Greetings. By way of introduction, I came to live in Leyden in 1987. Prior to that I lived in Colrain beginning in 1978. Before Colrain, I was an easterner. I lived in several different suburbs of Boston. I am one of those city transplants not so uncommon in these hilltowns who migrated to this area for varying reasons, and who became part of an established community.
Having only lived in Leyden for about 35 years, you might say I am one of the newbies in town. However, from the very beginning, I was never made to feel as if I were a newbie. While I can’t speak for everyone’s experience, my experience as a new Leydenite was of a friendly, welcoming, and caring community. I’ve always felt, and what I’ve always loved about Leyden, is that it has a “folksy” charm. I mean that in the most positive and endearing way: folksy as in informal, familiar in style, casual in manner, friendly and approachable in the interactions among its citizenry. Sure, as in any social network there have been disagreements and controversies. Anyone who has been in Leyden for a while might remember “Privygate” (ask someone if you don’t know what that is), or issues related to the firing range, or the closing of our elementary school, or any number of other matters. But in the end, I never felt that those issues lingered long in the minds of the citizenry. We moved on. If grudges were held and retaliatory measures considered, I was not aware of them.
Anyone who has been keeping up with Leyden news as reported in the Recorder knows there is change afoot in our town. There has been in-fighting among the citizenry, a movement toward divisiveness, kind of mirroring what is going on throughout the country, only in this case around local matters. That saddens me. It shouldn’t be that way in beautiful Leyden.
It seems of late that folksy Leyden is disappearing. I have always considered myself to be on the liberal/progressive side of the political and social spectrum. While I certainly still think of myself in that light, I find myself having opinions that diverge from those who I would generally have considered to be on the same political/social mindset.
There has been talk of racism in Leyden. Personally, I’ve seen no firsthand evidence of it, though I don’t doubt it exists. It is an imperfect world, after all. I am one who tends to believe that everyone has had at some time or other, and perhaps more often than we wish to acknowledge to ourselves, a racist, sexist, misogynistic, or some other “ist” type thought. Yes, it is important to be aware of things that we say or do that might be demeaning or hurtful to others. But sometimes we screw up; that is the pitfall of being human. When mistakes are made, they should be addressed. There is no room for racism (and again, any other ism) in a world that desperately needs to come to realize our joint humanity.
I don’t believe, however, that people should be summarily canceled for the mistakes they make. Good things have been done by people who have made mistakes. Too, not all indecorous things that are said or done exist on an equal plane. Judgments about the severity of a transgression serves as one of the bases of our legal system, and so should it be with gauging the severity of a lapse in good judgement.
The divisiveness that currently seems to be in evidence in Leyden revolves around how we are judging the degree of a breach in expected decorum. To my mind, there has been a harshness in judgement as to that breach, and that feels to me like a significant shift away from what my folksy Leyden has been, the one that didn’t judge me as a newbie in town 35 years ago.
Is folksy Leyden a thing of the past? Are we in Leyden becoming more formal, less casual in manner, more untrusting and hypervigilant in our interactions, and quicker to judgement under the banner of political correctness? Are we becoming more divided? God, I hope not! I am worried as to how the concept of “moving forward” here in Leyden is to be interpreted. I was happy with the old, folksy Leyden. What a loss, should it be lost.
We are human. We make mistakes.
We all have warts. You and me.
Jerry Levine lives in Leyden.