Change

Change happens all the time; nothing lasts forever or remains static for very long. Some change we regard as good and embrace with open arms, while we dread and anticipate the worst case scenario when other events cause change to occur in our lives. Our outlook depends on circumstances and experience.

Supposedly older people have more problems adapting to change, but I don’t believe that. Regardless of how old we are, circumstances can bring much wanted and appreciated changes which we delight in and that give us a fresh lease on life. However, many times change means difficulties and a reorientation of a lifestyle, and this can occur at any stage of a person’s life. The one constant fact about an individual existence is that it will experience change every step of the way throughout life.

The changes we dread or resent the most are those beyond our control, such as illness, loss of a job, or drastic alterations within a community or a lifestyle. Change can split families or communities in half, and change by its very nature makes us unable to return to what we had last month or last year.

Take Crane for example. This used to be a quiet, sleepy town where neighbors willingly helped neighbors without any thought of remuneration. We enjoyed peaceful lives, secure homes and neighbors we could count upon for help. Unfortunately, change has arrived in Crane. Several landowners have set up or are in the process of setting up RV parks, and although only a small percentage of RVers have moved in so far, the potential exists for a quadrupling of people moving in to squat on a small parcel of ground, and already the influx has changed this village for the worst. Traffic roars up and down the streets at all hours of the day and night, a whole host of unknown people in unfamiliar vehicles cruise up and down the streets, gawking at whatever catches their eye, noise has increased a thousand fold, and Crane continues to deteriorate as a nice place to live. I now feel obliged to lock my doors, an unheard of situation in Crane a mere six months ago.

Neighbors have forgotten how to behave. I heard an ugly rumor that a neighbor came upon a car in a ditch and demanded a $100 payment to pull the unfortunate person’s vehicle from the mud. Crane used to be a place where neighbors held out a helping hand; now apparently they hold out a hand and expect it to be covered with 30 pieces of silver before they lift a hand to assist someone in need.

What a sad commentary on a neighborhood. What a sad commentary on what our life is becoming, and what a heartbreaking thought that boom times bring out the greedy selfish monster in many people.

Unfortunately, this unleashed monster that brings out true colors hasn’t struck only Crane. Horror stories abound about grasping rapacious landlords tripling and quadrupling rent on hapless renters, business people feeling justified in doubling and tripling prices on goods and services, residents feeling justified in demanding payment for something they would have done as a neighborly gesture a year ago, and the skyrocketing of costs everywhere. Eastern Montanans used to pride themselves on being neighborly, friendly, honest and always willing to help out. This flattering, self-congratulatory picture we liked to paint about ourselves as being generous folks has flown the coop with the advent of the oil boom, and now the primary goal seems to be how much can we charge someone else for whatever it is we decide to do for them.

People do have a choice in some cases, but too often people can’t see the results of their choices until it’s too late to take a different path. Once we lose a way of life, it never comes back. I’ve seen this happen before, and the thought that the MonDak is well on its way to repeating the mistakes others have made in the past makes me want to gnash my teeth in despair.

I grew up in a small town surrounded by lush farmland. Over time, the farmland vanished field by field by field, and today that fertile land lies buried under concrete driveways and housing developments. Hundreds of houses blot the landscape, and no longer can the land grow wheat, corn, support livestock, or do anything at all except become more and more polluted with overpopulation. The small town is still a small town with not much to offer anyone; it’s just completely crowded, rank and unappealing. I never go back to my home town, as my home town no longer exists as I remember it, and I certainly don’t care at all for what it has become. It’s now just a little hole on the highway best forgotten and best left behind forever.

I’m afraid we’ll see the same thing in the MonDak. Oil companies and big energy businesses continue to destroy farmland with buildings, scoria, rail heads and concrete. Trucks sit in droves on land that used to support crops, scores of rail storage areas are springing up all over, pump jacks and storage tanks dot the landscape, and instead of wild and free we have overcrowding and dirt, and a population hell bent and determined to make as much money as possible from their fellows for as long as they possibly can get away with it. Towns such as Williston and Sidney already are the places to move away from, and the small outlying villages and hamlets will follow suit if this trend continues, and it probably will, at least for a few more years. It breaks my heart.

Remember to think carefully about what we ask for, because we just might get it, and the results might not be quite what we originally expected. Once something changes, it changes forever, and we can never go back.