I’ve always been short. It wasn’t like I was ‘the tall kid’ until 5th grade, then all of my classmates grew around me- I was always one of the shortest kids in my class, all throughout school. My aunt would light-heartedly tell me, “Good things take time” when I’d get frustrated being unable to ride the big waterslides. Maybe it’s because height is genetic, and I never did have that big growth spurt, but I’ve just never been a fan of the phrase.
Stay with me, I’m going to connect it.
I, like many others, moved away then moved back to the Northeast Kingdom. In the process, I re-realized something I learned back in high school: there’s just something special about the NEK. That’s not to say the area is perfect, but, something’s different here, right? When I moved back as a young adult, I heard from so many friends who had also moved away, “Why did you move back? There’s nothing there for someone in their 20s who’s not a mountain biker or a logger”, but I love the Kingdom and the unique experiences and pace of life that can exist here. I intend to live here for a long time, so the way I see it, it’s in my best interest to do all I can to make the Kingdom a great place for someone like me to live.
Earlier in August, a blog was posted here that spoke on opportunity, and while I would be happy to attempt to re-word what was written, I feel it’s already been put perfectly,
“Industry in Vermont may seem small and limited, but that doesn’t mean our communities don’t need those skills. A lack of industry isn’t a lack of opportunity, in fact, it is the very essence of opportunity. The Northeast Kingdom is a place where folks from any background can come and build, for themselves, the very business they’re looking to work for, in the place they want to live.”
I don’t like the phrase “Good things take time” because it speaks with no regard to the effort that goes into making things good. It’d be nice to wait for the Kingdom to become ‘better’, but here in the NEK we’ve seen that waiting for things to change, or complaining that things should change, never brings the results we daydreamed about over a beer with a neighbor. When it feels like a lot of effort, I remind myself: not participating in the community doesn’t make me not a member of the community, it just makes me an unproductive member of the community.
Although I personally never hit mine, I whole-heartedly believe the Kingdom is just on the brink of its own growth spurt. And, I've learned that here, effort has impact. Our community has a real opportunity to steer that growth and make sure every neighbor is positively impacted by the effort taken to improve our home.
