By Olga Pyshnyak-Lawrence

Sometimes, the most meaningful stories don’t make it to the front page. I wrote this article for a local newspaper last spring, but it was never published. The message, however, has only grown more true with time. I’m honored to finally share it here, and I hope it speaks to your heart as it did to mine.

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It’s been almost two years since we moved to Danielsville, GA, a sweet, small town with homestyle values and a lot of hope. The people I’ve encountered have brought a fresh sense of curiosity into my life.

I love the expansive fields that I see every time I leave Athens to the place, now, I call home. I feel myself begin to relax and take bigger breaths as I let go of the city and embrace the countryside.

I’ve been known to say on plenty of occasions that what you get out of a place or community is directly proportional to what you put in yourself. It’s been a habit for me since I’ve been a high schooler, to insert myself into the fabric of society, to find meaning in giving back, grateful for every scrap of learning I received, trusting and hoping that everything I’ve done would not be just for the benefit of the recipient but also an investment into myself, into a vision of a much better and wiser person that I would imagine myself to be sometime in the far-away future.

It takes a village to raise a child, to develop the adult and to nourish the old…

It’s become clearer to me recently, as I’ve diligently studied my environment, that Madison County is no ordinary place. Every time that I join in on the monthly meetings, set up by Sherry Deakin (MART/Madison County Family Connection Coordinator), that connect various movers and shakers in our area, I am thrilled and inspired to see such eagerness and response to the needs of our community. And yes, Our community, as I’ve claimed my new home and hope to settle down here and finally build roots that I’ve only dreamed of as an immigrant.

These wonderful people represent various groups and organizations who keenly feel the needs of many demographics, from the youngest to the oldest, from the healthy to the less fortunate. The problems facing them are all the same: time and money, money and time. It never gets old.

The issues of the youth are pressing on my heart more and more daily…

I watch my children and wonder what the world will be like for them. There is a gap between the generations that I am very desperate to bridge. I sat today, having breakfast with my graduating Mentee, hosted by the Madison County Mentorship program, organized by Renee McCannon, listening to the stories around me, taking in that said Village, Mentors and Mentees, both learning together and from each other; a symbiotic relationship.

As I sub within the Madison County School system, I am constantly reminded that the schools cannot face the burden of educating our “future” alone and preparing them to be what we expect them to be: contributing members of our society. I look at the eager faces and some not so eager, and I wonder what Village is behind them. Do they even have a Village, a support system that can hold them up when they are falling? That Village is birthed at home, nurtured in the neighborhoods as they step outside, and developed by the institutions within that child’s sphere of habitation.

And yet again, at the high school, over pizza and salad from Mellow Mushroom, sponsored by one of those said movers and shakers who are so eager to help the community and to educate the students about help available to them, I am saddened to hear that there is not enough funding, nor volunteers to help carry out this valuable outreach to the students.

There are many hands and hearts available, but not enough time nor funding to do what this Village requires.

And herein lies the question, do we rely too much on the aforementioned organizations and not enough on our very own selves? Has it become more comfortable for us to outsource our responsibilities to others? As a life coach, my goal is to teach the client to fish, not to hand them the fish. Before I digress into a million shards of thought and opinion, let me be clear, I don’t pretend to have the answers, but I am willing to listen as I traverse this uncomfortable terrain of what-could-be’s and should-be’s.

I am empowered and inspired by the creative people who are making a difference within the Village I live in. I am astounded at the number of nonprofits, endeavors, and private citizens who serve Madison County! There is so much hope for the future! I am motivated to keep doing my part, not only because that’s something I’ve always done, but because I am finally in the presence of the like-minded.

As a poet and a writer, I know the value, the depth and gold that words can carry. Words can change lives, embolden destinies, shape our character and uplift communities. Every person in our Village has the potential to alter someone else’s world, and in doing so, inspire change and bring hope to our collective future.

Words are free.

The beauty of words is that they not only affect the receiver, but also the giver.

As the issues of my Village are pressing on my heart more and more daily, I draw closer to my faith, believing that we all must bloom where we are planted. God cultivates us in our spaces for a reason. We are like glorious flowers in His garden.

And so, I choose to see us all as wondrous beings, infused with the divine, full of possibilities. Every person I encounter has the ability to change me. To make me greater. Better. Wiser. We are the representatives of Our Village.

We can make a difference regardless of where we find ourselves. We don’t need money or much time to carve out an opportunity to say a kind word, or just simply smile.

As I dwell here in Madison County, engaging in my own Village, supporting and being supported, I am excited to leave a mark, and one day, leave this world a little bit better.

Let’s get busy today… together!