Our Finest Hour

[Hayden Collins]

Knowing I can depend on my neighbors is so basic to our relationship that most of the time it goes unseen, but is never unappreciated.  While I’m out of town on business, I know my neighbors will keep an eye on my house and should something go wrong, I know that before I even hear about it, one of my neighbors will be there to help my wife Sandra address the situation. Not long ago, our entire neighborhood was awakened to a lightning strike that burned up one of the houses, and they all immediately responded to make sure everyone was all right.

What’s true for us as neighbors is also true for us in the community. This mutual understanding of the greater good, and of responsibility for our part in it, is the foundation of our self-respect and our resilience. 

It finds its voice in disasters such as the recent tornado damage in Bartow County and the state of Georgia.  Our strong, independent nature was there to be seen the very day after the storm – when at first light neighbors were working the recovery.  From individuals with chainsaws helping out as they can, to small contractors who donated their time and equipment to help out, along with volunteers from the Civil Air Patrol and Boy Scouts of America, local businesses and those who did the fundraising so that $50 gift cards were there for those who were impacted, and the spectrum of local community churches that coordinated to deliver food and water to everyone responding – everyone doing what they can to help the neighbors who had suffered from it.  (And let me commend the church that sent out the hot stew – just what a lumberjack needed that day!)

Our governor did not call out Georgia’s National Guard in the wake of the tornadoes.  Whether or not this reflects the hard choices about how to respond to our state’s budget crisis, there was a rationale.  The governor had confidence in North Georgia’s ability to stand on their own.  And we as individuals understand such hard choices:  FEMA aid is available for those in disaster zones, and the only hands out you see in Bartow County are the ones lending assistance.

We aren’t screaming to the press that the government ought to be here, ought to be responsible for disasters and the recovery from them.  In fact, if the press was here, they may have found themselves in the way of the shovels and chainsaws, and had to get out of the way – or lend a hand.

It also finds its voice in the ordinary hours and days.  The strength of our community is seen in our response to its day-to-day needs – in annual events and ongoing programs to provide support to the children’s shelter, and the positive efforts of community organizations, churches, and the Boy and Girl Scouts, Young Marines, Civil Air Patrol and the Georgia State Defense Force, among others.  These hours and these days all add up, as contributions to the greater good.

In being the kind of community that we want to live in, we also set the example.  In Bartow County we have talked the talk of the conservative party about being self-resilient, being responsible, about independent, smaller government, and about the people who can stand on their own.  We aren’t locked away in our personal fortresses, in gated communities.  We are the community, and we have set the example.