Rural society being damaged and left behind by a city-based culture
IN OUR ‘on the spectrum’-filled world, elderly residents of the Irish countryside find themselves in the middle of the social spectrum.
At one end, there is the organised thuggery aimed at them by individuals who regard the houses of rural residents as their own Fagin pick’n’mix.
A state of lawlessness exists in rural Ireland. Criminals operate without fear or hindrance, leaving behind traumatised victims.
Material goods can be replaced. What cannot be restored is the sense your living space will never be the same.
At the other end of the social spectrum is the closure of rural post offices. It represents the use of an economic instrument to balance the company’s books at the expense of people’s access to services.
The State-driven pogrom to denude the countryside of the financial, commercial and digital infrastructure that allows rural society to function is helmed by a city-based culture.
A rural post office is more than a commercial space bedecked with An Post livery. It is a community heartbeat.
As they enjoy their twilight years, why should the elderly bow the knee and change the way they engage with public, commercial and social services?
Living and being part of a society that they helped to create, they are being portrayed as rural fossils refusing to embrace the digital times.
Has it come to pass that your residential location determines your engagement with society?
If that be the case, then would the last person out of the Irish countryside please turn out the light, latch the door and put the key under the mat. John Tierney Fews, Co Waterford