Jim Hite

Back in those ancient days of my very young youth, prior to television, radio was a main source of home entertainment. One of the programs to which my dad and I were addicted was the Friday Night Fights broadcast from Madison Square Garden. For those old enough to remember, the broadcaster was Don Dunphy. His voice was unique and perfect for boxing. One could envision the action in the ring, especially when one fighter had the other in a corner. I still remember his describing the lefts, the rights, the head hits, the body punches in a voice and style that put the listener at the scene.

Right now, I think the residents of Millen and Jenkins County feel like that boxer caught in the corner, being pummeled by forces beyond our control. Plants have closed with the resulting loss of hundreds of jobs. And just like that fighter, there is the strong inclination to quit, to throw in the towel.

It has happened with relative quickness and, let's face it, has caught our community unawares.

There is no quick fix and there is no need for recrimination. The easiest thing to do is to blame "them," whoever "them" may be, to become or continue to be among those who find all sorts of fault but never give a bit of effort to make our community better.

Gasoline prices soar beyond $3 per gallon. The stock market is on a roller coaster and, as this is being written, is on the downhill side. We are caught up in many situations beyond our control from war to international trade to a federal deficit with dollar numbers our minds cannot grasp. And the list goes on.

But it is the effect of all this locally that is our concern. Jobs move overseas; our plants close. A housing market slumps; our plants close. It's an example of the trickle down effect that was the basis of much economic legislation begun in the 1980s. The theory was that if those on the top of the economic ladder were provided incentives, growth at the top would trickle down to the rest of us.

Whether that is good or bad, whether it worked or not, has been a topic of debate ever since.

The late Senator Tip O'Neill is quoted as saying, "All politics is local." I think we can also say, "All economics is local."

There is little doubt that the economic trickle down effect is very real when it is negative. It has trickled into Millen and Jenkins County.

What will happen in the short term is predictable. Local workers will be hurt, many may have to leave to find employment and local businesses could see a drop in their activity.

It would surely be easy to throw up our hands, gripe about what

they" did or didn't do, and thus contribute even more to the frustration and helplessness the last months have brought to our community.

However, I think we all need an attitude adjustment. Tearing down has never built anything!

While we don't need to become a Pollyanna, we do have to assume the mindset that we, each of us, should and must do all we can to bring Millen and Jenkins County out of this downturn.

What it will take, I surely don't know. And I wonder if anyone does right now. As said above, this has happened with relative quickness.

All agree we need jobs. That's simply said.

Bringing about that result will take more than clichés.

I, and I trust you as well, hope and pray there will be leadership in our community that will truly lead, that will cooperate, that will put Millen and Jenkins County's recovery before all else, and that we will all join to work on behalf of what Plato, Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas called the "common good."

To adapt a phrase from the early days of our country, we must surely hang together or we will surely hang separately.