Small Town People example essay topic

ENGL 101,055 September 20, 2003 Many people feel as if they are meant to live in a big city. They couldn't see themselves living in a small town. In a big city they can always find something to do. Places everywhere are always lit up and open.

Just walking down the street, people see new faces everyday and feel that they have more opportunities in the city life. If a person from a big city were to walk down the streets of a town of less that 5000 people for a population they may look around and wonder why anyone would ever have the desire to live there. Many thoughts may run through their head. What in the world would there be to do here? Wouldn't it be really boring here?

Small towns actually have a lot to offer and many benefits that a person may look past. People often think that if one lives in a small town, there wouldn't be anything for them to do. That is not true at all. If one were to be sitting home on any given night, they could easily call a friend of theirs on the phone and ask if they wanted to go do something. Most likely the night would consist of driving around town and gossiping, but that can always be fun too. When they got sick of doing that, they could always go catch a movie at the downtown theatre.

Some people don't like to pay money to get into a movie, so they could just as easily go to one of their houses, call up some more friends, and invite them over to watch a movie. As I was growing up in my small town, we often made up games to play to pass the time. My friends and I often went to the cornfields outside of town and played hide-and-go-seek. Other times we often played tag around the town on our bikes. It might not sound like that great of a time, but it's fun to get all of your friends together and just do something out of the ordinary. There is always something to do in a small town, even if it doesn't seem like the greatest time ever, people can easily make it fun if they try.

If a person is at all interested in sports, there are many different activities they could participate in. Once a person hit's the age of four, he or she could participate in little league for baseball and softball in the summer. They could also get involved in swimming lessons at a local pool. After they are done with little league, they could participate in different types of high school activities.

Most high schools have many different sports. In the fall, most small town schools have football, volleyball, cross country and cheerleading people could get involved with. Right when those sports were over, they could be on the basketball, wrestling, or cheerleading teams. The next week tennis, golf, and track would all be starting up. These sports take up a majority of a persons time.

If a person is out of high school, there are leagues for adults at the local recreation center that they could get involved with. If a person is not very athletic and doesn't enjoy sports very much, there is more they could do to get involved. Small towns also have a wide variety of performing arts. The town is almost always putting on a play that a person could either be a part of, and if that's not their thing, they could always just go watch the play and enjoy it.

Of course, its not as good as the Broadway shows they put on in big cities, but they always do a good job with what they have to work with. Other than theatre, the high school is always putting on different concerts and shows through the school that people can go watch. Small towns also focus a lot on community involvement. They encourage and depend on members of the community to get things done. They often have days where everyone gets together and picks up the community. Small towns often have festivals of some type going on to get everyone to come and participate, either it be a church or school event.

Other than worrying about finding things to do in a small town, people from a bigger city may also wonder how a person would go about shopping. They like to be able to jump in their car and drive to the mall to pick something up quick. Most small towns have a grocery store in the town they can go to. They also often have little shops downtown where a person would be able to pick up a few items if they would need to.

If there were to be something they couldn't find in their small town, there is usually a bigger city within thirty miles of them. That is just a short little drive that a person wouldn't have to make too often. Another misconception about small towns is that there wouldn't be any job opportunities for them. Small towns also have to offer places of work, most small towns have every little place you could ever need, just not six of them like the bigger cities.

The good thing about being able to find work in a small town is that its not going to take a person 45 minutes to get to work because of the traffic. I always loved leaving five minutes before I had to be to work and still make it on time. People also probably think that living in a small town wouldn't be very great because everyone would know everything about a person. This is the truth, but its actually not such a bad thing. I feel as if I have a very close bond to all of my class. I was friends with almost everyone in my graduating class of less than 90.

If a person doesn't get along with everyone, it might be hard to get things done because they would see these people almost all day every day. Walking down the street, a person would probably know everyone. Almost all of the people always have a smile on their face, which is a very comforting thing. If a person were to have a problem, they could talk to just about anyone in their town about it. People know about everyone in their neighborhood too. For example, say a person were making supper and realized they were out of milk, they would just have to run to the neighbors house quick and ask if they could borrow some, rather than running all the way to the store.

If a person were to be out of town for a trip, they wouldn't have a hard time at all trying to find someone to watch over their house while they were gone. Another good thing about small towns is that they are very safe. A person could easily run to the grocery store quick, and not they have to worry about locking the door behind them. Once they got to the store, they wouldn't have to lock their car. If a person saw someone getting into another persons car that they did not know, they would most likely go up and question them. Parents are much happier with their teen growing up in a small town.

One things for sure, there is no way a person could get away with trying to buy cigarettes or alcohol if they were not of age because the store clerk would know their age, where they live and who their parents are. Even if they were of age, their parents would still find out somehow or another. As a person can see, there are many misconceptions about small town life. While the bigger city may have a lot to offer, small towns also do. All of the things to do may not sound that great to people that grew up in big cities, but small town people make every opportunity to make things happen. Small towns are a very pleasant place to grow up.