“A woman’s place is in the home.” Now don’t over-react to this statement! Notice that I put it in quotation marks. I did this because it is now only a tongue in cheek saying, a remnant of our past that was widely accepted not too many years ago. It is certainly not the gospel of modern times. Nowadays the truth is that a woman’s place is, with enough hard work and determination, wherever and whatever she wants it to be. It might be in the home, but it could just as well be in the office, in the school, on the construction site, in the publishing business, on the battlefield, on Wall Street or even in the White House. “Pray tell,” you might ask, “What does this have to do with life in White Springs?”
Well, I’ve been reflecting a lot lately on how difficult it is to get people involved. A vibrant community requires a lot of personal involvement. When people are asked to prioritize what is important to them they will often reply, “God, family, country.” Where does community fit into the scheme of things? Back in the day when “a woman’s place” was in the home, women did not stay at home all the time. They worked outside the home too. Numerous social organizations comprised mainly of women tended to the very essence of life for the community. Garden clubs tended to the beauty of a community, other groups kept a sharp eye on education, elections and children’s after school activities. Small projects such as ribbon cuttings and large projects such as the funding of buildings and parks such as our own Stephen Foster Park were largely tended to by “stay at home” women. In many ways, from the perspective of time and effort spent, community came first. These “stay at home” women also got the job done for “God, Family, and Country”. A vibrant, healthy community is surely pleasing to God, it is very good for the family, and our country is only as healthy as the sum of its parts, its communities.
Nowadays things are different. Few of us, women or otherwise, can afford to stay at home. Work and the almighty dollar are the order of the day now, with precious little time or energy left for other things, and the communities of America suffer for it. Yet there are those few folks who still try to rise to fill the void. Here in White Springs these few still strive for our schools, our public places, our beauty, our children, our senior citizens, our libraries, our museums, our events and celebrations and all the things that are part of the culture of a healthy and vibrant community. Perhaps not as much gets done as did in the “good old days”, but what little does get done is still important, perhaps more important than ever to the life of our community, our White Springs.
A good example of community life and involvement takes place this weekend, when the efforts of community volunteers will be on display at the White Springs Wild Azalea Festival. Much has already been said about it so I’ll just remind you that the festivities will begin on Friday at 4 pm at the Nature and Tourism Center with a Guided Suwannee River Hike, followed by a food tasting party called “Sweets & Eats” from 5:30 pm until 8pm, and then there will be a Street Dance from 7-10 pm. Saturday At 10am the Festival will begin and feature handmade arts and crafts of all kinds. The Arts and Crafts booths will be set up at the Nature and Tourism Center to show the hand-crafted wares of local and regional participants. The Adams Store will be open to view the many collectibles and antiques that owner Raymond Cheshire has placed on display in his store. Live music will be on stage from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. next to the Tourism Center featuring local musicians.
What can you do? If you go, and I hope you will, be sure to find a volunteer and say thank you. It just might make a difference. What would make an even bigger difference? Tell them you’d like to sign up to help when needed in the future. It’s so important. In fact, it is the very kind of volunteer spirit that is needed to assure that community life even has a future. Volunteer. It will be good for you and it will be real good for life in White Springs!
On another note; We are so fortunate to have such clear, dark night skies here in Hamilton County. In more populated areas, especially big cities, you can only see a few of the brightest stars through the glare of all the night lights. For those of you that love to stare at the stars as I do, Big Shoals State Park is hosting a star-tacular star viewing presentation put on by the Alachua County Astronomy Club. It will take place this Saturday, March 21st @ 7pm. Meet at the Little Shoals entrance of Big Shoals State Park. For more information call Stephanie at 386-397-4331 .
I love to report the good news and the positive possibilities that are out there for personal and community growth and I’d love to hear from you! I look forward to seeing you out and about, enjoying your life in White Springs.
Walter McKenzie
386-303-1394