Where did the spirit of Bethel go?

To the Editor:

I am by no means what someone would call a full ‘Mainer’ as I have only been here a mere 6 years now. However, for me, it is still home. What concerns me is how much change I have seen in that time. This holiday season, I find myself wondering, where did Bethel’s spirit go?

In talking with someone, they mentioned perhaps it was Covid. We like to blame everything on that these days. Yes, we have all been impacted by it; but we should not use it as an excuse, as it so easily has become. When I moved here, people carried Bethel’s spirit with them everywhere they went.

They were proud of their town and displayed basic kindness whether they were in the town or out of it. Some even saw themselves as a sort of ‘ambassador’. Things were not always ‘fancy’; but they were full of heart and people who welcomed you and made you feel at home, even if it wasn’t your home. It is really part of why I came here. I didn’t need to change it; because it was great to start with.

Of course, there are still those here who love this town deeply and have in their own ways become a sort of surrogate family for me. To them, I am in deep appreciation. In these times, it seems like our spirit should be growing and not diminishing.

We are a small town but it is filled with mighty people. We should be working with each other, not competing against each other. It is time for us to remember the heart-centered spirit of Bethel again. It is time to ask, do you carry the spirit of Bethel in you, or have you ‘sold out’?

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