Tapping the Spring

Hope is a strange thing. I don’t often know what it means to be without it nor trying to find it, but even less do I know how to describe it.

On our trip to Bamberg this week our team went door to door asking people to fill out surveys. Of the first twenty people I spoke with, only one was willing to fill out the survey. Interestingly, he was only willing to talk with me due to an introduction I received from one of his neighbors. It seems that trust is built in small towns much the same as anywhere else – by recommendation and countenance. Due to the gentleman’s weak eyesight I was required to read him the survey. Though this undoubtedly tinted his answers, it also allowed me to more quickly acquire the pulse of the town. Through this interaction and conversations with other residents I began to notice a few things. First, I actually found myself enjoying the complaints and thoughts of this small piece of the town – to the point where I became rather interested in the well being of the town as a whole. Second, I began to notice a few themes running through my interactions with residents.

Theme 1 – Bamberg is proud of its independence and self-sustaining infrastructure (part of the utilities are locally owned). In this I noticed the phrase “pretty good, compared to most towns around here,” which gave me the impression of comparative contentment and simultaneous complacency. The mentality seemed to say, “as long as we are doing better than the next man, we’re doing ok.” I found this interesting in relation to the Mind of the South reading, which spoke on this line of reasoning. I wonder if would be helpful to expand the ring of reference, perhaps in a factual way.

Theme 2 – the roadwork done to downtown Main Street was not helpful. As one resident noted mentioned, this would have been helpful before 95 was built, but it doesn’t serve much purpose now. Several residents referenced the expansion of the street as wrong minded and saw a connection between this bluster and city planners in general. I feel like this will be an obstacle to both overcame, and to avoid fixing.

Theme 3 – residents have a good grasp on how to help the town. People understood the importance of good schools, the folly of abusing downtown, and the need for a spread of employment. It seems like Bamberg only needs a little outside explanation of different methods/goals to move forward. This point is especially interesting when combined with the latter half of the first theme. It seems that once they are motivated towards some goal, Bamberg residents will quickly grasp the value and merit of whatever they march towards.

It will be interesting to see how these observations hold up to the actual data collected and with the community workshop next month.

Hope seems to be running somewhere under the surface in this town. They may not be in the best of places, but they have certainly not given up. I am hopeful that we will be able to work with the town to accomplish something which brings that hope back to the surface.