by Kerry Thomas
August 18, 2005
At least once a season I read a letter or three to the local newspaper editors from someone who complains about too much development or too many people moving into the Northwoods. There’s too much activity on the water. There are too many billboards. Somebody’s running their lawn mower or chainsaw at an inconvenient hour. There’s too many noisy motorized recreational vehicles disturbing my peace and quiet.
The writers of these letters like to point out that they
moved up here to get away from this sort of activity. The irony in such statements eludes most of these letter
writers. They fail to recognize that,
by moving up here, they have contributed to the very thing they are now
complaining about.
Now, don’t confuse this letter with anger. On the contrary, I’m amused. I love it when hypocrites are hypocritical,
and they don’t even realize it.
Somebody bought the vacant property next to you (why didn’t
you buy it?) and is, gasp, building on it.
Well, the same can be said about the property you now own. Years ago, someone subdivided it, and sold
you your property. You put up a house
and actually made the property more valuable.
Now someone is doing the same thing next door. But now that the shoe is on the other foot, you don’t
approve. The new neighbors don’t share
your values. We better limit what they
can do with their property before they do something to really irritate you. After all, it’s not right that someone who
doesn’t share your values gets to enjoy their freedoms just as much as you do.
There are also large discount merchants here now, oh
my. And, of course, someone usually has
a complaint about that. The complaints
are usually along the lines of either they put small local merchants out of
business, or they are owned by some nasty evil big corporation, and they don’t
pay a “fair” wage to their employees.
In any business, if you think small, you stay small. And for some smaller local merchants, that’s
their niche. There’s a definite market
for what these smaller local merchants have to offer, and they capiyalize on
that factor.
Be it Wal-Mart or McDonald’s, those larger businesses saw an
opportunity and acted upon it. Even the
largest of companies started out small.
There was a market demand for their business. They thrived and grew. No
one is forced to work there. No one is
forced to shop there. For years we
“locals” complained that there were no discount stores here, and fast food was
so fast it had passed us by.
My perspective comes from that of 5 generations living in
the Northwoods. I am a native American,
no hyphen needed, what most would call a “local.” That doesn’t make me any better than someone who moved in last
week. It just gives me a little
different perspective from which to view the changes in the North.
Everyone in the Northwoods came here from somewhere else. Those of us who were born here usually can
trace our ancestry to another place.
Some of our ancestors came here on foot, some on horseback, some by
boat, some by train, some by automobile.
Every generation up here has lamented those who came after it, spoiling
the pristine nature we came to enjoy.
Just realize that even the most remote area of the Northwoods has seen
the hand of man at some point.
About a hundred years ago, the land all around you was
cleared of trees by large lumbering operations. They brought in the railroads, and bought up cheap land from the
government. Most of the land was later
homesteaded as farmland. When the
farming gave out, the land was subdivided into smaller and smaller parcels,
making tracts for homes and other businesses.
Some of the land even went back to forest land over time.
Just as I have done above, most letter writers love to tell
how many years they’ve been coming up here.
And I say good for you. Thanks
for your patronage. But realize that
the Northwoods economy is based on tourism, and that means people.
After the lumbering industry played out, and the agrarian
age ran its course, tourism eventually took over. It’s what drew most of you here in the first place. It will continue to draw others after you. It’s natural. Once you accept that reality, you can start to enjoy your life
here in the Northgwoods.
© 2005 Kerry Thomas
All Rights reserved