EDITORIAL: LITTLE THINGS CAN MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE

Once work is completed on the major construction projects around town, it’s going to look great — there’s no doubt about that. But what are Freeman residents doing on their own to make this community a good place to visit and live? Here’s a good reminder to be the community you want to see.

Three major construction projects currently underway — the rebuild of Main Street, the development of the Westward View housing development and construction of The Hangar at Freeman Public Schools — are strong indicators that Freeman is a community on the move. There are a lot of towns that would love to see just one of these capital projects taking place, let alone three of them.

All demonstrate visioning and anticipation of strong years and decades to come for this town of 1,300 and community of much, much larger.

So what are the residents of Freeman doing to contribute to a clean, healthy, vibrant and inviting place to live? It depends, of course, on who it is we’re talking about.

But the work taking place around town offers a good reminder that many don’t always think about — that how we act in the post office or the grocery store, what our properties look like and how we care for our neighbors all contribute to the quality of the community as a whole.

Freeman has a number of big events coming up, from baseball tournaments to fundraisers and festivals, and there will undoubtedly be a lot of people coming into town. They’ll see the Main Street project and some of the other work going on around town, but what else will they see? What else will they experience? An inviting town? A place in which they might want to move? A community that makes them think, ‘Wow, Freeman’s really got it going on!”?

That’s certainly the hope.

And we all can contribute to that.

So use this as a reminder that being a strong community together requires even a modest effort to contribute. Say a nice word to somebody. Be encouraging. Smile. Cut your grass. Pull some weeds. Pick up litter. Plant some flowers.

The big stuff that’s happening? It’s great.

But the little stuff can be just as big.

Jeremy Waltner | Editor & Publisher