Another one bites the dust

What happens to a dream deferred?

Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?

Or does it explode?

— Langston Hughes

Rural communities too often awaken from the American dream to find that it has vanished. Opportunities that once kept their best and brightest at home shrivel to the point that the communities they lovingly sought to serve end up dispassionately imploding from lack of leadership.

As happened in central cities that inspired Hughes’ poetry, rural areas are seeing more and more local institutions that young people could aspire to someday own and operate become snatched up by distant owners.

Those with ambition to steer these institutions to make a difference in their hometowns find their latitude limited and options foreclosed upon. Able to aspire only to become managers, unable to fully implement their dreams, they abandon communities they love.

To be sure, not every local business that becomes a link in a distant chain fails to treat the community it serves with the respect and love it deserves. But taking away from young people the opportunity to make their mark ends up depriving communities of the type of leadership that caused them to flourish in the first place.

It’s not enough that a business pays taxes and provides jobs. Locally owned businesses are far more likely to pay homage to and expand upon what originally made their communities great.

It would be unfair and unproductive to wade into the surf and demand that the tide washing away locally owned businesses not roll in. Corporatization, globalism, economies of scale, and the already growing impact of abandonment by the best and brightest make the trend inevitable.

But the situation hints of the No. 1 challenge our communities face — retooling our economies to focus less on branches of distant businesses rooted in traditions other than our own and to focus instead on boutique institutions and services where local ownership, leadership, and preservation of local values can flourish.

It’s fine to lament that Tampa State Bank is poised to become the latest in a long line of businesses that no longer will be headquartered here and to hope — with some justification — that new ownership will preserve the bank’s tradition of community stewardship.

But lamentation is not enough. Lest we shrivel like a raisin in the sun or explode from lack of leadership, each of us must become committed to engaging in dialogue to address rather than merely accept the challenges we face.

— ERIC MEYER