One Small Step with WYSO brings strangers with different beliefs together for a conversation — not to debate politics, but to simply get to know each other.
In this conversation, Jennifer Davis and Beth Taylor talked about the differences between small towns and big cities, focusing on how people help each other. Davis shared experiences of strangers offering help during disasters, while Taylor emphasized the close-knit support in small towns.
They also discussed how both personal effort and government action can make communities better. Their conversation highlights the ways people support each other in different settings.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Taylor: So you're from Cincinnati?
Davis: Born and raised in Cincinnati.
Taylor: A lot of my kin and folk are from Cincinnati.
Davis: I didn't even know if I would like it, but I really like it.
Taylor: Oh, really?
Davis: But I have traveled a lot because I love different cultures, different people, so I have been all over.
Taylor: I mean, I've vacationed in New York and Los Angeles, but I've always lived in Troy, Ohio.
Davis: Right.
Taylor: Yeah, and that's really cool.
Davis: So I want to ask you about this, where you said you feel like smaller towns help people more. Tell me about that.
Taylor: I do I feel like that. I mean, I went away for a couple of years and lived in the big city of Columbus. But this is just me — I'm not speaking for everyone in Troy, right? I'm sure this happens in every town. But if your neighbors' car broke down, you would help them get to work. Or if Jan two doors down needed help babysitting, well, my mom's going to say, 'Hey, Beth can babysit your kids so you can go out.' My neighborhood, all the moms know each other and all the dads play poker on Friday nights. I just didn't feel like a big city had that.
Davis: And I think you're right. But in terms of helping other people, I do believe people inherently want to help. And I can talk about disasters. I was evacuated three times in LA from the fires. And we had earthquakes that were really bad. And then we had riots. And I can tell you that when any of those things happen, you will see people flying out to help people they have never met before. And they have never met you before and they're helping you, right? So yeah, when the riots happened, the Rodney King riots, my car broke down and I was stuck in the middle of LA and I could see smoke around me. I had to keep walking and I can't tell you how many people stopped to say, 'Can I take you somewhere?' So it happens.
Taylor: That's good to hear.
Davis: It's just different, right? But I think it's there.
Taylor: I just, I hear what you're saying, but I feel like in general, we help each other out. Why do I need these government programs telling me I need to help somebody out? Because we're doing that on our own.
Davis: For me, like I can put it in terms of being a female and trying to go up the ladder.
Taylor: I hear you. I have that, too.
Davis: I'm old enough to remember the most horrible kinds of interviews, the most sexist, misogynistic kind of interviews. And I don't have to do that anymore because we as a community, as a society, said that's not right, we're gonna change it. And who changes things? Who does everybody look for to change things? The government. The government actually says, no, here's the right thing to do. That's what changes things for the better.
Taylor: I mean, it's something to think about. It's just a different way to think. Yeah, which is why we're here.
One Small Step with WYSO is produced by the Eichelberger Center for Community Voices at WYSO. This series is made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and presented by the Charles F. Kettering Foundation.