"to be able to answer promptly. I said 'I don't know'".

Was this wintry trip to the polls, worth it?
...first thing to deal with was the one foot of snow all over my car!
Removal took a tedious half hour while well-armed with brush, scraper and persistence.
Next came the slow car warm-up session.
This was good in a way, providing time to warm up cold hands and brush off snow splattered on clothes from head to toe.
Finally, we were off, cautiously navigating freshly snow-covered streets. Once, a speedy town snow-plow roared up close behind me as those saying, 'get out of the way'. His plow is huge; my car small. I thought he'd run me over. The plow driver finally sped around, fast on his duty-driven way.
At the polling place, the parking lot was nearly empty, except for the half-dozen polling official's cars. And when I opened the door to the big polling place, they were the only ones in sight.
By then it was 2 p.m. and the poll people said only 69 folks had voted since the start.
Why such a slim turn-out? Michigan weather, for one thing, of course, and perhaps because there's only one Democrat on the ballot.
So, again, 'was this voting trip worth it?'
You bet! It was worth every extra effort that had to be made.

It's as tho the folks who live here received a memo saying: "We're all in this together, so let's help and be good to each other."
Sure, there are differences of opinion and occasional squabbles; still, the major theme of each day seems to stick with the 'memo'.
A small town is a mini version of a city, indeed, of our world, with all kinds of people.
The difference here is proximity
We know each other so well. We see the same people day after day.
Most folks seem to know that if we're all to enjoy life as best anyone can, we'll do a better job of it by acknowledging as well as understanding our differences.
...come to think of it, all that makes this small town a great place to live could be adapted to our world's varied cultures.
First, however, we all would need to learn more about those cultures, so that, as in a small town, we are better equipped to acknowledge as well as understand differences.
Even though we may live thousands of miles apart, this understanding can bring us closer together
While we may not know our global neighbors personally, we need to understand their cultures.
Other than that, the problems and joys experienced by earth's humans are much the same.
It's a small world after all.

"an instant vacation."

"the more light you shine on it, the more it will contract."
QUOTE BY OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES