DURING MY work years, I lived primarily in or near big cities. I have lived for the past several years in a small town. The small town has a dynamic which larger communities lack, and that dynamic tends to keep things on a more even keel.

In a small community, everyone knows everyone, even if only by sight or reputation. Anyone who becomes visible through conduct is quickly discussed and examined by the populace. Yes, that aspect is kind of nosy, but it also acts as a check on excess. If a teacher goes over the line, everyone knows about it. If a police officer acts unwisely, everyone knows about it. If the preacher’s kid is the holy terror of high school, everyone knows about it.

The constant monitoring and critiquing of behaviors keep in check the excesses that might otherwise occur. A teacher in a small town has to see the parents of her students at sporting events and in grocery stores. A police officer’s kids play in the band and on sports teams with the kids of citizens. This human contact with those who are served has a very natural effect: it makes teachers, police officers and other folks realize how their lives are blended into the community they serve.

In my view, the thing that has hurt large communities most is the detachment of connection to community. Simply put, when police don’t see themselves as part of the community they police, it creates a distance between them and those they serve.

When a teacher is not connected to the community in which she teaches, she may never see the parents of students outside school grounds. The teacher whose own children must exist in the community is a teacher I like having in a school. That teacher understands how much the community is interconnected, and why understanding vetoes harsh actions.

IN MY subdivision, we have about one hundred homes, with several dozen homes owned by weekenders. Most of those who live here all the time are at home much of the time. It is a quiet, one-way-in and one-way-out subdivision. If a strange car comes through at night, lights go on, and people are peeking out windows. We know the cars that belong here by sound. You can’t buy that kind of security. It is neighbors watching out for one another.

Every week, there are bake sales, quilt raffles, barbeque sales, plant sales and every kind of fund-raising activity you can imagine. I love seeing the community sitting there every week, raising money for whatever they believe in. Lions, cheerleaders, Lionesses, the choir, the band, the sports association, the JROTC, the theater, the heritage society, the library, the fire department, the police department, the athletic boosters, the church ladies — they all set up their tables and seek contributions for worthy causes. I try to participate in all of them. I usually give twice what they’re asking, and don’t take anything from them, unless it is food, in which case count me in! I’ll take a cake any day.

The small town’s fabric is woven tighter than in larger communities. It is more demanding, but it is also more understanding. We all have to get along, and that binds us together.

© 2010, Jim “Pappy” Moore, All Rights Reserved.

Jim “Pappy” Moore is a native son of East Texas who still makes the piney woods his home. oaktreefm58@hotmail.com