Conforming to the Nation

          Community used to be essential to the Appalachian Mountains. People would tell their stories through songs that had lyrics with meaning through the radio. People were religious going to small town community churches. Neighbors were seen more as family than distant relationships. Our generation of people in the Appalachian Mountains is slowly fading away from the Appalachian culture. Not many know their neighbors on a person level. Religion is on the back burner. The music of our society as a whole is meaningless. In the music of today, we don’t brag about our culture and the tales of it like they use to. We are also not as proud of our culture. We almost make fun of it through the media. Is there hope for our generation to return to the pride we had of being from Appalachia?

         Now, neighbors are like strangers. For the most part, we don’t reach out to others and keep to ourselves. Even some of Appalachian families are the same. From my own experience, I know I’m not close with my grandma that lives only ten minutes up the hill from me and I never call aunts or uncles to check on how they’re doing. My mom has always been close to her family. She has had a good relationship with all of her aunts, uncles, grandparents, and handful of cousins. Family was important more decades ago than now because of factors such as technology. Before, instead of sitting on a computer all day or watching television, families or neighbors would sit around playing cards or having big dinners. Today, it is so much more convenient to just text the person than to spend the time together building up strong relationships.

         The music the kids of Appalachia today listen to is not like the bluegrass from earlier 1900’s. We listen to gruesome rappers that rap about provocative subjects. Tales of what has happened around the mountains would be sung in song and dances would bring the people together. The older Appalachians would be disgusted to see today’s kids “dancing” which is actually grinding to their music. Every time my grandma gets in the Jeep with my mom and I, my mom turns down my radio station to mute because she doesn’t want my grandma to hear what I listen to. Even though the modern music is a national problem, the people of Appalachia are conforming to the nation.

         If you ask a group of people from Appalachia right now where there bible is, half of them would probably respond with the answer “I don’t know.” Religion use to be essential. Many people had bible verses memorized and sang songs about Christianity. God is not the main priority in a lot of people’s lives anymore in Appalachia. A person not going to church is more of an occurrence. I’m not saying people do not go to church anymore because some still do. Many just don’t make their religion about of their everyday lives. Most of Appalachia use to be Christianity. Today, I can’t write “Merry Christmas!” on a receipt at work to give to a customer without people getting offended.

          Instead of taking pride of the Appalachian in our blood, we generally tease about it through media.

I always see documentaries of middle-aged to elders talking about why they are attached to the Appalachian Mountains. The kids to young adults of 2013 make TV shows such as Buckwild making fun of the dirty rednecks in Southern West Virginia promoting our stereotype. If I ask one of my friends about their plans after college, I guarantee they would say “to get away from here.” Not many people have an emotional tie to the hills here in Appalachia.

          I feel like the Appalachian culture is slowly loosing the factors that made it special like it once was. With technology advancement, relationships won’t consume as much time and social skills will get worse. With the new trends of vulgar rap, our culture will blend in with whatever is the new fad. As more bad things happen to society, people will question religion more and the diverseness of the people will bring in new beliefs. The Appalachian culture isn’t what it once was.

-M