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Mayberry Is A ‘Real’ Ideal

In my latest BBC column, I write about Andy Griffith’s passing, and the myth of Mayberry. Excerpt: We are instructed to spite Mayberry as a kind of ironic inoculation against the supposed unrealism of a traditional, square way of life. You can’t go back to Mayberry, they say, by which they mean forget it, small-town […]

In my latest BBC column, I write about Andy Griffith’s passing, and the myth of Mayberry. Excerpt:

We are instructed to spite Mayberry as a kind of ironic inoculation against the supposed unrealism of a traditional, square way of life.

You can’t go back to Mayberry, they say, by which they mean forget it, small-town and rural life is over, and was a lie in the first place.

They’re right, insofar as what one sees on television isn’t an accurate and complete depiction of reality. This is hardly a radical insight. Griffith himself always said that Mayberry was a myth.

But that is not to say the whole place was a lie.

Myths use untruths – made-up stories – to tell profound truths about human nature.

I go on to talk about my personal experience of my own hometown, St. Francisville, to make me cynical about the reality of Mayberry — until my sister’s cancer and death caused the deep Mayberry-ness of the place (that is, the gentleness, the kindness, the communal solidarity) to reveal itself in glory. Mayberry lives within us, like wheat amid the tares. It sometimes takes tragedy to call it forth, like Brigadoon from the mists.

The point is not that small rural towns exist as utopias. There is no utopia, and never can be. The point is that Andy Griffith’s fictional town became such a pop culture touchstone because it spoke to profound longing and deep-seated ideals within ourselves. We mustn’t make the mistake of believing in utopia, but insofar as “Mayberry” represents an aspirational goal — not only in terms of what we may become, but in terms of what we already are, only hidden beneath the flaws and failings of our everydayness — we must cherish it. As I say in the column:

We mock the Mayberry ideal, and yet wonder why contemporary life is so often harsh, noisy, lonely and disordered.

By the way, ever read Brian Kaller’s excellent Restoring Mayberry blog, in which he chronicles ways folks in rural Ireland are relying on old-fashioned neighborliness, and traditional ways, to rebuild a more humane way of life?

Some of the BBC’s readers have written. For example:

I must say that what you wrote about Mayberry being a “state of mind” really hit home.  Speaking of home, I am from the rural outskirts of Asheville, NC so Andy Griffith is undoubtedly a legend and an icon to many in the region.  I have seen almost every episode of The Andy Griffith Show and that is rare for someone my age (26).  I have only my grandfather to thank for that because we watched atleast two episodes a day from my birth till the age of 12.  It didn’t take me long to realize that a place like Mayberry wasn’t very feasible if real humans were involved but I did see glimpses of Mayberry throughout everyday life.

Just this past week, a close friend of mine, Isaac, was the victim of a hit-and-run while he was headed home on his mo-ped at night.  The driver was caught and charged with the crime but it still made me furious to know that someone could almost kill another person (my close friend especially) and flee the scene with no regard for the other’s life only to save themselves.  Being in the service industry, my thoughts on mankind are already at an all-time low. With that being said, the incident almost pushed me over the breaking point.

I felt overwhelmed by the lack of love and trust in my fellow human beings…BUT it didn’t take long for me to find the Mayberry side of things.  Tonight I went to visit him in the ICU where he was hooked up to all types of machines and monitors.  And in that room where my buddy laid beaten and broken were some of the best characters from my own fictional Mayberry.  Everyone who knows Isaac had sent love and prayers his way.  It was spoken but could have went unsaid that any one of us would do anything that we could for Isaac and his family… and we meant it. Anything.  And it is in trying times like these that I realize that Mayberry does still exist. Maybe not in reality, but as a “state of mind”.

Thank you for your article.  It spoke truth to me as well as aided me in realizing why I actually continued to watch all those episodes without leaving the room.  Maybe there is hope for us yet.

 

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