One of my favorite books as a child was The Little Engine That Could. If you've never read it, allow me to enlighten you.
A long train needs to be pulled over a large mountain. The task falls on an unlikely candidate: a small blue engine. By repeating the words “I think I can, I think I can,” the small engine succeeds in doing something that should be impossible.
Reminds me a lot of my hometown.
We live in an age in which millennials are flocking to large cities to find employment. Urban is in; rural is out.
Well, not for me at least. And not for my small town, either. Cochran, Georgia is a place that has succeeded for generations despite obstacles that begged for its defeat.
We repeatedly score among the top schools in the state.
We have outstanding athletic programs that allow students to succeed and have the opportunity to play beyond the high school years.
Family businesses have thrived for generations; these mom and pop restaurants and stores are a staple in Cochran.
Cochran has survived the introduction, then loss, of large businesses; this could have spelled destruction for our small town. Yet, I have seen a resilience among the citizens here that defies any and every circumstance.
My point? I’m amazed by my small town.
As Hurricane Matthew struck Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, droves fled inland from the coast. The small town of Cochran was ready to greet the evacuees with open arms. The recreation department was opened up to temporarily house those fleeing.
People opened up campgrounds and rushed to offer supplies to those displaced with supplies.
This, folks, this is why I love my hometown.
If you want to know why, in the age of urban migration, small towns such as mine continue to survive, it is this-
The town may be small, but its heart is enormous.
For many of us, the dream growing up, as soon as we hit middle school, was to move out and move as far away as we can.
We look for a bigger, brighter world, ready to shake off the known, worn place we leave. We forget that the small town from which we want to escape is the place that will always welcome us home with open arms.
Looking ahead to my career, I’m unsure where I will live; I hope that, at some point, I will move back to the town that has always loved me. After all, there may be many places that I love, yet few will love me back in quite the manner Cochran has.
This is a place where people would give the shirt off their back for you- even if it's the only one they have. That kind of generosity is not a facade; it is an innate characteristic of this town and so many small towns across this country.
It is a characteristic that has been passed down for generations, and it is one that I pray we never lose, for that is what sets us apart.
It can be easy to take for granted this community in which we live, particularly with the local elections quickly approaching. However, let us never forget where politics land in the grand scheme of things.
For example, consider the small towns that have been destroyed by Hurricane Matthew.
Consider those mom and pop businesses that thrived in these places for generations that have been shaken by the storm.
Consider those lives that were lost in these small towns.
The importance of politics is secondary.
Additionally, in this political season, I also hope that you remember that we rely on each other. This is not Washington, D.C. We aren’t Donald Trump. We aren’t Hilary Clinton. There is no private jet to take us away from our town and our situation.
As citizens of a small town, we need each other.
That need should supersede any desire for mudslinging or dirty tactics that politics often entail.
I may physically be in other places, but my heart will always be in Cochran. It is a city that has built me as a person, from my morals to my personality to even my accent. It has made me into the person I am today.
For this reason, I will always be grateful for the “Little Town That Could,” even in the face of everything that said it couldn’t.
