"Pretty Is..."

It's been awhile since I've featured a guest-post from the editor of the Courier-Times, the hometown newspaper of Paxton, Sutherland and Hershey. Today she shares her thoughts of what makes 'pretty.'

When I was a little girl, I remember my grandmother’s using a phrase that still rings true today… “Pretty is… is pretty does.” My grandmother valued good manners, good behavior, humility and friendliness, and those qualities are still valuable today.

I had the opportunity to go out of town last week, and in the course of my journey, I found myself in a city that a few years ago was voted, “Most beautiful city in the U.S.A.” It really is a pretty town. It has picture-perfect buildings and well-landscaped streets in every nook and corner… Do you hear a ‘but’ coming?

OK, here it is. The most common complaint among those who live in this beautiful town is that the people are somewhat rude.

I personally met some really nice folks there, but I also can confirm that the general social atmosphere in this beautiful is not so beautiful.

When I first moved to western Nebraska, one of the things that struck me as incredibly wonderful was how nice everyone is. It was a part of the culture shock of my move… that people can generally be trusted and that they truly care about one another. I deeply appreciate the fact that they made me feel welcome even though they didn’t know me – and even after they got to know me. If you’ve lived here all your life, this may not make sense to you, but to someone who is looking for a new place to live – or just a nice place to visit… believe me… one of the best assets we can have is how we treat people… especially strangers.

Over the next couple of years, you may see a lot of things happening in our local towns.

• Clean up projects are being spearheaded in Hershey, Sutherland and Paxton, in their own respective ways. We can each contribute our own efforts toward this worthwhile goal.
• Downtown revitalization projects are being considered.
• A new viaduct and pedestrian walk are coming in the very near future for Hershey.
• We hope extra visitors will be coming into Sutherland for the 75th annual Rodeo this year, and plans are being made for a special celebration.
• Extra visitors will be riding through all three of our local towns in 2013 for the Lincoln Highway centennial celebration that will also take place around July 4th.

Cleaning, repairing, redesigning, and other physical improvements are a good thing, but there is one other thing we can all do. Each of us can be our own ‘chamber of commerce’ our own representative of the community. If people are met with pretty surroundings but feel unwelcome, that doesn’t make the communities very pretty after all.

My grandmother was right. “Pretty is… IS pretty does.”

The most beautiful tourist attractions we have are our people. Genuineness, friendliness, joy, peace, care and concern for others are the adornment each of us can wear from the inside out.

It doesn’t cost money, but the results are priceless.

Thanks for stopping by. The coffee is always on.