When people hear of country, it’s like they picture trucks, rodeos, line-dancing, and red-necks. They picture a hostile unwelcoming environment mirroring the climate of the swamp. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good line-dance and I know every lyric from Jordan Davis to Luke Combs. However, I don’t think that’s what country is about. I think that is a misconstrued idea that has been developed over the years through movies and books. At the end of the day, Country isn’t a style of clothing consisting of boots and a Stetson, it is a lifestyle. Traveling to Baton Rouge and Lafayette after reading the Moviegoer, I was able to see clearly how country was about simplistic living.
For me, I was able to witness on this trip that at the heart of country was community through the small towns we visited. This sense of community in which people treat each other as family. A lifestyle in which it is custom to wave to every person you see and to invite visitors into your home. In St. Martensville, I witnessed how a client at Subway saw an older citizen walk in and paid for their meal out of respect. In Point Coupee, we saw and heard about how Sheriff Renee knew all the citizens in his parish. In Lafayette, we were invited to Tom’s Jam and were greeted with great hospitality to the point that he taught us to play and dance to Cajun music with his own instruments despite his illness. This kindness even extended to the big bad city, that was unique in the sense that it still had country elements. Every Morning and Afternoon, I was greeted by Todd, Kevin, and Paul; whom would ask about my day. They would spend almost an hour talking to me about how I feel, showing how much, they cared for us as a group despite not knowing us for a long time. Kevin even had bought me a Gatorade once because it was a hot day. All three expressed, how they didn’t really get paid for this, but they did it anyways because it was their pleasure.
It is a lifestyle in which this sense of community is more than enough. People aren’t looking for a luxurious house, they are looking to spend time with their loved one’s dancing and singing on a Sunday afternoon. At Tom’s Jam, I had the opportunity to have two eye-opening conversations about life. The first was with this girl named Janice, and the second was with the photographer. Janice talked to us about how she had this whole successful life in San Francisco, however, she was unhappy with “city life” not allowing her to enjoy the little things that life has to offer. She told us how although Lafayette is completely different, she was happier and felt a sense of belonging. She was happier that she knew her neighbors from down the street, and how people in the community would check in on each other. In terms of my conversation with the photographer, he discussed how he would always do things in life for others, however, through his lifestyle now he was able to finally live describing his adventures as a scuba diver, photographer, and piolet. He urged us young folks to not get caught up in the haste of things in trying to achieve that luxurious status, saying how by the end we should say that we have nothing to regret. This made me reflect on conversations I had with my parents. My parents grew up in the rural countryside of Guatemala, and in moving to the United States we didn’t have much. Yet, they would always say to me how despite not having much, we were happy because we always had each other. It was something that didn’t resonate until I was alone at college trying to seek that degree. There were moments in which I was unhappy despite pursuing my passion because all I wanted was a hug from my parents
Country is a healthy lifestyle that teaches you the importance of simply having loyalty and family around. I think that as a class group, we got to experience that through this trip. None of us knew each other at the start of this trip, yet that didn’t stop us from caring about one another. Even in the bad moments such as being locked out in the sun, we were content. For one instance, in Grand Isle we had nothing but each other and Alex despite knowing him for merely two days prepared my dinner because my hand was cut. We also learned on this trip, to talk and be kind to strangers which is something that isn’t taught in the city. In going back, I know that I need to be more country and learn to appreciate my surroundings in my daily life more. Overall, being country shouldn’t be looked down upon rather it should be embraced and incorporated into the haste of city life.
