08/20/2026
On Tuesday, I attended a community panel hosted by the Rutherford County Democratic Party, and Doug Barrick made a point that has stayed with me.
I didn’t write down his exact words, so I won’t attempt to quote him, but what I took away from what he said was this:
We want strong communities and strong systems, but too often we expect somebody else to do the work required to build and sustain them.
We want organizations to meet needs. We want nonprofits to help people. We want churches to serve their communities. We want good schools, responsive local governments, thriving towns, resources for struggling families, opportunities for young people, and people ready to step in when someone falls through the cracks.
But who is somebody? Who volunteers? Who serves on the committee? Who brings the food? Who builds the ramp? Who makes the phone calls? Who organizes the fundraiser? Who lends their professional expertise? Who sees a need and says, “I can help with that?”
It’s easy to look around at our communities, our state, or our country and feel discouraged. It’s easy to ask, “How did things get this bad? Why isn’t somebody fixing this? What are we supposed to do?” Eventually, “somebody” has to be us.
That doesn’t mean running yourself ragged. It doesn’t mean giving away money you don’t have or sacrificing every free hour of your life. People have jobs, children, health concerns, financial limitations, caregiving responsibilities, and a hundred other perfectly legitimate reasons to have boundaries around what they can give.
You do not have to do everything. You never need to set yourself on fire to keep everyone else warm, but imagine what our communities would look like if more of us decided to do something.
An hour, skill, idea, meal, ride, phone call, donation, or a Saturday morning… A willingness to show up.
And maybe most importantly, a willingness to care about something even when it doesn’t directly affect us or the people we love. Because communities cannot thrive when everyone retreats into a bubble of “me and mine” and waits for somebody else to carry everything outside of that bubble.
The same small group of people cannot hold up an entire community forever. We need fresh hands and fresh ideas. Different experiences and diverse talents.
We also need people willing to bring those things with a genuine spirit of service. There is a difference between walking into a space and saying, “Here’s what I’m good at. Where can I help?” and arriving with an agenda already written and expecting everyone else to fall in line.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t challenge old ways of doing things. We absolutely should. Communities grow because people bring new perspectives, question what isn’t working, and imagine what could be better, but our intentions matter.
Are we trying to use what we have to move our community forward, or are we trying to use our community to move ourselves forward?
It’s okay to benefit from the community you’re helping build. We should want communities that support us, nurture us, keep us safe, give us opportunities, and make our lives better. That’s part of what community is, but personal benefit cannot be the only reason we show up.
The goal isn’t to make ourselves bigger within our communities. The goal is to leave our communities stronger because we were part of them. A thriving community isn’t built by a handful of people doing everything. It’s built by a whole lot of people being willing to do something. 🫶
So much to think about after that panel discussion with Anderson Clayton, LaKesha Womack for Congress, and so many more!
