Social networks are fun whether they are rural, urban or even virtual. We all know that. It’s great to have lots of friends and feel influential.
So why, when somebody stands up and says “let’s do something as a rural community” is there often a shuffling of feet and a mass tiptoed movement towards the door?
Especially as few would disagree that rural communities have particularly well known challenges and really need as much community building as they can get.
Rural communities just have fewer people. It’’s hard to build a community when there’s nobody there. (”Hello, is there anybody out there!” “Moo!”)
Rural communities consist of people who are individually much more widely scattered because they are separated by green stuff … called fields.
Rural villages used to have rural shops where chatty owners could stop and chat without fear of being sacked for chatting.
But these little chatty shops have been replaced by enormous super stores, located, without fail, in large towns miles away, where chatting at the check out could cause a colossal people pile up, broken limbs and corporate retribution of the unemployment kind.
Rural deserted villages abound where ‘outsiders’ have bought up everything in sight and the rural village homes are filled with the sounds of … silence.
Rural age groups are such that the occupants are likely to be elderly or at least retired and without the community building imperatives of going to work or taking the kids to school. (Hey that doesn’t sound too bad!)
Rural businesses frequently can’t wait to move away from the countryside to towns and cities where they find better facilities and communications with the rest of the economically active world.
Elderly rural people, frequently in the majority, are often conservative in their habits. They vote for elderly Councillors in local government elections who see little point in upsetting their elderly voters by changing very much. Better to leave well alone and let the countryside slumber on.
So building rural communities is not a garden of roses. If it was, rural communities would be blossoming everywhere.
The huge quantities of governmental and non-governmental verbiage on these issues attests to the fact there is still much to do.
But beautiful plants can be grown from stubborn soil, as long as enough fertilizer is deposited. It’s just a lot more difficult.
Those who succeed in building strong and active communities, however young or old they are, will have much reason to be satisfied with their efforts.
At the end of the day, it’s great to have friends and it’s fun to mix in with others. Building local rural communities is all about making people happier. What better purpose in life?
This rural communities and community social networks web site is dedicated to discovering and documenting those brave people who are battling against all the odds to build vibrant, active and happy communities in the countryside.
If you know somebody like that, let us all know and perhaps we can all be inspired.
Social networks are fun whether they are rural, urban or even virtual.
Bye for now 
Rob
