The Villages

If I were hearing about The Villages for the first time I might say that it is a place for people with no imagination and no sense of adventure. But that is not true.  We attended a dinner party with friends of Sally's uncle and aunt.  There was a gentleman there from Argentina (it was his wife who thought Caleb was a "splendid baby") and a lady from Crete who worked all over the Middle East as a flight attendant.  So, what attracted them to this "Disneyland for adults"?I've decided that for these people place has little importance.  No one needs to feel connected to the place where they live.  I think that is what is so foreign to me.  "It's not a real place!"  I want to say.  "It doesn't have a history of more than 50 years!  What do the Villagers know about the rest of Florida?  Are they really happy to get up and go golfing every day?"  

I see what is appealing about a warm place where you don't have to mow your own yard and have a bunch of other people to play board games and softball with.  These are successful people who gave a lot to their communities through their work.  But then they left.  I hope that I never get to the point where the appeal of an easier life outweighs the connection I feel to my home.  I know lots of people don't have the connection I feel to my hometown and my family's farms.  But, they still have communities.  If you don't work the land then you work in your community.  Yes, I think that is what is most sad about The Villages.  It is sad that the Villagers didn't have closer connections to the land they lived on, the people they lived next to, the churches and synagogues they attended.  Their communities lose so much when they move away and the Villagers lose the richness of a real life.  

Two Quotes of the Day: 

"...and in some of the people of the town and community surrounding it, one of the characteristic diseases of the twentieth century was making its way: the suspicion that they would be greatly improved if they were somewhere else." — Wendell Berry  

"To farm is to be placed absolutely."- Wendell Berry Imagination in Place