As the alcohol debate continues in our county, the same arguments are expounded, ad nauseum.
Some wondered why I did not write an article opposing the legal sale of alcohol; some wanted to know why I didn’t write an article in support of it; and some wanted to tell me what to write. A brief explanation of the matter won’t answer all questions, but hopefully it will give some perspective.
Alcohol isn’t inherently evil.
It isn’t a savior either.
As someone who grew up in Graham County – who moved away from Graham County and who came back – I do have a perspective on the issue of children leaving. It is no doubt a valid point raised in the debate that the children of Graham County are leaving.
However, I do not believe that legalizing alcohol will change that very much. It’s hard to argue against the idea that it will aid businesses that thrive on tourism and that it may help bring in outsiders. However, it is my belief that it has little to do with the young people leaving.
The reality of the matter is that Graham County has a difficult economy to survive. It is very difficult to drive out of town for an entry level job and to have a family. Which leaves the young man in a position where he has to decide whether to move or not to have a family until late in life. Not to mention that the number of children one can have is seriously reduced.
There is the third option of taking government handouts, but I won’t spend much time on that. We can’t build a society of dole bludgers that can sustain itself.
So the young man moves. After he moves, he has to build a life. He meets a woman, marries her, has children, advances in his career in a local business and he settles there because he has spent years building a life. Seldom does he return, because when he does, it takes large sacrifices or a totally new start.
In my case, I did return because I married a woman who was willing to move. She was willing to move because she wanted a family and I came from a family which had a strong vision for the family. I also was willing to make the sacrifice of driving out of town everyday to earn a good wage in a blue collar job.
Alcohol will do very little to provide middle class, blue collar jobs. Alcohol will provide good jobs to those with capital and low paying jobs to those without. It will do little to build a local economy of skilled labor which can sustain a local family and provide upward mobility. Our county needs to solve the economic problem.
However, the reason people leave is because we have no skilled work to do.
The reason they stay gone is because they have already built a life elsewhere.
Keeping locals here begins with skilled labor and rebuilding a culture that values family life.
Jeremy Wiggins writes a bi-weekly column for The Graham Star. Email him at jeremywiggins87@gmail.com.