cities? It drains them of some of their most promising offspring. It means fewer of the children who grew up in small towns return to rural areas like the ones that raised them after they've completed their higher education, study abroad trips, and internships. It means less tech-savvy, pragmatic, and imaginative post grads coming back to build bridges that would enable small towns to more easily transition into the future and become more sustainable.

Why is this such a problem? Because it's predicated on a falsehood. Zip codes and city limits do not have magical powers. Big city air is not purer (we know the opposite to be true in most cases) nor is the big city water a magical elixir (again... big city tap water = Brita filter). Small towns and rural villages in America produce children that are just as capable, just as worthy, and just as imaginative as the big cities and "urban areas" in America. They are born with the same rights and freedoms. Sometimes they have cows as neighbors. Which is awesome. Sometimes their second car is a tractor. Which is practical. They may not have as many bright lights, yet that doesn't mean they don't have equally bright futures.

AMAZING things can happen in small towns. INCREDIBLY SMART people live in small towns. INNOVATION and CREATIVITY can thrive in small towns. OPEN MINDS and OUTRAGEOUS COMPASSION can exist in small towns.

We must stop qualifying people, problems, potential, and communities by zip code or population numbers. Nor by the number of sky scrapers or cattle per capita. We must encourage outrageous compassion, bold entrepreneurship, and dedicated problem solving right here, in our town. We must promote smaller cities and rural villages as exciting challenges and blank canvases that promise opportunity and bear need just like their big city counterparts.

Small towns do not have to be small-time, nor small-minded, sleepy, or static. 

Small towns are ALIVE. 

They are full of bright people with big hearts and hardworking hands. Small towns have great strength and mighty voices. They are a vibrant pattern in the American tapestry. They are capable of greatness and breeding grounds for ingenuity.

So let's revise our message to the kids of small town America. Let's stop telling them "You gotta go where things happen" and start telling them "You gotta go make things happen."

Everyday, at all seven sites our organization operates, our staff works to inspire our kids to dream and achieve without any specific parameters.  We encourage creativity, problem solving, and teamwork. The programs we lead are designed to develop our bright young kids into bright young adults who will become bright capable leaders. Our staff will not venture to dictate where they might take their bright minds and capable leadership. We do not value one problem or issue over another because of its location or scale. Because they all need solving. Likewise, we will not value one problem-solver over another because they are all greatly needed. Our staff enters our sites each day, knowing that we are training, teaching, and counseling future adults. The same future adults that we'll elect to city councils. The same future adults that will go on to teach in our schools. The same future adults that will become parents of the next generation of kids. We are playing a role in what both our small towns and big cities will look like in the future because we play a role in the development of their future citizens and leaders. So we discuss all problems, big and small, with great concern just as we help this community raise its future leaders, big and small, with a sense of great purpose.

We are the Boys and Girls Club of magnificent "small town" communities of Waynesboro, Staunton, and Augusta County. And we believe "Great Futures Start Here."

Smart People

In the episode "Election Night" of the White House drama, The West Wing, fictional President Josiah "Jed" Bartlett, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, has just been elected to a second term. After delivering his victory speech, he steps down from the stage and has a very candid exchange with his physician wife, First Lady Abbey Bartlett -

• Abbey: "You were off the prompter."
• Jed: "Just for a minute at the end. I couldn't see it."
• Abbey: "It's all right. There are going to be more days like this. It starts now. It's going to be harder this time."
• Jed: "Yeah, I know. We can still have tonight, though, right?"
• Abbey: "You've got lots of nights. Smart people who love you are going to have your back."

"Smart people who love you are going to have your back." 
And just like that, one sentence can magically assuage doubt or fear and dissolve loneliness. How empowering to know that you have a team of bright people who care about you and want to support you.

Many of us have been fortunate enough to know what it's like to feel this way. Our "smart people" may be different for each of us, but somehow we've managed to find other human beings who care about what happens to us and want us to live the very best life we can. It's a powerful thing to feel that your life is a real team effort. When you're lacking courage, wisdom, or strength you can call upon your "smart people" to share some of theirs. 

Of course, not everyone always feels this way. Unfortunately, there are many children who do not feel this way. 

We have an unprecedented number of children taking depression medication. Childhood obesity has doubled in the last 30 years (and yet the number of youth eating disorder cases is still on the rise). Low self-esteem is something both girls and boys are dealing with by engaging in radically unhealthy activities like cutting, bullying, smoking, and drinking. Finally, perhaps the most unspeakably sad fact of all...we have kids killing themselves. Because whatever it is that's plaguing them, it's left them drowning so deep in despair, so hopeless, that they feel as if they can't bear to live at all. 

It's 2013 in the first-world superpower country of the United States of America and we have 9 year-olds with diabetes and 14 year olds committing suicide. We have children in crisis. They may not be the children living in your house, on your street, or even in your neighborhood. But they exist nonetheless. They are in Waynesboro. They are in Staunton. They are in Augusta County. These children do not exist tucked away in some far corner of our community. We are not talking about "the poor children". We are not talking about the "children from bad family situations". We are talking about children of all family structures, of all neighborhoods, of all school districts, of all abilities. There are children in every type of household that are feeling challenged in some way. These children need smart people.

If we want a community of compassionate, engaged, conscientious adults then we must begin investing in raising compassionate, engaged, conscientious children. This effort must be city-wide. It must be daily. It must be genuine. It must extend beyond our own family tree or voting ward. We must share more with these children than a zip code. These are the sons and daughters of this community and we must treat them as such. We must do so knowing that whatever resources we invest in them, whether it's time, money, love, support, or attention, the reward will be far greater for all of us. We will have more human beings who respect themselves and others. They will treat their bodies with care. They will be creative problem solvers and team players. They will be smart people.

Every member of this community has something to contribute. All of us can be "smart people" for these children. 

The Boys and Girls Club is working with its own staff of "smart people" to support this mission.
We want to look every kid in the eye and say"Smart people that love you are going to have your back" --and mean it.

Let Us Begin.

In his inaugural address, President John F. Kennedy famously challenged Americans to "ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country." That particular line has become arguably the most iconic quote from one of the most revered speeches in American presidential history. It is another passage from that 1961 speech, however, that is the focus of today's inaugural blog entry.

Throughout his address, President Kennedy highlighted many of the monumental challenges that faced not only the United States, but humanity. He committed himself and his administration to boldly begin to tackle that daunting series of threats and barriers, foreign and domestic. He also conceded that although he would work fiercely for real progress on these issues, they were part of a greater pursuit that would likely transcend the lifespan of not only his political tenure, but his life and the lives of his constituents.

"All this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin."

The sentiment of these words is especially apropos for our organization. This is an organization with a vision. Not a vague, generic idea of what we'd like to aim for. A real, living vision for how we want to impact the lives of kids and teens, and as a result, this entire community. It is the continuously evolving product of deeply compassionate, hard working people from every corner of Waynesboro, Staunton, and Augusta County.  This organization does not want to be a series of buildings that are staffed with individuals who just go through the motions to kill time with kids after school. We do not want to be passive. We do not want to be static. We do not want to be the bare minimum.

This organization wants to be alive. We want our staff to be wildly passionate. We want our energy and enthusiasm to be contagious. We want to empower kids to be brave and inclusive.  We want them to boldly say "no" to drugs and violence and "yes" to education and teamwork. We want kids to know that they are immensely valuable human beings whom this world desperately depends on. They need to eat right, exercise, and seize every opportunity to learn because they will, one day, inherit the power and responsibility that comes with being adults. We want to prove to them that learning is fun and reading is fundamental. We want them to understand that to serve others is noble and always, always worth their time. We want kids to feel whole, loved, and equal. We want this club to have expectations for every child that walks through our doors because we believe that every child has the capacity to achieve them. This organization wants to be a force of nature that unites a community with a common mission: Strengthen this community by strengthening this community's children.

We are ardent believers of our vision and we will continue to boldly pursue it every day. Certainly, it is ambitious. Certainly, it will require a great deal of hard work, late hours, and long weeks. Certainly, all this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1000 days, nor in the life of this administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin.


To learn more about the Boys & Girls Club of Waynesboro, Staunton, and Augusta County click here!