Essays from West of 98: The Power of Renewal

Last time, I touched on the concept of “helpers” in the world. I advocated for each of us to be the helpers for our friends and neighbors within our communities who might be struggling. This idea came to me as I read a famous essay written by Wendell Berry in 1990, called “The Work of Local Culture,” which I referenced in that prior essay.

I have written about Wendell Berry before, as he is something of an inspiration to me. Berry is one of America’s foremost living authors and cultural critics and one of rural America’s most important voices. Despite worldwide acclaim and notoriety, he continues to live simply on his farm in Port Royal, Kentucky. His works of fiction is set in a fictionalized version of the same community (called Port William). I guess you could say that I like his style.

As I have embarked on this series of essays about rural job creation and economic development, I have been thinking a lot about Berry’s ideas. Berry is an advocate for (among other things) localism, strong rural communities, a healthy agricultural economy, and simple living. Berry has never run for office (the man does not own a cell phone and prefers to correspond by letter, so I cannot fathom him campaigning for office), but his ideas inform public policy and decision-making by leaders who truly care about the future of the place that they represent and the people who live there.

In that 1990 essay, Berry wrote of the need to strengthen rural communities and the transformative power of stronger local culture. It is something of a lengthy essay, but I would encourage all my readers to check it out here. Berry sets forth an incredible vision at the conclusion of that essay that I must share in full:

“I know that one resurrected rural community would be more convincing and more encouraging than all government and university programs of the last fifty years, and I think that it could be the beginning of the renewal of our country, for the renewal of rural communities implies the renewal of urban ones. But to be authentic, a true encouragement and a true beginning, this would have to be a resurrection accomplished mainly by the community itself. It would have to be done, not from the outside by the instruction of visiting experts, but from the inside by the ancient rule of neighborliness, by the love of precious things, and by the wish to be at home.”

What power there would be in such a resurrection! What an inspiration it would be to other rural communities! What hope it would provide to the world at large! Our society seems ever-more disillusioned and discontented with so many aspects of culture and life. Our people disagree on many things, even the root causes of disillusionment and discontent, but we seem to have a bipartisan consensus that our politicians and political systems are currently incapable of fixing things.

And that’s fine. Without veering off too far down a rabbit hole (I’m good at that), our country was designed for the best ideas to come from local government and then influence upwards to the state and federal levels, not filter from the top down. 31 years ago, Wendell Berry spoke into existence a great template by which local communities could cure the problems that ailed us then. Those problems continue to ail us today, perhaps with greater concentration due to the nature of media and entertainment that we consume.

Rural America has been consigned to the dust bin of history in the minds of many. There would be such transformative power in a community that rises from the dust bin and transforms into the best, most prosperous version of itself for the present and the future to come. In the weeks to come, I will illustrate how Wendell Berry’s vision flows into my ideas for job creation and economic development. If we are to be the helpers (and I believe that we are), we can start by transforming our communities into a successful, prospering example for the world at large.

James Decker is the Mayor of Stamford, Texas and the creator of the West of 98 website and podcast. Contact James and subscribe to these essays at westof98.substack.com and subscribe to West of 98 wherever podcasts are found.