In the past week, we’ve asked New River Valley residents to tell us what they are thankful for. We’ve enjoyed reading their responses, and we hope you have, too.

We’ve received a lot of the expected answers about health, family, and the freedoms we have here in the United States. But we received plenty of other answers that help to illustrate the diversity of minds here in the NRV. From sweet potato fries to a pet turtle, from strong coffee to moonlight on fresh fallen snow, the myriad answers have been varied and creative and a lot of fun to read.

Even though times are tough financially for a lot of us, most of us can still give thanks for quite a bit. For one, the New River Valley itself is a great blessing. Having lived in the Deep South, Midwest, and Northwest—all of which have their own benefits—the NRV offers an incredible amount of positives.

This area’s natural beauty is certainly tough to beat. Having just come through autumn’s beauty, what a pleasure it was to glance at the mountains each day and see the tapestry of color that is ours to enjoy. I’m sure that as other folks sometimes drive hundreds of miles in the fall to see our mountains, their majestic magnificence is something we often take it for granted.

We are blessed with so much greenspace with our quaint towns and communities tucked in amid nature’s bounty. And we cannot forget our area’s namesake, the New River. This splendid, ancient waterway is ours to enjoy all day every day as are the many other rivers and streams that flow into the New. As part of our thankfulness we need to understand our responsibility to keep these natural wonders pristine for future generations of NRV residents.

Having lived in high-traffic areas in the past, I know I am thankful for the low volume of traffic found in our area. Sometimes when I complain about being “stuck in traffic” on Main Street in Radford at about 5:10 p.m. on a weekday, I have to chuckle at myself for even thinking I’m part of a traffic problem.

While the NRV has certainly not been immune to the economic downturn, our area has fared better than much of the country. As a whole, Virginia’s unemployment rate held steady in October and remains well below the national average. The U.S. Labor Department reported Friday that Virginia’s jobless rate for October was 6.6 percent. The national unemployment rate was 10.2 percent in October.

As the holiday season is now fully upon us, we need to “buy local” and support the businesses of our friends and neighbors here in the NRV. We are blessed to have such great merchants in the area from Pearisburg to Floyd, Pulaski to Shawsville. So please take a look around here before sending your dollars outside the NRV this season.

To close, I’m also thankful for what this area could be. It’s great as it is, but I think it has tremendous potential to be so much more. We can get that nanotech park in Pulaski County. We can see a revitalization in the downtowns of places such as Pulaski and Radford. We can have more recreational opportunities, increase tourism dollars spent in our area, strengthen the arts and culture of the region, and generally become the ideal community in which we all want to live.

We just have to put aside our differences and rivalries and work together for the common good. And then next year at this time, we’ll all have even more to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving, and have a blessed holiday season.

Tim W. Jackson is Editor of the New River Voice.