Maine communities facing ugly facts and unsure futures will falter, if they believe their best days are behind them. It may sound a little hokey, but the best antidote to this fear or uncertainty is a strong dose of civic pride and relentless optimism.
This is the foundation upon which revitalization is built. Too often, the responsibility for remaking communities is approached as “somebody else’s problem,” with the “somebody” being government or industry. The solutions are grandiose, as if prosperity and sustainability are literally one step away.
They aren’t. They never have been. The successes of the past rarely, if ever, came because of single fell swoops executed by the private or public sectors. Rather, they were the product of the environment, which provided the resources and ability to grow our communities into what they are today.
In the deep past, these resources were natural: the rocks, the trees, the rivers, lakes or ocean. On this solid base, entrepreneurs built Maine’s heritage: paper, textiles, shoes, wood products, seafood harvesting, boat building and their many offshoots.
Today, the natural resources are still prevalent, but can be considered secondary to the civic resources now available in our communities. In other words, the people who represent the real soul of these places, and whose cumulative ability to bring change, is greater than they realize.
On Sunday, our front-page story about Rumford illustrated a community in transition, where nothing — even the massive paper mill that’s provided a rock-solid tax base and good jobs for generations — is being taken for granted. This era of doubt has sparked many tough questions, without answers.
Perhaps foremost among them is, “What will replace the mill if it closes?” Many ideas float about — a soap opera museum, maybe — but there’s only one practical answer. Nothing. If that mill closes, as others have in Maine, nothing will replace it as the beating social and economic heart of Rumford.
There are many opinions in town about where the mill stands in the community’s future. The fact is, however, it doesn’t make a difference. The mill won’t dictate the future of Rumford, or communities equally situated. How townspeople — the civic resources — respond is what’s important.
And in this regard, the town is wealthy. We’ve been critical of local politics in the past — some truly bizarre behavior has occurred there — but have always admired its pluck. People care in Rumford, maybe a little too much, and the fact so much future soul-searching is occurring in town is a good thing.
This is how it starts. By having the right attitude, Rumford will create opportunity, prosperity and a stronger community in the long run. The key is not thinking the best days have come and gone.
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