Being a Part of the Village
You’ve all heard the phrase, "It takes a whole village to raise a child" and are probably saying enough already. But did you ever think about your part in the village as a contributor of strengths and assets, and as a recipient of some of those talents/assets in other people. Perhaps using a couple of metaphors will give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

Have you ever tossed a rock in a pond and watched the ripples go out? If the ripples strike an object they may be reflected or come rippling back to you or change direction and ripple on to another object to be deflected again. Perhaps we can compare this rippling effect to our interactions with the other people we have around us in our community. Some of those interactions are social—like with family, friends, and other supports. There may also be interactions that are based on needs—like road maintenance, grocery, hardware, utilities, restaurants, medical services, parks and recreation, banking services, education, civic organizations, sales and repair services, and on and on. So how is this like our rippling pond? Well perhaps we need to get our hair cut, so we ask someone in our family or perhaps a friend and they suggest a beauty or barber shop and we head on down. While we’re getting our hair worked on we may be talking to the person cutting our hair and mention something we’re working on and that we need to get some item to finish it. They say, ‘Oh you can find that at ‘Fred’s’ and then you head over there to get what you needed. Now maybe that item was some information, service, advice, or support that you needed instead of a part, but now you also know about that resource so when someone asks, you send out that ripple of information.

Well now we have all this rippling or information transfer going on, but how effective and/or efficient is it? Or how well does it work? Let’s go back to our metaphors and use an engine this time.

Car engines are pretty complex in terms of all the working parts that systematically work together so that the engine runs both efficiently (fuel wise) and effectively (runs smoothly). If we think about our community as a system that works together for everyone’s benefit, it’s a pretty complex system too. We need all the services, resources, industries, agencies, businesses, organizations, and etc., all the parts, to have the kinds of activities we have available in our town. What does that include? Roads, auto parts, sewer, churches, libraries, schools, restaurants, grocery stores, water, electricity, gas, parks, banking institutions, feed store/coops, service organizations, police, fire department, specialty stores, and I could probably fill the rest of this page with names of all the available interacting entities (parts) located in our community. Each of those parts are made up of individuals in our community who have a talent and/or skill that they offer. Some people are real good working on mechanical things, some on technology things, some with people, or business. And others are good at overseeing the infrastructure of the city or getting things going or planning things.

What becomes real important for the efficiency and effectiveness of the community is to have these different parts/talents work together in a unified direction. This unified direction makes for the best use of our local resources and talents, and allows us to figure out what we need to fill in the gaps or attract the resources we may need from the outside. It also allows us to attain goals and continue to be a progressive and viable, growing community. What does that mean? It means healthy families and individuals, good paying jobs, businesses, services, industry, infra-structure, schools, life-time education, activities for all ages of people, safety, and all those other things necessary for a good running operation. And it takes maintenance just like that tune-up, oil and lube job we do on a regular basis to keep things running smoothly and well. Somebody needs to do those parts/maintenance so things run well. And that somebody includes you that individual with those special talents that we need to be efficient and effective. So look for opportunities to be part of your community. An upcoming example is the 2nd Roundtable on September 30 at Palmyra High school. For more information contact Sherry Nelson at University Outreach & Extension, 769-2177 or Irene Meyers at 769-2418.

University Outreach & Extension does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, or status as a Vietnam era veteran in employment or programs.