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We live in a great community.
Sometimes, we forget or take that for granted.
We don’t live in the biggest community, but at the same time, we don’t live in the smallest either. It’s just about right. If it were anywhere else, it wouldn’t be home.
Our neighbors are there to say hello and offer a smile or a wave.
Sometimes, even total strangers are ready to offer a helping hand.
We live in a great community.
How do I know this? As editor of this newspaper, it’s my job to know and report what happens in this community.
This job has many unfortunate aspects, from witnessing a family’s home destroyed by fire, an individual experiencing serious health problems or someone dying in a traffic accident.
Time and again, though, those stories have ways of becoming positive ones. Someone usually steps forward to help out that family or reaches out to loved ones of the deceased.
This job also has many rewards, from covering the grand opening of an expanded library to writing about those who once lived here achieving success in other communities.
It’s writing about high school seniors receiving their diplomas, ready to take on the world.
It’s writing about organizations doing things for others, such as the American Legion honoring our veterans and the Fraternal Order of Eagles making donations to community programs.
It’s writing about individuals who have interesting hobbies we didn’t know of.
These people are all around — they are us.
• We are the regular visitors to North Pond Auction Co. who adopted 50 area families and bought toys, food and clothing.
• We are the student council at Eastside High School who collected toys for children of DeKalb County and Caring Active Responsive Eastside Students (C.A.R.E.S.) chapter who collected food and toys for eight area families.
• We are the elementary students who collected cans for the food pantry and food for our four-legged friends.
• We are the residents who take hot coffee to firefighters as they extinguish a fire in bitter cold temperatures.
• We are the volunteers who stock shelves, bag groceries and distribute food to needy families at the food pantries at Butler United Methodist Church and Coburn Corners Church of Christ near St. Joe.
• We are the volunteers who clean, sort and distribute clothing at Helping Hands Ministry in Butler.
• We are the police officers, firefighters and paramedics who keep everyone safe and respond to emergencies.
• We are the utility employees who make sure our drinking water is safe, the sewer systems work and the gas and electricity aren’t interrupted.
• We are the local government officials who must make tough decisions to ensure tax dollars are spent wisely.
• We are the business owners who are open Saturdays, Sundays and holidays while managing to survive in one of the toughest years in recent memory.
• We are the industries who provide employment, but sometimes have to make tough decisions in order to stay in business.
• We are the teachers, faculty members and administrators of this school district, charged with educating our children.
• We are members of our armed forces, serving in faraway lands, giving the freedoms we enjoy to others.
• We are organizations such as the Rotary clubs and Masonic lodges who offer social opportunities
• We are groups like TeenServe which organize community projects to repair homes for needy individuals.
We live in a great community.
2009 has been one of the toughest years in many ways. Tough times can bring out the best of us. I’d like to think this has been the case in 2009.
Maybe we think these things happen only in other communities. Maybe these are things we don’t hear about enough in our own community.
Maybe we don’t always agree about how things should be done. It would be kind of boring if we did.
Maybe we don’t have everything we want, but we have everything we need.
We have each other. We give of ourselves, our riches, our time and our talents.
I, for one, am proud to call this my home.
Here’s wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Jeff Jones is the editor of The Butler Bulletin. Questions and comments about this column may be sent by mail to: The Butler Bulletin, P.O. Box 39, Butler, IN 46721, by phone at 868-5501 or 925-2611, ext. 47 or by e-mail at
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