What's next for Adair County without sewing jobs, tobacco?

It seems to be the worst of times and the best of times for us.

Just as Adair County is making news with its highest unemployment in the state, comes a ground swell of hope as neighbor calls neighbor and asks, "Have you seen the Lindsey Wilson chapel lights?"

Could it be, in the harsh echo of slamming factory doors, this beacon in the night is a signal that education may be our path to the future? Lindsey Wilson is going to great lengths to communicate to every displaced person that there is money for education and retraining. Beyond that, the college is a shining example of what dreaming, planning and taking action will do to take a place from dreary and broke to fabulous and flying.

If Columbia and Adair County make something better of these dreary forced changes - saying good-bye to tobacco crops and sewing jobs - is education the place to start becoming our best.

Mike Harris said recently that in a conversation with Peggy Fudge, she asked why the community doesn't decide what it is going to do in the absence of tobacco and sewing factories, then help people get started toward being the very best at it?

Here on the edge of Appalachia, we have a saying, "We can't afford it." Period. No discussion. Never mind what your dreams are, "We can't afford it." Terminal poorness. But it's gone far beyond a statement of reality to that place where it's an habitual automatic reaction, like saying how-are-you when we don't have time to listen to a response. We can't afford it.

Doug Sapp says poor is as poor does.

Elaine Bennett says you get what you claim. And if you claim nothing's ever going to happen around here, that's what you get.

We can't afford it.

In our habit-speak, are we claiming exactly what we don't want?

If so, how do we change?

Sue Stivers might remind us that we're told to "ask." Not whine. The only clock-stopping problem is death. Anything short of that is a challenge to make us stronger.

John Begley says, "Whatever you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically work toward, must inevitably come to pass."

Glen Akin told his brothers and sisters at church that the Lord told him we should boldly ask for whatever we need, then claim it in His name, relax and and believe it's on its way.

Then there's that line about faith - the size of a grain of mustard seed.

If we analyze how we rat e- strengths and weaknesses - it might help us focus on what our needs are-what to ask for.

How does Adair County

rate in these six

areas for life balance:

SOCIAL? Drive down any road and you'll quickly find a friendly nod and smile. People who move here from off usually give us a good hospitality score.

SPIRITUAL? With the new Begley Chapel at Lindsey Wilson as a place of inspiration, added to all the welcoming churches in the county, it would be hard not to give Adair County an A+ on this one.

FAMILY? We have strong family values, roots.

PHYSICAL? More people are walking for exercise around the county every day. The focus on improving health and preventing disease is strong in our health organizations.

MENTAL? Education has yet to be given the top focus. Too many feel they have to give up and drop out, and many have yet to learn to read.

FINANCIAL? While there are aid packages available, one has to get in trouble to qualify. Shouldn't our focus be on prevention in this area as well as health care?

Mike Harris expanded on Peggy's idea to be the best at what we do when he said, "While we have this cushion of educational training availability and extended unemployment, shouldn't our community come together to find ways to help itself rather than wait for some big company to be recruited from another location?"

He asks why we can't look at the small plants around Adair County now and conduct research into the possibility of expanding on them.

Should we find a way to put moneys together to allow people to create their own jobs by founding small businesses on low interest starter loans? They could pay them back out of profits, becoming full owners of the business once it's rolling.

If we build a war chest of money to help Adair Countians turn their dreams into job-creating realities it could fix our employment problems for years to come.

There's no lack of dreams or ideas here. There's no lack of creativity here, no lack of values, ingenuity, loyalty.

The Small Business Administration says it takes two years to realize profits from any business start up.

A fund to support entrepreneurial activity here to help people get on their feet and live as business builds could change lives and completely eliminate the big factory headache in the future - that headache caused when a large group of workers is turned out all at once.

Because Adair Countians have done so much for so long with so little, are we simply unable to box ourselves out of the brown paper bag of the we-can't-afford-it belief?

Can we embrace money and stop feeling like it is the root of all evil?

I believe it's time we stop saying, "How are you?" and "I'm fine" when we're not.

I believe it's time we say to the world, "It's o.k. Send money. Adair County is ready to do great things with it."

If Ted Turner can donate a billion dollars to the UN, then there's a billionaire out there waiting to be asked to adopt a small Kentucky county which is ready to help itself.