Wednesday September 2nd, 2020
The Atlin Whisper “Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world.” Margaret Mead
People and a Small Northern Town Atlin News Miner 1972 Diane S Smith Walk along an Atlin street on a soft summer night. Across your way, spears of light from curtained windows make warm, inviting patterns on the gravel. Behind darkened doorways, sounds of a town alive and growing trickle into the night. A muffled laugh, a child’s sleepy cry, garbled words, the noises of families deep in the business of an evening. They are comfortable and secure sounds. Two young people representing opposite ends of the continent meet in a small northern town. Something clicks between them, shards of loneliness fall away and they decide to join forces. A new life begins for them and adds to the general din of progress. Atlin is a town experiencing a rebirth. In a few short years is has thrown off the robes of a ghost town, squashed that title with little ceremony. Derelict buildings have been painted and occupied, vacant lots have sprouted handsome log structures, the “city” limits have been pushed back. These things have occurred because of people, and people are what small towns are all about. It isn’t an easy task bringing a town back. People being what they are, complex and unpredictable creatures, a certain percentage are lost in the effort. Sadness and despair may end a sojourn and partners split to travel separate ways wondering where things went wrong that once seemed so right. Others would never fit in and eventually they drift off. People thrown together in a semi isolation and hounded by hostile weather are sometimes deprived of the ability to think objectively. Problems loom too close and are too large. Irritations fester. All around is wilderness, sometimes friendly often oppressive and confining, making it impossible to back away and see things for their actual worth. Gossip can run rampant and malignant. Tempers flare and prejudices are cultivated. The wounds inflicted by a small town can be deep and bitterly painful. But, by the same token the good times, working together for a common goal can be gratifying and exhilarating. Honors given and cherished because they are warm and personal. A tough tenacious fiber is evident in the makeup of the people willing to put up with the rough climate, and small town discontent to live in the North. Inconvenience and community gripes are endured, not always graciously endured, nevertheless for the compensations on the credit side of the ledger. The feeling of being an individual, one unique human being, is probably the most important prize granted to a Northerner, he counts. Good or bad, his influence is felt and adds an important ingredient to a mixture that comprises his small northern town. In Atlin the recipe seems a success. The town is alive and thriving in northern British Columbia. It’s the people that make it happen.