CORBIN —
The Appalachian area (of which the Tri-County is a part) has pretty much been written off as one of the poorest areas in the nation.
I beg to disagree.
A poor person (in my humble opinion) is one who simply cannot — or will not — do for himself and cannot be burdened to help others.
Not so here in the Tri-County. Sure, we all have our down times when money’s hard, rent gets behind, and bills stack up. But that’s when you find out just how poor — or rich — you really are.
Now I’ll agree that pretty much most of us here in the Tri-County tend to live paycheck to paycheck, and if some unforeseen tragedy occurs, for all intents and purposes, we’re suddenly perceived by the general masses as one of “The Needy.”
So let’s talk about the sudden tragedies that might cause us to become ‘needy.’ The family breadwinner suddenly loses his job, his home is destroyed by fire, or perhaps he gets injured and ends up with a lengthy hospital stay. I’d have to agree that any one of these catastrophic events could qualify one for ‘The Needy’ category.
So just how ‘needy’ are we?
We’re so needy and so broke that we had nothing to contribute when the Ken-Tenn truck took off — fully loaded — for the Gulf after Katrina hit and then — again packed full — to our neighboring Kayjay after that horrific flood.
Hmm. We can barely make ends meet ourselves, so how is it possible that a benefit gospel concert can raise enough money to help with a family’s funeral expenses or feed, clothe and house a family who’s lost their home to a fire, or help a family whose child suddenly requires repeated surgeries? And since we’re so poor, surely we can’t afford to pay for those simple chili and soup bean dinners held by the volunteer fire departments so they can stay afloat.
Now we know that wasn’t our neighbors who donated all those thousands of pounds of canned goods during the post office’s food drive or KSP’s Cram the Cruiser. Face it, we’re all so poor and pitiful, we simply don’t have any food to spare.
And just where did all those used coats come from last winter and the window fans last summer? I guess they came from the local department stores — wait a minute, I did say they were used, didn’t I?
What about our housebound seniors? They didn’t suddenly get up and fix the roof or repair the porch or cut down the dead tree in the yard or put in the new window or crawl under the house to replace the rusted pipes. So how did it get done?
Ah, magic.
And I guess it was Mother Nature who took time out of her busy schedule to shop for and wrap all those hundreds of children’s gifts for the Empty Stocking Fund, TJ Memorial Run, and the London American Legion’s children’s Christmas party, then delivered over 200 giant food baskets throughout the Tri-County.
Wow, sure seems to me that an awful lot gets done ‘in house,’ as it were. But, that’s what a family is expected to do — or at least that’s how I remember it. Everyone takes up the slack when crisis hits.
And if we live in the Tri-County, we are a family, so why wouldn’t we pitch in and get the job done for our family?
Oh, that’s right, we’re too ‘needy’ to care for one another.
Oh, poor us.
Bobbie Poynter is the Community Editor at the Times-Tribune. You can reach her at bpoynter@thetimestribune.com
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Bobbie Poynter Community Editor Times-Tribune Corbin, KY
Discussion
Oh, poor us
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