Bristol County Daily News

I have been working on a story for a while now about a slaughter house that has closed and the effect it has had on our local farmers. Its not a USDA slaughter house but a local one that has serviced our farms for many years. It started me wondering how a single person can effect the lives of so many. A rock that is tossed in a pond changes the pond forever or that a single rock that is taken from a stonewall could cause the entire wall to become unstable. So much so that a committee has been formed to figure out what they should do. How to spread out to multiple places so that they are not left here again. Yet still have the quality and service they want for their customers. How to find the happy medium.

I don't think when I stopped working my office job that any great lose was felt. I remember telling others who had quit before me not to worry we can all be replaced. But with what degree of difficulty I don't know. We would all like to think that we are irreplaceable. That should we quit our job and walk out that they would struggle to find someone as good as we were. Its almost spiteful.

I would like to think that I would be remembered fondly, with a smile and a pleasant reflecting thought.

For the farmers I asked didn't you see this coming? Some thought it wouldnt be so soon. Others were involved running there daily operation they didn't think about it until it was too late. We should not become so comfortable with what we are doing that we are letting others drive our business. Plan ahead. Look to the future. Make sure that what we have worked so hard for is there for our children, our grandchildren and maybe farther than that. I don't always plan ahead but when I do it seems that I enjoy the ride better.