A Midwife's Tale Part Two

There are many things needed to make a community successful. Objects such as money, equipment, and laws are all major requirements. Many things can be used to make a community larger and more successful and an all around better place to be, but at the very heart lies the people. A community is nothing without willing and able hands. A community where no one is willing to lend an ear to listen, a hand to help, or a heart to pray, is a place that is unfit to live in. It can be a place that has the most money, several town establishments, a huge schooling system, and many clinics and still be unsuccessful.

Martha Ballard's community held that which we do not always possess today, willing and able hearts and minds. If someone was hurt or in trouble the people would bind together to help them. Resources would be pooled and help would arrive on scene. If a fire were to break out then the neighbors would show up with buckets in hand ready to douse the fire with water. If a family was going hungry there would be neighborly families handing over their extra resources to help feed them.

Today if you were to drive through nearly any city you would find many people homeless and starving. The basic principals that used to be applied in Martha's time no longer seem to hold any value. Many years ago most people would know every family that lived within several miles of them on a personal basis. Today it is considered a rarity to know your next door neighbor that lives but a few feet away.

Martha Ballard and her husband were almost always opening their house up to someone in need. Be it someone that had lost a family member or a child in need of a home or nearly anyone there was almost someone residing in their home. We see several times in the diary "--slept here". Today in big communities many shelters can be found. Is this because people are less willing to open up their houses and allow people to stay? Or is it merely because the community itself has become so dysfunctional in so many areas, that there are simply too many people in need of housing to be able to provide for them all?

Stores during Martha Ballard's time were much more scarce in a small community than they are today. The people learned to rely upon one another. The women did a great deal of trading amongst themselves. Most women had their hand at some small trade and if one woman found herself skilled in the art of growing or collecting herbs and the another found herself skilled in the kitchen than they would trade with one another. Today when something is needed instead of trading with a close neighbor people will take a trip out to Walmart.

Another thing that brought a community closer together back then was that the town events were considered important. Today very few local meetings occur and the ones that do receive very small turnouts. In Martha's time on average each town had a meeting house. Every Sunday nearly every man, woman, and family could be found in the church service. It was found to be an important part of the week that most people would frown upon sleeping through.

Church was not the only thing that brought in full scale community action though. Men from every household would go to town meetings where laws and punishment would be discussed. It was important to them for their communities to be kept together and clean. Back then voting a person as head of one of the town committees was important business. Today many people could not tell you who is in charge of their local communities to contact for something important. Many people would find it necessary to Google it.

Martha Ballard's community had many things that are still present in local communities today. Every place is going to have its bad seeds (in more than one sense) and its rough patches. But Martha Ballard's community also had something that is not present in many communities today. The people that are willing to come together to help make it through the rough times. The people that are willing to hold hands on a Sunday morning and pray for those in need, the people willing to bake something for a family going hungry, and the people willing to reach out a hand to someone and say "I'm here." The relationships within a community have changed drastically since Martha's time and not in a decent manner. Communities today could be considered anything but successful.