Growing up in Plant City, I remember people who contributed to the good life of our community, and I know people now who still make the lives we live here even better. That advantage is shared by anyone who grew up in a town that values a sense of place and the role that place plays in the lives of its citizens.
In fact, sometimes people ask, “What is it like to grow up in a small town?” My response is based on living in a place where people still speak when they pass you in a store and still care about you even if they have not seen you in a while. It comes from formative years spent in a town where people knew each other’s parents and thus felt part of a wider neighborhood. Part of that smaller setting meant knowing what you said or did affected other people.
People make a place what it is and what it becomes, but this grows true in a more important way for a small town. I watch this dynamic in action, when someone who plays a role in our community life no longer has the chance to do so through disability or death. The sadness of seeing this acts as a motivation for personal responsibility in finding and fulfilling one’s own role in the life of our city.
Our town remains a small one. Thus, we need to remember that our country began as a collection of small towns that grew into their own sizes whether larger or smaller. I enjoy the fact that people in Plant City live near some larger metropolitan areas, but I never lose my love for coming back to our small town after sharing what those cities have to offer. I appreciate Plant City as a hometown.
People ask if Americans still live in a place where people care for others in a person-centered way. Do we still help when help is needed and provide the comfort that people in a community provide one another? In Plant City, I feel we do, and that is one good part of living in our smaller town.
I have lived in Plant City since 1967, and I know I play a part in ensuring our community remains a place that embraces the abiding values of concern for the larger good. I know people who share these values. We do credit to the people who follow us by setting an example of involvement beyond our particular private lives.
Though small, Plant City plays its part in our American story. We remember this when we develop parts of town for new businesses and new parks. People thrive through efforts like these to enhance the quality of everyday life and livelihood.
Our country has not experienced the most pleasant of times in the past few years, and this emphasizes the need to focus on the good qualities of American life. Plant City is part of what is good about America, because of the character we bring to way we live.
The geographical extent of our town remains smaller, even though we seem to grow somewhat bigger as the years pass. No matter how spread out our city becomes, people from larger areas may continue to ask about life in a small town. When they do, I will tell them about the good life in Plant City, the kind of life each one of us enriches by service and outreach on a daily basis.
Scott Toler is a licensed mental health counselor who lives in Plant City. He may be reached at etoler25@tampabay.rr.com.
