Lily Bjorlin, Epilogue, Question 2

In the epilogue, one of Wheelan's questions about life in 2050 is about putting pleaser and aesthetics above income. One of his examples Anthony Lewis talking about how in Italy there are still small family farms and vineyards despite them being economically inefficient. They are beautiful both for their visual aesthetic and for the history and culture they preserve with them. My favorite quote from this passage is "There are values of humanity, culture, beauty, and community that may require deviations from the cold logic of market theory." Much to the chagrin of my friends, I love little small towns and family farms in the countryside. There is something so pleasing and relaxing about the simplistic beauty of it and Everything is less hectic and there seems to be such a sense of community and togetherness that is being lost in more urban areas. Every summer my family goes to Sawyer, MI for a week. Sawyer is a drive by town on the lake on the way to Kalamazoo. There are a bunch of little family farms growing cherries, grapes, soybeans, corn, and of course blueberries. Though it would be more profitable for one big corporation to buy a bunch of land and start cranking out blueberries, the families who live there would suffer and that tight knit community they have would be broken. I believe it is important to hold onto those "old" values of family and respect and handwork that are often found in old timey small towns, even if they don't directly contribute to helping grow the market economy. I'm not saying big corporate farms are a bad thing because they most definitely aren't but they shouldn't completely take over the entire farming industry. They can just stay in Iowa.