Dr. David Hopson
As we prepare to celebrate the coming New Year with our resolutions to do better in our own lives, I hope we’re also reflecting on what we each can do to improve the lives of those we touch daily and the immediate environs in which we live. Imagine if you could bring a smile to a child’s face daily, provide opportunities for those in need, play a meaningful role in local government, or impact your local community in a positive way on a routine basis. The opportunities to do this are endless and especially easy to both find, and do, in the small towns that so many of us call home.
Before anyone begins lamenting on how utopian this sounds, or that their own life is so difficult, let me remind people of how fortunate we all are in comparison to so many others. If you search the internet for the “State of the Village Report” you’ll find many sources that all generally report the following about the world’s population: 16 percent cannot read, 24 percent have no electricity, 33 percent have no access to a safe water supply, 39 percent lack access to improved sanitation, 48 percent live on less than $2.00 a day while 20 percent live on less than $1.00 per day (U.S. Dollars), 50 percent are malnourished and 1% are dying of starvation, and 80 percent live in substandard housing. From a slightly different perspective, of the world’s population: 1 percent have HIV and 1 percent have a college education, 5 percent possess 32 percent of the world’s wealth, 7 percent own an automobile, and 8 percent have Internet access.
Thus if you’re reading this, you are more blessed than over 2 billion people in the world who cannot read at all, and if you have money in the bank, in your wallet, or spare change in a dish someplace, then you’re among the top 8 percent of the world’s wealthy.
In many ways, I also believe that living where we do allows individuals to make a much greater impact than living in a large city. With almost all of our local governments made up of individuals serving part time, living within the towns that they serve, and essentially volunteering their time, ours is not the world of the professional politician. This is a comment echoed over time as James Madison wrote, “A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.” This seems to represent the way in which so many of our small towns operate and a perfect synopsis of our town meeting form of government.
To make this work, however, requires that individuals take the time, make the effort, and understand the issues that are incumbent on each of us to be active participants in making our lives better through service to the community. Despite differences in opinion, status, or experience, our towns provide opportunities for all who wish to participate. Will you take the opportunity of the New Year to also resolve to be an active participant in making life better for those around you and your local town?
I wish that everyone might find happiness, peace, prosperity, friendship, love, and the fulfillment of your resolutions as you move into and through 2013.
