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Taking Stock

When we take stock of all that is good in our lives, the view of our present and future isn't so dim

By Tammi Fisher

The newsfeeds as of late are rather depressing. A state in a budget crisis, the entertainment industry and Congress exposed as harboring sexual predators, and we still don’t have healthcare or tax reform. It does not feel like we are advancing as a society toward a greater good. Indeed, in many ways it feels like we are not advancing at all. Yet, when we take stock of all that is good in our lives, the view of our present and future aren’t so dim. Consider:

1. We function well, even when Congress doesn’t.

2. Few of us are impacted at all by the entertainment industry and its dysfunction. Notably, we are not star-struck even when a “movie star” visits our town or buys a second home here.

3. While the state might be in a budget crisis, unemployment is very low, and most of us are able to provide a nice Thanksgiving dinner to our families.  And for those less fortunate families, we live in a state of great generosity where communities, neighbors and small business owners help provide for our less fortunate.

4. We value hunting and fishing and the outdoors over just about anything but family, and we get to enjoy these activities simply by stepping outside our front doors.

5. We know our neighbors but don’t intrude; we may question but we don’t judge.   

6. Our law enforcement officers know our teachers, and together, they have successfully kept our kids safe.

7. Businesses still find our state and communities worthy of investment, providing us with access to “big city” shopping in a medium-sized town.

8. When the power goes out, we don’t freak out. In the event of a zombie apocalypse, most of us would manage just fine.

9. Most of us are only two people away from knowing every person featured on “Back Roads of Montana.”

10. Few of us ever leave this state looking for bigger and better; those who leave do everything they can to return.

While we are not in any way immune to the scourges of society, we do have the ability to address those scourges in a far more meaningful fashion because of our collective Montana values. We are a state that consistently recognizes what we have been given by God’s grace, and so long as we continuously cultivate Montana values, we can minimize external threats to our way of life. So, in the midst of the world’s chaos and after taking stock of all that is good, on this Thanksgiving 2017, I hazard to guess around here the response to the “what are you most thankful for” question will be: “having the privilege of living and raising my kids in Montana.”

Tammi Fisher is an attorney and former mayor of Kalispell.