For Release October 31, 2000

AGRI-VIEWS
by Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent

I was in west central Kansas assisting with an event several weeks ago. Over lunch, all the adult volunteers were visiting about themselves. One of the gentlemen mentioned that he was an Emergency Medical Technician for his local community fire department. Someone else at the group immediately asked how he could volunteer to respond to accidents and other emergency medical situations.

His response really struck a chord with my small community upbringing. It went something like this. "There was a need in the community for some EMTs. I looked around the community and saw who might be available and I decided that if it was going to be done, I was probably going to have to do it."

If it was going to be done, I was going to have to do it. With that one comment, this gentleman succinctly summed up the concept that I call community responsibility. He is not being paid for what he does. Yet he knows that the only way his community will become better is by his, and his neighbors, volunteer time.

It would be easy to say that there’s a big difference between Small Town Kansas, population 750, and our own community. But it doesn’t matter whether it is a community of 350 or a city of 350,000. There are not enough tax funds to pay for everything that is needed to make a community better. It is as important for all members of OUR community to have a sense of community responsibility as it is in that rural community of 750.

Community responsibility takes on many forms. It can be a decision to run for a local public office or serve on an appointed governmental board. It can be serving on a church committee, or being a volunteer leader in 4-H or Scouts. You can volunteer to pick up litter on the highway or simply help a neighbor with their yard clean up.

The one common thread in community responsibility is your commitment to be involved in the community. It’s easy to sit in your living room, watch television, and complain about all that is wrong and isn’t being done. But like the old saying goes, "If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem." You have to get involved. I moved to Junction City almost 19 years ago. For the first eight months I was driving back to Nebraska about every other weekend. I still had friends in school there and I could find a hundred excuses to make that 150 mile drive. But when I quit making that drive, and spending my weekend here, "home" suddenly started feeling a lot more like home!

Sometimes all it takes are a few simple acts to contribute to your community. Next Tuesday is election day. Talk about community responsibility, we actually have political races that the pollsters are saying are too close to call. For everyone who thinks that their vote isn’t important, your have never been more wrong. You owe it to yourself, your community and your future to get out and vote next week!

"If it was going to be done, I was going to have to do it." If it’s going to get done, we all have to do it. It makes no sense to wait for "the government" to do it, because we are the government. If we want to improve our lives, our community and our future, we all have to accept our share of community responsibility. After all, if we don’t do it, it probably won’t get done!

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