Missing the Moral High Ground in “Try That in a Small Town”

My nephew, who is eight, comes every summer to stay with us a few days. He lives three hours away in my hometown of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee – population 11,726. My sister and I meet halfway in the even smaller town of Selmer to pick up my nephew and drop him off a few days later.

Two Sundays ago, I was on my way home from meeting my sister in Selmer and passing through the tiny community of La Grange on Highway 57. The radio static drowned out my classic rock station, so I switched to a country station, something I don’t do very often. I immediately heard an unfamiliar tune with this lyric:

Lawrenceburg, in many ways, was the ideal place to grow up. For a kid living just outside the city limits, everything I needed was within a ten-minute car ride or hour-long bike ride depending on my access to “wheels.” A place to hunt or fish was never hard to find, and we didn’t need multi-million dollar parks because most could walk a mile or less and find a creek, a path through the woods, or an open field. Nestled about an hour and a half between Nashville and Huntsville, Alabama, the amenities of a big city weren’t far.

Contrary to popular belief about schooling in small communities, I received an excellent education at Old Public, E.O. Coffman, and Lawrence County High School. I was well-prepared for college.

We have our heroes, too. Davy Crockett is a favorite son who owned a mill and represented us in the state legislature before heading to West Tennessee and then to the Alamo. More than a century and a half later, actor and Watergate lawyer, Fred Thompson represented us in the United States Senate and later ran for president. The late actor Michael Jeter from the sitcom “Evening Shade” and the movie “The Green Mile” hailed from my hometown, as well.

Lawrenceburg is the home of Southern Gospel and the father of it, James Vaughn. The town also boasts one of only two Mexican War monuments in the United States. The monument is dedicated to the men who died in an infantry unit known as the Lawrenceburg Blues.

Most of the people I encountered in my time there were and are what I’ll call “salt of the earth.” Most people are friendly. They work hard, help others, and try to do what’s right.

There is so much more I could say about the virtues of my hometown, but like every town of any size, it has its warts. Neither big cities nor small towns can claim the moral high ground because each has its proportional share of people with bad ideas and cruel intentions.

In one verse, Aldean sings that folks in a small town won’t tolerate cussing and spitting at law enforcement.

I’m reminded of my grandfather who was a state trooper, firefighter, and later the head of safety and security at Lawrenceburg’s largest employer, Murray Ohio Manufacturing. In 1965, the Teamsters tried to organize Murray and days of unrest and violence ensued. State Troopers sent by the Governor to quell the unrest were cussed out and spit at and overpowered at times. Employees trying to cross the line had windows smashed and property damaged, and their lives threatened, including my grandfather. A sniper shot out electrical transformers to keep the plant from reopening. One month later, two explosions were set off to intimidate employees who had gone back to work.

My hometown, like every other, has experienced robbery, assault, murder, corrupt law enforcement and politicians. One story involves the leader of one political faction shooting at a member of an opposing political party inside the county courthouse!

Small town America has been “ground zero” for the opioid and methamphetamine epidemics in our nation. The kind of poverty widespread in places like Appalachia often makes the urban poor look comfortable.

Small towns aren’t worse than big cities, either. Both are just inherently flawed.

In the chorus, Aldean suggests that folks who break his commandments won’t make it far before small town vigilantes bring about their brand of “justice.” Hypocritical that he is condoning behavior like the kind he’s railing against.

One more thing: The lyric about rounding up his granddaddy’s gun that introduced me to the song is nothing more than a dog whistle. There is plenty to debate about the virtues or pitfalls of gun control, and there are fair points on both sides. But there is no credible proposal on gun control that calls for the government to seize anyone’s hunting rifle or shotgun. I’m not here to debate gun control, only to point out that words matter, especially those used in the context of the massive platform Aldean possesses.

If you’ve made it this far, maybe you’re asking, “What does any of this have to do with Dad Sense?” A lot, actually, but here are two thoughts:

1. Integrity matters more than money. This is a principle I have tried to teach and hope that it is ingrained in the minds and hearts of my children. We tend to measure success by how much money we’ve amassed and material items we’ve collected throughout our lives. Don’t get me wrong, I want to earn more and have nice things, but not at the expense of integrity. Jason Aldean recorded and released a song that exploits the deep divisions in our country and perpetuates false narratives of both big cities and small towns. Why? To sell more records and make more money.
   
2. See the log in your eye before trying to remove the speck in your brother’s eye. This is, of course, the paraphrased words of Jesus in Matthew 7:3. In my life, I have at times been quick to point out the faults of others while oblivious to my own hypocrisy. I hope I’ve matured and do that less frequently. More than that, I hope I have communicated and modeled it enough for my children. The faults and deficiencies and obstacles and challenges of every person, family, and community are sufficient to occupy our time working to improve them, instead of celebrating the imperfections of others.

Be proud of your small town. I’m proud of mine, and there is a lot to celebrate. But if you need a small town anthem, may I recommend “Small Town” by John Mellencamp.

Educated in a small town
Taught to fear of Jesus in a small town
Used to daydream in that small town
Another boring romantic, that’s me.

Got nothing against a big town
Still hayseed enough to say
Look who’s in the big town
But my bed is in a small town
Oh, and that’s good enough for me.

#JasonAldean #TryThatInaSmallTown #CountryMusic #SmallTowns #Trump #Guns