Living in small communities definitely has it pros, doesn’t it? Like we all know very well when it comes to normal everyday life, living in a small town in the long run is probably the best place to be.

It doesn’t matter if we are living in Rome, Sydney, NYC, LA, or Fort Laramie. Life is going to be life wherever we are.

Sure from a corporate advertising perspective big, bright happening cities with tons to do seems incredibly appealing; especially when we are younger.

There’re thousands of restaurants, clubs, bars, sporting events, concerts and authentic places to shop. All in all these places are wonderful, exciting and always seem to be alive and on the go.

On the contrary and as we are probably already wise enough to be aware, big awesome places are going to have their disadvantages. After all, life is still going to be life wherever it is we choose to be.

We may live in Seattle where there is always something to do but you can bet dollars to donuts if you have a flat tire on the freeway, you are going to have a lot more “fun” dealing with it than if you get one on Mainstreet in Lingle for crying out loud.

Living in a large city is going to be a lot more eventful when it comes to having things to do, but having to jump on a massive eight-lane road and take a 25-minute drive just to buy milk would probably wear one down after so much time.

Of course realistically someone who has lived in a place like this all their life probably has their system down solid, but still to us modest small-town folk it’s wonderful to just keep things simple when it comes to everyday things.

It really is a wonderful thing when you can run five errands and be back home within an hour isn’t it? You can bet in Chicago if you need to go renew your driver’s license it’s going to be an all-day event.

Having said that, there are of course a few simple cons in living in a small rural community. Yes things are very simple, safe, inexpensive for the most part and peaceful.

However there tends to be one significant problem when it comes to small town living.

Sometimes we get stuck in perhaps the monotony of our everyday lives where everyone knows each other, and we tend to fall into a negative habit of paying more attention to what others are doing.

The most obvious example is if someone makes a simple mistake, you can bet word will spread like a wildfire and of course then everyone knows about it. This then can create problems in the long run for one person over something simply taken out of context, or merely blown out of proportion.

In other words, occasionally folks in small peaceful little towns have a bit of trouble with the old adage, “mind your own business.”

MYOB in other words.

For us to hear someone say this old phrase can seem a bit offensive or unpleasant. Most of the time we are just concerned or curious, and don’t really see the harm in asking about a potential problem or talking about it with others.

Once again though, we probably don’t know the whole story or what is going on in its entirety. This is why it is always the better thing to do to sit back and say absolutely nothing. No passing judgement. No jumping to conclusions. No making assumptions.

When someone wishes to reach out you can bet they will, and there will be a hand waiting and ready to offer some help. Until then, it is usually better to just mind your own business.

Here is finally the distinct contrast between either living in a big, exciting city or a small simple town.

Yes living in a place filled with millions has its disadvantages, but the one overlooked thing someone perhaps gets to enjoy more than anything else is their own anonymity. If a mistake is made or if one of life’s challenges finds their way to a person living in a city, they really don’t have to worry about someone passing judgment or making an unfair assumption about it.

Most of the time in a huge place a story isn’t going to get very far, because so few people are going to even care. They have better things to do than worrying about why there’s a big dent in the bumper of their neighbor’s car two houses down.

It’s a wonderful thing to offer help and common courtesy to other people. However, falling into the trap of constantly paying attention to what others are doing day in and day out is only going to hamper our own personal growth, as well as our relationships with others.

When we choose to focus on ourselves and what we need to be doing to make our own lives better, things seem to work out more in the end.

To put this rambling into perspective, it would be appropriate to think of the old famous John Hughes film, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Most of us would rightfully interpret it as a story of a fun-loving, good-hearted, rebellious high school senior skipping school with his friends to just have fun and enjoy life for a day.

In the meantime, the character has a jealous sister and a power-hungry principal determined to go out of their way to see Ferris is punished for breaking the rules.

Due to their own bitter resentment toward someone else doing something fun which has nothing to do with them, both characters end up far worse off than when they started. The principal ends up getting his car towed, his suit torn and ruined with mud, attacked by dogs and violently kicked in the groin.

The sister of course ends up being arrested and while waiting at the station to be picked up by her parents, she is told by none other than Charlie Sheen himself, “Maybe you ought to spend a little more time worrying about yourself, and a little less time worrying about what your brother does.”

The point here is when out of pettiness, jealousy, boredom or whatever; sticking our nose where it doesn’t belong is only going to cause long-term problems for ourselves and others.

We have to look out for each other, but we have to mind our own business.