Our Maine Street's Aroostook Issue 20 : Spring 2014 | Page 11

Some People Have Money and Some People are Rich: The Magic of the Dunbar Number By Catherine Shaw Bowker Gabrielle, Coco, Chanel once said, “There are people who have money and people who are rich.” Whether Chanel saw herself as the former or the latter, I do not know, but her life seems rather lamentable to me. Beginning life an impoverished orphan, she eventually pulled herself out of poverty to become an affluent woman; but her life was not rich. Never married, Chanel was the paramour of many powerful men and suffered such relationships over and over throughout her life. This does not strike me as a rich life. So, what is a rich life? Is life in a small, poor, rural area richer than life in a wealthy urban area? In the early seventies, Dr. Robert Bechtel compared community involvement in urban areas with community involvement in rural areas. His research revealed that even though a city neighborhood has more activities than a small town, the majority of urban citizens are bystanders at these activities – they pay their entrance fee and observe. In the small town, most of the citizens are either members of the sponsoring group, or they know members of said group and pitch in when needed. Bechtel attributes these differences not just to the numbers of citizens, but more importantly, to the need for citizens to be active participants. According to Bechtel, the city environment “makes too few demands on its residents which creates apathy.” Think about Bechtel’s conclusions for a moment. In a small town we have to rely on each other to be successful. When our neighbor is ill and needs his driveway plowed or his lawn mown, we plow his yard or mow his lawn. When a town experiences a loss, such as the numerous house fires Aroostook County experienced this past winter, we do not shrug our shoulders and think, the Red Cross will take care of them. When we are concerned about the out migration of our youth, we step up to take action. While it is true, many agencies do step in, community members also help. From taking neighbors into their homes to holding spaghetti dinners to raise monies, or creating foundations to attack the issue, small towns take care of their own. This is not to say urban neighborhoods lack empathy. I am sure their citizens contribute to fundraisers, donate to food pantries and homeless shelters, and serve on committees, but the odds th