Thanksgiving with my family always includes updates from family members, invitations to upcoming family events, good food and of course family debates on various subjects. These family discussions/debates can cover a multitude of subjects and can change direction quickly. During our latest family “discussion” and because a large part of my job focuses on community projects, I ask my family to share “What they like best about living here and their favorite place/thing about their community.” I was surprised to have so many positive stories shared by family members from my grandchildren to their great grandmother. I invited my family and friends to send me their version of what they feel is great about our community, past, present or future.
I hope you enjoy the story listed below submitted by my son-in-law. I invite you to share your version of what is great about living in Richland County past, present or future. I look forward to reading and sharing your interpretation of our community in upcoming blogs and other media. Please forward your story and/or comments to Roberta at roberta@chooserichland.com.
Imagine the time when the trolley climbed main street as people window shopped the stores. Everyone waved regardless of the weather, and the store owners called you by your first name. A handshake meant the deal was sacred, and the streets only stirred after church every Sunday. Richland county is a sacred place of beauty, and wonder if you just stop and look instead of bustling by the areas that look bleak now. Richland County may have peaked in the past by some standards but can once again be a Rich land if we stop and look at what was founded. Beyond our streets, and beyond our difference is a land of flowing streams, and rivers, hillsides filled with corn in the fall, and bountiful land in the spring waiting to be filled. Valleys and peaks are everywhere the eye can see that only make me wonder what it was like before I was here, and what it will look like when I am gone. What I see now is a land that has so much potential we sometimes forget how rich it can be.
We have trains that at times block our path, we have factories that have left, and some that have risen to provide for our families. Agencies that exist to provide for those in need, and people that give with their hearts on a daily basis.
I have been to bigger cities, and ask myself what could be where I live. If only we look beyond our needs and what it would take to make my town as beautiful as where I am visiting. I realize it is simply as looking at the past and bringing some of that forward. Not to repeat history, not to downplay the success we see today, but more to bring light to our own misgivings, to my misgivings and pay forward to those that struggles then, and those that struggle now. Give to your neighbor, give to your family, but most importantly remember that this community was once the center point of our state, and could very easily be again if we just remember just as the trolley once climbed that hill in all weather, we can as well, together make this county a very rich land.
Written by Tim for his favorite mother-in-law