Editorial – Is the grass really greener?

Cornwall can be strange. This community can be very seclusive at times and it definitely has its share of betrayals.

If I’m honest, I have to admit that I have pondered fairly often what it would be like to live elsewhere. The Seeker has been struggling for 5 years now. Would another city be more receptive and supportive of its concept? Should we look for a town with a bigger business market? Would Brockville’s City council be warmer to the idea of supporting a local “good news” newspaper?

Most recently, I’ve had my eye on Windsor Ontario which seems to have a lot of the qualities I look for in a city. It’s a hot culture bed, right across the border, not too big or small, offers affordable housing, has a university, many casinos and is the warmest spot in Ontario… What’s there not to like?

Then, every single time, when I’m almost ready to pack my bags, when I’m disillusioned because someone did me wrong or another drug bust landed in the police blotter, this happens.

The balance shifts. Stellar individuals, who themselves has little to nothing, show up to the rescue of someone in need and this community pulls together like no other. Cornwall has no money, yet finds money for worthy causes every time. Do you remember the lesson of the widow’s mite we were told in Catholic school? In the story, a widow donates two small coins, while wealthy people donate much more. Cornwallites remind me of that widow.

This week, within our pages, you will read about the “warmth bundles” initiative, the fundraiser for Mike & Tia and the police officers who went out of their way to get an old married couple their wedding ring back from a pawn shop. I hear these stories and instatntly, my heart is touched. I stop looking outwards, thinking that the grass is greener elsewhere and refocus on what I can do to tend to my own grass and make sure it’s not only green, but lush, healthy and alive!

The things that make me want to leave this town are the same that make me want to stay, if that makes any sense. I want to stay because I won’t let back stabbers get the best of me. I want to stay because seclusion is unacceptable. I want to stay because I want to make a difference. I want to stay because I think the Seeker is needed here more than anywhere else. I want to stay because the stellar individuals around us need to be acknowledged somehow and that is the Seeker’s mandate: to find the gems in our community.

The grass isn’t greener elsewhere. Let’s focus on Cornwall.

The moment one gives close attention to any thing, even a blade of grass it becomes a mysterious, awesome, indescribably magnificent world in itself.


Henry Miller