I was reminded of this during the bitter winter that is (hopefully) over. A friend of mine from a town of 900 said, “You know you are in a rural community when there are 7 cars with their engines running out front of the grocery store while the owner is in buying groceries.”

My friend meant to be funny, but if you think about it, it’s one of the things that should be celebrated. It strongly suggests trust and safety, commodities not always available in urban settings where most now take their keys out of the ignition, lock their cars, and then go inside to lock that door too.

Nancy Herhahn and Betty Sayers are 2 sisters who celebrate every day since they decided to move back to Nebraska after retiring. They looked around and saw “prosperous entrepreneurial businesses, safe streets, a nurturing quality of life for families, excellent schools and affordable housing. We also noticed communities seemed to be well governed, by citizens who cared.” To share all that is good in rural they started a website called Nebraska Rural Living.

I’m of the mind that focusing on all the things to celebrate – our assets – moves us farther than focusing on what we don’t have. A community in South Dakota, population 500, did just this. They faced some serious issues but took stock of what they had and found the biggest assets were the community members who had unknown skills and interests, from teaching another language, to quilting, to an interest in gardening.

This opened up opportunities for small business development, a community garden, and a local farmers market with a “free will” donation policy. People were encouraged to take whatever they needed and leave some money only if they could. They found this method actually ended up making more money than the traditional style of market.

Look around. Celebrate what you see and what you have. We rarely recognize what’s right in front of us, and perhaps we miss the boat by not communicating that.

For more inspiration, contact Kathie Starkweather, kathies@cfra.org.