Community

My entire life I have been raised to cherish the community surrounding me.  From the small community of farmers in my nearby neighborhood to the larger community of the entire town and county surrounding my home.  I was raised on a small farm in a community where my dad was raised and my dad's mom was raised.  The larger community included where my dad's mom's family had lived for years and where my mom's family was from as well.  

The smaller community involves farmers that graduated from high school with my grandma to youth members that I have grown up friends with.  We all know that the members of the community are there whenever the need arises.  If someone in the community is in need, the rest of the community rallies around and helps to the best of their ability.  I have witnessed this multiple times in my life.  The first time that I really witnessed this was when I was four years old.  It was during January 2000, that our community was a part of a terrible tragedy.  My grandmother was killed in a car wreck at the end of our county road.  The community rallied around my grandpa, my parents, aunt, and uncle as they tried to make the best of a horrible situation.  Members of the community took time to cook and serve the family during this time.  Some of the farmers helped take care of the livestock and helped feed hay while the funeral and other things were going on.  Once the funeral was over they didn't stop, they stood by our family and continue to be there if something happens.  

We witnessed the pride in community again this spring when my great uncle had a massive heart attack and nearly died multiple times.  The community was there to help take care of his house and daughter while his wife was at the hospital with him for over a month.  They planted flowers in one of his flowerbeds when he was going to get to drive by the house on his way from the hospital to rehabilitation.  Members of the community helped to find a van and wheelchair to transport him from the hospital in Columbia to the rehab center hundreds of miles away in order to save my aunt thousands of dollars for the ambulance.  He has since come home and they continue to help him out.  

We come together to celebrate as well. Each of the neighbors were considered like family as I was growing up.  I had more "aunts" and "uncles" than anyone could think about having.  I guess you could say that I have been blessed to be raised in a community that cares and comes together in time of need.  

I believe in farming

One of my biggest beliefs is in the fact that farmers are the center of the world.  They provide the food that keeps us alive.  I believe that most farmers have values that the rest of the world should be jealous of.  Farmers are some of the strongest people that I know.   Strength not only in the physical form but also in terms of emotions.  Who else can watch something that they have put an enormous amount of work into, die to become food for another person.  Who else could wake up early, go to bed late, and work from wake up to bed.  They provide the food that feeds the world and keeps the rest of us working.  Without farmers there would be none of the rest of us.  We could not survive without food.  We could not dress without farmers, there would be no clothing.  We would have to run naked.  We would have no furniture.  A farmer is extremely involved in his or her community.  They help their neighbors.  They celebrate with their neighbors, they grieve with their neighbors.  They are entwined in their neighborhoods.

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I believe statements

I believe in many things

1. I believe I am a good student
2. I believe I am a good older sister and a good role model to my little brother.
3. I believe that my parents expect a lot from me.
4. I believe I expect more from myself than my parents do.
5. I believe I have done well in life to this point.
6. I believe I am a good girlfriend.
7. I believe that without teachers, we would know very little other than street smarts.
8. I believe that not all people are college material.  I might have even believed this about myself.
9. I believe it is important to share your knowledge with other people.
10. I believe that learning from your grandparents is super important. 
11. I believe that knowing how to cook is extremely important no matter your gender.
12. I believe in learning how to drive when you are young so you can gain independence.
13. I believe in farming and sharing the love for farming with my children
14. I believe that farmers keep the world moving.
15. I believe it is important to laugh as often as possible.

ISTJ

I am a generally quiet individual.  Writing is not normally my "thing", but I am able to formulate a generally well thought out sentence, paragraph, and paper.  When taking the Jung Typology test, I found it interesting in the way that some of the questions were worded.  They were not necessarily small town friendly, but in context they were easily understandable.  After taking the test, it was determined that I was of the type ISTJ, this means introversion, sensing, thinking, and judging.  I think of myself as somewhat of an introvert because there are very few people that I let truly know the real me.  I believe it is important to follow the rules and I can typically sense when something is wrong with people.  In reading the narrative about the ISTJ type, I found it interesting that it suggests the type of writing that I would prefer is writing over facts versus writing about the steps of doing something.  This is me to perfection.