Dear Mrs. Clinton,
“It takes a village” to raise someone. Or so it is said. While your community or “village” is very important in how you are brought up, I believe it is the immediate family that teaches you the essentials of life. My village is called Hartland. A little place in the bustling suburbs of Waukesha Wisconsin. Growing up overlooking the downtown area was a family focused experience. I lived above the Fredrick’s Hallmark on Capitol Drive. My grandfather owned the store and I always visited him. I had no neighbors or yard. The only things I had were family and friends at Wee Know Preschool. Although I live in Pewaukee now, I consider Hartland my home. It is where my friends reside, and where I attend school.
For the first four years of my life I was sheltered. After thinking back, I realize that the community sets “norms” for a person to live by. Hartland is a very quiet and sheltered place and I am grateful for that. The village I live in is full of astute and hard working individuals who have earned the lifestyle that they so enjoy. I must scrutinize the difference in growing up here, and growing up in the inner city of Milwaukee. Exposure to nefarious crime and reality in Milwaukee can make someone loath their village.
I have been brought up in a simple town and haven’t moved very far from it. There are very few social maladies, and I believe that I am a better person because of my emersion in this “culture”. However, when the time comes for me to see the world and travel farther away from home, I’m afraid that my efforts to fit in will be ineffectual. Have we become too amicable? Too sheltered? Should I be afraid to solicit my opinions, or be proud of my so-called individuality?
I would like to be an advocate for the village of Hartland, I was not cultured as a child, only by those in my village, if other cultures were to join our village, as children, we would have more acceptance of difference. We have an incredible village, but I believe it can be improved on.
Thank you for reading my letter. I hope that you have seen the aspects of my village that have had a positive effect and those that have had a negative effect.