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March 17, 2006
Rural living is a lifestyle, not geography
In either event, they don't deserve your time. In case you haven't noticed, Pahrump is no longer a pastoral community. In rural areas, folks smile when they see you. They offer a friendly wave in traffic as they drive the speed limit and obey driving laws. Rural folk live life one day at a time and they live it at their own pace. Rural folk are willing to lend a hand; you can trust them to watch your home when you leave for a vacation and your kids are as important to them as they are to you. That's the Pahrump my family moved to, but that Pahrump belongs in one of Bob McCracken's history columns because, well, the past is the past. Pahrump has become nothing more than a miniature version of Las Vegas - an ugly place where nobody has time for manners, where "neighbors" make you feel like a fool by refusing to return your wave and where it's every person for him or her self. I love this valley and many of the people in it, but I've had a belly full of the habitually corrupt or incompetent "leaders," the fiefdom builders, the deceptive and the dishonest and the dangerously dimwitted. I'm sick of people who claim to have moved to Pahrump for the rural lifestyle who are absolutely clueless to what that means. What they really want is the same crap they moved away from. I'm tired of the horse owners who claim to love their animals but are too lazy to muck out stalls. I'm fed up with drivers who are more than willing to imperil the rest of us who follow the rules. I'm absolutely flabbergasted with the hospital folks and the long string of lies they've told us for three years. I'm burned out on a town manager that is all saddle, no horse. And I don't want to single out the town manager. He's just one more thug to write about; one of many. I've had my fill of would-be politicians who want your vote but don't have any idea how serious are the problems this county faces. Overly simplistic "solutions" to complex issues might sound good to the rest of the ignoramuses in Nye County, but to those of us who actually understand the situation, a sense of doom and gloom for the future of this region is inescapable. I'm disgusted with the parents who call the newspaper to tell us how unfair the school treated their precious little sweethearts only to discover the bastards are dealing meth in the hallways - drugs provided to them by their very own parents. I'm at the end of my rope with people threatening to file a lawsuit against the newspaper for putting their names in the sheriff's report. Some of them do so every other week because they are as dumb as they are crooked. Note to criminals: This newspaper will not be intimidated. You don't scare us. We know bullies are nothing more than sissies with muscle. I'm a big believer in the Code of the West. I even have a copy hanging on my office wall. I wish some of the rest of you folks would consider what it means and I apologize for not knowing to whom I should give attribution. Here it is all you self-proclaimed lovers of the rural lifestyle: • Live each day with courage. • Take pride in your work. • Always finish what you start. • Do what has to be done. • Be tough, but fair. • When you make a promise, keep it. • Ride for the brand. • Talk less and say more. • Remember that some things aren't for sale. • Know where to draw the line. The Code of the West sounds a lot like the values my father and mother instilled in me, both in conversation and through example. Read all 10 rules and then with the honesty that can only come from ruthless introspection, decide for yourself how often you have violated the code. Then, when you're done filling a notebook with your transgressions, make amends. Then move away, because the Code of the West only applies in communities where people understand what it means to be tolerant, visionary, adaptable and, above all else, it applies to people who love their neighbors as they love themselves. You know, like it says in the Bible. The rest of you can stay in Pahrump. You can flip the bird at your fellow motorists. You can ignore the people you chose to live close to and you can continue to let politicians lie to you about how important it is to maintain the dead and buried rural lifestyle - at the same time more than 10,000 homes are constructed in town. If there's any justice in the world you'll wind up with neighbors just as selfish, ignorant, rude and nasty as you are. Whatever happened to the Pahrump Valley I love so much? Oh, before I forget, have a happy St. Patrick's Day. Write to Doug McMurdo at dmcmurdo@pvtimes.com. |
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