Van Ree's Voice

We all come from somewhere, whether it is a small town, a major city or another country. Where you come from can determine your values and what’s important to you, but it doesn’t define you.

Some people may think that if you come from a small town out in the country that you are a “hick” and not as educated as those that come from a metropolitan area. Just as those from the country may see city kids as “stuck-ups.”

I remember this one time my high school soccer team was playing Montesano, a town about 45 minutes from Rochester. It had been a night game so we had stopped at McDonald’s to eat dinner and another girl’s soccer team was in line ahead of us when the Centralia girl’s soccer team walked in.

I was at the end of the line and the Centralia head coach walked in and said, “Hey Rochester, is that Elma in front of us?”

Once I said that it in fact was he gave me a response that I never will forget.

He said, “Dang, well this place sure is the hick-house tonight ain’t it!” I just laughed and nodded.

But he was right. To the rest of the towns up North and to the West we were considered “country white trash,” for lack of a better word, and we at times even agreed with them. We liked bonfires, big trucks and country music – who wouldn’t?

Some kids even left our school to achieve “better educations” in Olympia or schools around Seattle. We saw these people as those who couldn’t appreciate the little things in life and as traitors. It soon became a small town us-against-the-world mentality.

One of my friends said once when our sports programs were in jeopardy, “If they cut sports here I’ll just find something else to do. I’ll stay here and just kick rocks if I have to.”

However time changes a small town, and it’s never the same as you left it or remember it. I remember getting stuck behind tractors on the windy road to my house coming back from college and loving it, blaring my country music and wishing I could spend more than a couple days in the place that raised me.

But every time you go back you notice something different -- whether it’s a new building, a new street sign or a major change that you can’t fathom to be true.

This past year I went back to find a lot of changes. A lot of my friends from high school had kids, builders hired by the tribe were thinking of putting a Safeway in, and the governor was putting in laws to change our school mascot from a Warrior chief to something less controversial.

I guess when I talk about where people come from I primarily understand the rural side more than the big city angle, but I think when we all go back we can see differences and not only how the city changed but how we have changed.

For me I realized that there are pros and cons in a small town that one doesn’t see when they are younger.

When I was in high school I loved my small town and thought it was the greatest place on Earth.

Then I got to college and found that I never wanted to leave Pullman. When I was younger I hid myself from surrounding dangers and was naïve to the drug problem, alcohol problem and many other problems ravaging the area of my small town.

There were still families like mine unaffected by the problems associated with a bored small town culture but the amount that were problematic and still are can be worrisome for future generations. My friends that never left town showed me what could happen if you never got out to experience the world and it scared me to the point of deciding never to return for good.

My best friends were at the point that I never knew if I was going to get a call that they overdosed bad this time and met an untimely end or not. I had nightmares of their funerals and the worst part was that no matter how hard I tried to get them out of the bad things they participated in, the fact was I wasn’t home to babysit them everyday and that made my cause worthless.

I even debated dropping out of school for a semester just to make sure they went to rehab, stayed in as long as they were supposed to, and to keep them clean every night. My father always worried that my association with my best friends from high school would someday get me involved in the matter too.

But seeing the ruin that can befall those who never leave and get caught up in the worst parts of town, I knew that I would never touch a drug or stand for anyone who could throw their lives and all their friendships away for substances.

For five years I tried to help my friends get back on the right track unsuccessfully. It’s hard to let them go, but it’s harder holding on to people who aren’t the same people you loved anymore. It wasn’t until this summer that I finally had to cut off all ties with any of them.

With Rochester being a small town everyone knew right away what had happened. I got random calls saying that I was a horrible friend and that I just “didn’t understand.” I understood plenty and just had to take their words and swallow them.

I now have the reputation in my small town as someone who doesn’t stand for illegal drug use and it’s sad that it took me that long to realize my town had it’s own reputation as well.

Our county was the meth capital of the state and surrounding states for a good while. Who would have thought that the town I was so proud of and still am to this day could have been seen the way it had been by everyone else for so long.

Once you get somewhere like college you still appreciate the fine life you have at home, but you also realize how small and insignificant your town really is to others.

It gives you an underdog mentality but also something else.

I came to this city in Nebraska and saw positives. I saw people getting along, everyone being so friendly and the streets being so clean. I understand that every town has its negatives and it just takes time to see them, but I haven’t seen that in Sidney yet.

So that leaves a certain uncomfortable feeling for someone from a Podunk town.

I see how everyone gets along and helps each other and I have found myself time and time again saying, “Why do these people like me so much? I’m from Rochester.”

It took me awhile to get over being known by the negatives of my small town. Not that many people in Nebraska know where I’m from or the reputation it exceeds, but it was hard seeing a good community and feeling like I was allowed to be a part of it.

My boyfriend told me the other day, “It doesn’t matter where you come from. It doesn’t dictate who you are going to be.”

I think he is right. Although we do get some of our values as young adults from a small town or a big city, what we do with the knowledge we learn is what matters. I love going back and visiting our fishing pond and my parents, and they gave me an amazing, happy life free of the problems that many families sadly face. But I also saw what could happen if you take one small wrong turn in a small town and how someone’s life can be ruined in no time.

A lot of my old friends would blame the downfalls in their life on being in or from Rochester. I have learned that seeing those downfalls can make someone stronger than they ever thought they could be.

You can’t change where you come from but you can change where you go from here.

Hannah Van Ree can be contacted at [email protected].