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Comment by ryan_j_naughton | Hacker News Reader

> And the most unusual thing about all this is: None of this is unusual. At least not within the national tapestry that is The Great American Small Town.

It also isn't unusual in the cities. Humans are wonderful and terrible everywhere. It reminds me of the 30 Rock episode where Jack and Liz go to Georgia to find a new comedian in touch with the "real America" and Liz keeps insisting that all Americans are real Americans and there is no "real America."

The acts of people after 9/11 in NYC remind us of the good in humans just as this small town inspires us.

As Mr Rogers said, "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping."

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When I lived in Chicago I saw the aftermath of a car/moped accident up close. I had just gotten off the L at Western and was walking to the north exit. To my right was a moped turning left under the tracks and to my left was a sedan driving out of an alley, also turning under the tracks.

I heard a crunch and a group of people at the exit all jumped and rushed over. I hadn't seen the actual accident, but feared the worst. Once I was street level the group that had rushed over had already called 911, was comforting the person on the moped (they were fine, at most concussed), and directing traffic around the accident. I ended up leaving because there wasn't anything to do and didn't want to get in the way.

60 seconds was all it took for a group of strangers to provide an overwhelming amount of help.

Walking home, I heard the siren of the ambulance, but that eventually faded as I walked another block or so, the scene of the accident swallowed by the vastness of the city.

I probably walked past a couple hundred people or so that evening, all of them unaware of what had happened under Western, yet filled with the hope all of them could provide an overwhelming amount of help.

Which of the 5 Western L stations? :) (I assume the one in Bucktown/Logan Square)

Oooh, you jogged my memory. I actually meant the Damen station, down at the 6 corners. I did also use the Western station at Logan Square often though :)

Although I agree with it I think that small towns have something that is lost in big cities which is the sense of community, and that is simply because in towns you know every single person that has some impact in your daily live.

My family is from a small town who moved to the city right before I was born and there is something my mom said to me when I was a kid that got stuck in my mind which is the awareness of death, in big cities is like people don't die because you don't know about it. Although it may sound macabre I think that knowing about death helps me better understand being alive.

smaller communities exist in big cities too. They might be neighbourhoods like a small town, or interest, cause or activity-based. The trick is not to defer to government to provide them for you, which I think is harder in big centers.

Harkening back to the GP post: Mr. Rogers Neighborhood was based on a city neighborhood, not a small town.

Seasame Street, as well.

This is very true - some apartment buildings have great community (of course, plenty don’t). Demographics certainly drive part of the distinction, but just having a person step up and do the barest amount of leadership is also critical.

> Although I agree with it I think that small towns have something that is lost in big cities which is the sense of community, and that is simply because in towns you know every single person that has some impact in your daily live. My family is from a small town who moved to the city right before I was born and there is something my mom said to me when I was a kid that got stuck in my mind which is the awareness of death, in big cities is like people don't die because you don't know about it.

Cities have plentiful and varied communities, but it's easier to be lost in the masses. Many people lose empathy amongst so many other humans, or so some claim.

I was raised in a small town. Every coin has its other side. "Every single person has an impact on your life." Certainly if the community disapproves of your appearance, skin color, or religion, they can ostracize you, they'll each take turns with their individual impact to turn your life to shit.

Small towns can be bucolic, beautiful, and communal, however your mileage may vary dramatically from in-group to in-group and tribe to tribe. Beware your own scarlet letter, whether it's your skin color, religion, or otherwise.

> Although it may sound macabre I think that knowing about death helps me better understand being alive.

Wise words.

I think it's a basic feature of human nature that every ingroup has an outgroup.

Sure. But in a big city, you'll find that groups you're "out" of don't affect you as much.

In a small town, if the town is the ingroup, and you're the outgroup... you're going to have a bad time.

Yeah, I think that's the pro & con of living in a "real community".

> Small towns can be bucolic, beautiful, and communal, however your mileage may vary dramatically from in-group to in-group and tribe to tribe. Beware your own scarlet letter, whether it's your skin color, religion, or otherwise

Totally agree and that is probably one of the reasons I never went back to my town. Sense of belonging and tribalism definitely comes with drawbacks but also builds a feeling of having to stay together to move forward which is what makes that things like the post happen.

That sense of community comes roaring back in times of calamity.

I've only ever lived in cities or suburbs. During a major calamity, those of us in the city drove out to a small town that was nearly wiped out and gave supplies, money, and time. When our own city was hit by an extremely damaging and deadly storm, we took care of our neighbors (generators for refrigerators, places to sleep, help with repairs, food, etc), even if we had just met them for the first time.

The downside of the small town community is if you are not accepted in it. There is no alternative.

In cities, you have many communities, and if you aren’t accepted in one you can find another.

A fishing community / island in Maine I know of, forced a thief and their family off the island by completely withdrawing all assistance.

You cannot live on an island in Maine without community

I'm old enough to have experienced the slow, quiet, patient love of Mr Rogers first hand; I'm not sure it's able to rise above today's noisy fears? I hope I'm wrong.

I'd sadly say that the trust and love for community(especially in cities) has waned quite a bit, even in gentrified areas I see parents afraid to let their kids walk to the store. l'd say it's another casualty of the typo of journalism this article mentions, all fear no friends.

30 Rock also spoofed the "Subway Hero". A real story of a person falling on the tracks from a seizure and bystander jumped down and pressed them both into the track well while a train ran over them. There's alway bystanders and I'm sure the dynamics of a small town are different. Especially when a rush hour subway platform might have more people than Mendon.

I agree. One of the things that was visible to me as a transplant to Houston was how much city pride there was in how people came together after Harvey, even years after.

“It also isn't unusual in the cities.”

yes it is. last week i saw a homeless man follow a woman onto a packed train, scream in her face and throw her across the train, and nobody did anything. i’ll let you guess the races of the victim and the attacker. this was on the L in union square. no one cares. this country has been dying for decades and it’s almost completely dead

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