Before talking turkey, I want to take a few moments to recognize the Laurinburg Fire Department and the other agencies who responded to the large fire in north Laurinburg the night of November 19th. Though I did not make it out there personally (I tried, but someone gave me the wrong address), the City Manager, who was there witnessing the response to the first major fire since he was hired last June, was very impressed with the professionalism, teamwork and effectiveness of all involved, which included our Fire Department, neighboring fire departments, the police department and many volunteer and full-time EMT’s and EMS workers. On behalf of the City of Laurinburg, thank you to Fire Chief Harold Smith, assistant fire chief (and Police Chief) John Evans and everyone involved, you deserve recognition for risking your lives to make our lives safe, and for doing it in such a professional and excellent manner.

Now time to talk turkey. My wife and I spent an enjoyable Thanksgiving at some friends home eating an organic one. After we ate, dashed downtown to partake in the Christmas Tree lighting ceremony, returned for still more food, we began one of those discussions that happen at the holidays, when family and friends assemble, bellies are overfull and the football games are boring. Whether it was because the mayor was present, or, more likely, because one of the great things about living in a community of this size is that everyone seems to have some interest or opinion about what is going on, we launched into the subjects of Laurinburg and Scotland County. I should not go into the specifics of our conversation because we might not get invited again if they thought I was gathering material for my next column. Besides, nothing of great importance was said (probably because I was doing most of the talking). Why I mention this is because it got me to thinking about what conversations were like in other households. I was wondering, in those households where college students were returning for holiday break, if the parents were hopeful that their children might someday return to live in Laurinburg and whether their children laughed at that thought, seeing no way that they would return to live here because of what it offered. I was wondering if in other households they were remembering friends who had been over to enjoy previous Thanksgiving dinners, but had since moved away because Laurinburg did not offer enough. I was wondering whether in households where adult relatives, who had grown up in Laurinburg, and were here celebrating Thanksgiving with their mother or grandmother, discussed the possibility of one day returning to live here but doubted they would because there was no attractive retirement community and the taxes were too high. I was wondering whether in other households the discussion was about how they wanted to move out of Laurinburg because there were no career opportunities. I was wondering whether in households in Moore County, where the breadwinner makes his or her living in Laurinburg, whether they were talking about Laurinburg at all.

At this point, I thought it would be a good idea to stop wondering what was going on in other households and start thinking about how to change those conversations so that next year they go something like this; the child home from college; “wow, downtown Laurinburg is really getting nice with those new restaurants, those new facades on the buildings and that downtown recreation center they are building is awesome, I can see living here one day”; the disappointed visiting relative: “ I’d like to see about moving back here someday, Laurinburg has a lot to offer what with the college growing and that new retirement village being built next to it, I can really see being happy here at an affordable price”; the unhappy resident considering moving:”I’m excited about going to school at the new Richmond campus here and hopefully starting a small business here of my own” and in the Moore County household? Well, who cares what they are saying next year.

So, in this Holiday Season, my fellow ‘Laurinburgers’, while we try to change the conversations occurring in our households, let’s keep our chins up, because, in the end, how we’ll measure our lives is not by how many restaurants we ate at, malls we shopped in or cineplexes we sat in. It will be by how much we helped others. And, in that respect, the opportunity to help others, there is no better place to live.