Tag: publishers letter

I woke up this morning in a classic rock daydream. The tune echoing in my mind was ‘Your Move,’ from the 1971 release of The YES Album by the British prog-rock band, YES. I couldn’t justify a reason why this particular song should be forefront in my mind — so I took a moment to revisit it to see if, perhaps, there was something else there.

Take a straight and stronger course to the corner of your life.
Make the white Queen run so fast
she hasn’t got time to make you wife.
’Cause it’s time, it’s time in time with your time and it’s news is captured for the Queen to use.

Move me on to any black square
Use me anytime you want.
Just remember that the gold
Is for us all to capture all we want, anywhere.

Don’t surround yourself with yourself
Move on back two squares.
Send an instant karma to me
Initial it with loving care.

Don’t surround yourself with yourself
’Cause it’s time, it’s time in time with your time and it’s news is captured for the Queen to use.(All we are saying is give peace a chance).

I’ve seen all good people turn their heads each day
So satisfied I’m on my way.

– Jon Anderson, 1971 © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.

‘Your Move’ is an anti-war and spiritual call to action. The time and context of this song are framed by the turbulent era surrounding the Vietnam conflict. By 1971, the Vietnam war was approaching its 10th anniversary. The expenses of the war were becoming overwhelming both in the cost of human life and currency. The United States actively discussed removing the Gold Standard from the US dollar at this time, enabling needed financial flexibility for the military-industrial complex and some high-level banking opportunities through printing additional currency. The Federally imposed military draft had many questioning where their liberties and inalienable rights had gone. Protests and riots had become commonplace in Western cultures, illustrating the citizen outrage over topics ranging from the war, competing religious and political ideologies, government spending, racial inequality, and social class discrepancies. The media was right in the center of all of it, profiting from inflammatory messaging and manipulating the population’s hearts and minds to their benefit.

“All good people” are those that hope for peace and well-being. The intent of the heart defines the boundary for this categorization as opposed to a nation or government. Songwriter Jon Anderson likens our lives to a chess game: the liberty-loving individual and symbolic collective of individuality, competing with the present and the unseen governing hand. The Queen is the most versatile of all of the pieces and correspondingly is the most powerful. It is wise to watch out for the Queen [and her manipulations]. The song is being sung from the perspective of the Black Bishop as suggested by the “straight and stronger course to the corner,” “making the White Queen run so fast,” and “move me onto any black square.” It would also seem that the Black Bishop is counseling the Black Queen to avoid surrounding “yourself with yourself,” the second yourself likely being the army of pawns [or body of politic] — as doing this would severely inhibit her ability to move.  Surrounding “yourself with yourself” is an allusion to self-righteousness, a trap that will effectively eliminate forward progress and remove you from the game. Should you become a victim of your self-righteousness, is all lost? “Move on back two squares” is a chess term for ‘retreat and rethink.’ If you can muster it, share a little kindness (with a tip of the hat to John Lennon) and chart that “straight and stronger course to the corner of your life.” Your “instant karma” for kindness offered engages a return of gratitude and happiness — ‘Your Move.’

But all of this happened over 50 years ago and is ancient history, right?

In the ranks of “All Good People” is a Vietnamese Thien Buddhist monk named Thích Nhãt Hanh.  He is considered the main inspirator for Engaged Buddhism — or the search to find modern application to traditional Buddhist teachings and beliefs. He was also a peace activist on ‘the other side’ of the Vietnam conflict. I was recently impressed by one of his teachings:

When another person makes you suffer, it is because they suffer deeply within themselves, and their suffering is spilling over. They do not need punishment; they need help. That’s the message they are sending.

– Thích NhÃt HAnh

Like many of you, I have observed a tremendous amount of suffering in our Nation over the past year. The Heber Valley has not been immune as a greater pandemic is sweeping the country. The disruption created by COVID-19 has created a condition where we are all mourning at some level. I see this condition intensified in the Heber Valley as we navigate the most intense growth period of our community’s history. I see anger, locally, that I have never seen before. It is spread all across our social media pages, our roads, our neighborhoods; it is manifest towards small business owners, workforces, and the few leaders who have been willing to step up and guide this ship through the storm. Anger is a disease as real as the virus, causing havoc in our quaint mountain valley. Anger is not in our heritage, and it does not belong here.

Can we find a “straight and stronger course?” Is it possible to “move on back two squares?” I believe it is, and the solution is simple. When someone tries to hurt or offend, a true mark of maturity occurs when you choose to understand their situation instead of retaliating with an equal and opposite force. Observing that the offending individual is wounded at some level, openly apparent or otherwise, you may decide to impart a portion of kindness instead of retaliation — thus discouraging the cycle of anger and suffering.

The solution is simple but not simplistic. Transitions from existing habits and patterns are uncomfortable. I happen to know, with personal experience, that the Heber Valley is packed full of “All Good People.” This fact is our strength and the reason others want to join our community. I challenge the people of the Heber Valley, new and old, to be worthy of that title by showing an increased unconditional kindness to our fellow citizens. When that habit starts to stick, let’s take it to the rest of the world. We are that kind of ‘tribe’.

Kindness is the vaccine for anger.

I hope this edition of Heber Valley Life finds you well and helps to lift your spirits. Thank you all for your continued support of Heber Valley’s Positive Community Voice.

“Things are tough all over,” a phrase coined by a popular movie from the early 1980’s — but every bit as accurate today as it was then. Surrounded by a national economic crisis, social instability, and political unrest, I think it is crucial to acknowledge that this is not the first time that any of these things have happened in our great nation.

If we look back at the pioneers that settled in the Heber Valley, we would recognize how difficult life was for them. An expression commonly used by these pioneers when circumstances became difficult was “put your shoulder to the wheel.” This expression originated in 17th century Europe. It references the fairly common event of a wagon wheel becoming stuck in the mud. The pull of the livestock becoming insufficient would require the operator to get into the mire behind the carriage and push. One might say that as the situation became complicated, a certain degree of physically ‘leaning in’ was required to overcome the difficulties.

Trials evoke three innate personality tendencies that echo across all creation: some choose to fight, some opt to flee, and some decide to freeze. I like this reality because we, as individuals, still have the opportunity to override our base programming and choose our outcome.

In the case of the lodged wagon wheel — paralysis in the face of the challenge will not get the cart out of the bog, get you home for dinner or anywhere else for that matter. You are, quite simply, stuck without any further options. Abandoning the wagon may not be the best long term solution either. This choice would undoubtedly have additional social, political, and economic consequences in the days to follow as the rest of the village addresses the issue on your behalf. Sometimes challenges — as undesirable as the reality may be — require us to roll up our shirt sleeves individually, wade waist-deep into a mud puddle, and lean in with all of our physical might. If one was able to put the options and outcomes all out on a spreadsheet, it is understandable that, more often than not, ‘the fight’ is the only way out of the muck.

Becoming proactive and leaning into your current obstacles is the first challenge I will issue to the community this fall. The second is to do it with a positive attitude. Doing a thing is not always enough. When you can address your challenges with an optimistic outlook, you become a leader and a shining light for others that are struggling. Your example will help others choose the fight and, hopefully, to do so with a positive attitude.

I am perpetually humbled by the feedback I receive and this community’s support of Heber Valley Life magazine. Thank you. I hope that our family of readers, subscribers, sponsors, contributors, and advertisers feel inspired and uplifted, exploring our fall 2020 edition.

By Ryan Bunnell
Publisher, Heber Valley Life Magazine

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.”

– Marcus Aurelius –

ANXIETY. It is safe to say that every single one of us has processed this feeling in the past several months. This edition of Heber Valley Life magazine has been written and assembled in the middle of the Wasatch County ‘Stay at Home’ order for the COVID-19 pandemic. The continued and now amplified disruption of ‘normal’ to the Heber Valley has affected every one of us. With that disruption, we are all forced to decide how we want to address the fear of change and the grief associated with the loss of what things were yesterday.

We, as the creative and production team behind Heber Valley Life, have had to cycle through the stress of the COVID-19 lockdown as a group. Our office was named an essential business due to our printing capabilities, our media voice, and our professional relationships with governmental and healthcare entities within the Heber Valley. Amidst monitoring social media accounts, we could observe all of the ‘stay at home’ jokes, activities, trends, panics, political spins, and a barometric reading into what the rest of the workforce was doing. Tiger shows, toilet paper jokes, memes, conspiracies, and homemade dance videos meant little to us as we were all still very much at work — struggling with amplified project timelines in a dysfunctional marketplace while, correspondingly, feeling great uncertainty about all things related to the future.

As a team, we have been able to process our grief together. The timely distribution of this very book stands as our proof. I am proud of our team, and of how we have adapted to the new normal of change and uncertainty.

How does one become a ‘positive community voice?’ It is not easy. The most natural and seductive of mental pathways will employ fear and outrage as a vehicle to engage minds. In an environment where this tactic is prominently used: it takes a tremendous amount of self-discipline to observe without reacting, to accept those things that you can or cannot influence, and to choose gratitude over general negativity. Finding knowledge (without becoming emotionally ‘triggered’) coupled with a grateful attitude will change your entire outlook on life. Once you accept this shift in perception, you will become a beacon for innovation and positivity to all of those that surround you.

PEACE is as real of an emotion as anxiety. If you acknowledge the existence of one, then you have to accept the other as an equal and opposite reality. When individuals can accept feelings of peace more willingly than anxiety, then miracles happen. Physical and spiritual healing follows. Entire countenances change. It is powerful. It is real. I have seen it.

I am grateful for the opportunity we have to assemble this book each season of the year. I am grateful for all of our overwhelming community support from both our readers and advertisers. I am grateful for the contributors and the team that allows this project to happen. The summer 2020 volume of Heber Valley Life has a lot of heart built into it — all generated from our Heber Valley community. I hope you all enjoy this edition. Thank you again for your interest and support of Heber Valley Life magazine.

I have heard it popularly stated that by small and simple things – great things could be accomplished. Spring is a season where I feel this principle is illustrated quite clearly in nature. Consider the example of a small and seemingly insignificant seed, perhaps even invisible to the eye, that has been lying dormant under a blanket of organic cover and snow since autumn. As the snow melts and the temperature increases, that seed begins to germinate and comes to life. Within a relatively short window, that seed grows into a plant and then vegetation of a much larger scale. The plant begins its photosynthesis cycle and converts carbon dioxide into the oxygen that many of the other inhabitants of our planet need to sustain life. It doesn’t take a very long progression to see how a small and seemingly insignificant seed can have a great impact on many other things in orders far greater than the seed itself could imagine.

I feel this pattern reflects a principle in our own lives as human beings. When one considers the billions of humans that have lived and are currently living, one would have to be disconnected from reality to consider the self greater than the harmonic standard of the species. On a cellular level, this might be true – much like the single and inconsequential seed, one of the billions scattered across a dormant field of grass. Within each of us, I believe we have more potential than an, albeit complex, cellular accident of nature solely destined to consume, reproduce, and perish. Perhaps the individual seed sitting in its place as one of the billions would perceive itself in a similar humility. From our human order or observation, we know that the seed has potential, and its life is necessary to the collective whole. It would stand to reason that, given an understanding of its situation, the seed would have little comprehension of what it could become and how significant it could be to variables that it does not know to exist.

Is it possible then, that each or any of us, given our numeric inconsequentiality, could make a difference or even have an impact on the greater whole? The act of a seedling breaking out of its casing creates a chain of events that may lead to something greater. I have seen this in many people’s lives as they are required to reinvent themselves professionally, take a moral stand on a principle that they believe in, or choose to create peace by illustrating tolerance towards another’s point of view.

In the initial tender stages of a germinating seed, it requires a relatively great exertion of strength to split its casing. It takes courage, will power, and strength to change or split our respective seed casings confining us to intellectual, emotional, spiritual, or professional dormancy. Once the courage to grow has been initiated: roots can spread, stalks can develop, and leaves can unfurl. Only hindsight will tell that a small act of courage in a sliver of time had a changing impact on a sphere greater than one could imagine possible.

By this line of logic, I feel it fair to state that one individual can make a difference, but the choice to do so lies within the individual. One must first initiate the courage to change and then exercise the strength to make it happen. The level of possibility depends on the coding within the individual – but the potential is within us all. I hope that as the citizens of the Heber Valley ponder this concept this spring, that we decide to use our energy to build up others and the budding community around us. Choosing to be a positive influence is contagious and a much-needed salve in our societal status quo. Criticism without a viable solution is a coward’s path. I challenge the community to break your respective molds of confinement by implementing positive thought and solution-based dialogue into your daily routines.

Thank you for your continued support of Heber Valley Life. I hope you truly enjoy our spring 2020 collection of thoughts and stories.

One of my all-time favorite science fiction stories centers around a dystopian future in the San Francisco of 2021. In Phillip K. Dick’s 1968 classic “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” Earth is suffering from the remnant radiation of a global nuclear war. All remaining life is cherished. Due to scarcity in the marketplace, possessing something like a house pet is prohibitively expensive while, at the same time, encouraged in a society that values life above all else.

Thus, bending to the empathetic tendencies of humans, the free market created solutions for those who wanted animals in their lives via synthetic genetic engineering. Such technologies were eventually transferred from animal to human forms to assist in the difficult circumstances involved with terraforming and recolonizing the planet Mars.

To avoid some of the moral complications tied to genetically engineered human beings, these “androids” were not allowed on Earth. Like most well-intended but near-sighted laws, this created a black market for androids, which in turn required a special police force to “retire” rogue androids.

The concept of empathy is almost religious to this future society. With all life in jeopardy, it is now fashionable to be sensitive toward life other than your own. Paradoxically, the synthetic humans are programmed to have no capacity for experiencing emotion where it pertains to the inconvenience or suffering of another. The further irony woven into this tale is that the human bounty hunter that stalks and murders these androids proves to be less empathetic than the very synthetics that he is “retiring.”

I believe that science fiction is a grand genre because its fantastical nature allows authors to address societal trends and problems without triggering programmed emotional responses. In the case of “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” I believe Dick’s underlying premise is to explore the definition of what it is to be “human.” Dick’s classic implies that humanity is unique because of its capacity to be empathetic. Our problem, however, stems from our animalistic instinct to be innately selfish. It takes conscious work and effort to put away those natural tendencies and embrace the one thing that defines and separates us from the rest of the animal kingdom: empathy.

When a difficult scenario arises, and you have an opposing opinion from your neighbor, how do you handle it? Are you able to separate from your innate primal, emotional or self-focused response and entertain the idea from another’s viewpoint?

Contrary to the programming provided in mainstream media outlets: I believe that a cultured citizen must not only entertain but also respect someone else’s belief for what it is. Doing so does not require you to change your own core beliefs, and there is no physical harm incurred by hearing an opposing viewpoint. Gleaning from another’s experience is how we learn – and learning can break down fear, stereotypes and prejudice. Being able to listen to a neighbor and consider his or her viewpoint is both empathetic and definitively human.

There is an unprecedented amount of growth happening in the Heber Valley. As our community grows, there are, and will continue to be, changes that we as citizens will have differing opinions over. I propose that being able to attend a public forum and civilly discuss and question the difficult issues that face our community is not only acceptable but also essential to maintaining our civil liberties.

Politely listening to another’s viewpoint has historically been a standard of culture and civilization. Going back to the cultural revolution of the 1960s, it would seem that the virtue of empathetic debate amongst citizens has left the U.S. culture and has been replaced by reactionary, emotional and uncompromising rhetoric. I believe that Phillip K. Dick saw this happening and forecasted the status quo of selfishness in today’s society.

I believe we can do better than the country’s current societal trend within the mountainous confines of the Heber Valley. It all starts with a proactive, individual decision to be willing to think outside of yourself and listen to your neighbor. Give it a try and see how it goes!

Thank you for your continued support of Heber Valley Life.

I love taking nature walks with my children in the Heber Valley and the fall season is arguably one of the most favorable climates in which to do so. Sometimes we walk the Provo River trails and other times we head for higher ground on any of the numerous and growing trail systems along the benches of the valley. As the children explore, we discuss the taxonomy or identity of the various life forms on the walk.

The children drink it up. I attempt to point out the unique characteristics of each plant and insect with a focus toward the traits that specialize them to their location. We discuss why some excel in one particular location and not in another. We try to connect the common threads that allow them to all harmoniously exist and create one balanced system.

It is beautiful to consider the complexity and diversity found in nature; with its perpetual struggle and the corresponding balance. Even with all of the daily strife and diversity, the local wildlife is still tied together with commonalities that bond them into a singular ecosystem.

I believe there is a parallel between this natural trend and the condensed community dwellings of Homo sapiens.

An individual city — or group of cities that collectively make a community — will have a wonderful variety of citizens harboring varying skills, opinions, beliefs and backgrounds that build a beautiful, albeit complex and diverse, network of humans. Similar to the uniquely-beautiful ecosystem that surrounds us, a world without diversity or struggle would be without interest and of little worth.

I believe a community’s blanket of identity is its binding element amongst all of the chaos of everyday life. Much like the climate dictating the specialization of traits in the natural world, this blanket of identity wraps itself around the core thoughts and attitudes of the citizens.

What is our identity as the Heber Valley? What do we want to be? What is our “brand?” Can we do better than the cliché coined by Mr. David Allen Coe as a community “… where bikers stare at cowboys who are laughing at the hippies, who are praying they’ll get outta here alive?” Certainly, if we are unable to get past petty labels, snap judgements and a brand identity of obstinate and hard-walled niches, that clichéd bias could be a possible future for us all.

Within the pages of this magazine we strive to celebrate the uniqueness and diversity of the residents of the Heber Valley. We believe that with recognition comes familiarity — and through familiarity and a willingness to change we can decrease stereotypes, prejudice and bias.

Autumn is a time of transition. The challenge I issue to the community this fall is to inventory your social fears; whether they be toward individuals, trends or changes. If you find that those fears have no merit or value, I encourage you to have the courage to change during this, the very season of transition.

Thank you for your continued support of Heber Valley Life magazine.

One of my personal hobbies is styling and tending to bonsai trees. The overall goal behind the art of bonsai is to create a portable window into nature in the form of a potted tree. That tree, in miniature, should illustrate all of the characteristics of an ancient and venerated monument of endurance and survival as it may be found on the mountain itself.

The discipline involves, initially, creating a design or a plan generated from careful observation of the natural characteristics of the tree. A good design will enhance and capitalize on what is already provided by the uniqueness of the specimen to be styled.

That plan is then enacted by manipulating the tree through bending, cutting and even rooting the tree in an impoverished soil medium so that the overall growth can be controlled by fertilizer as determined necessary by the tender of the tree.

When a tree is young, the stylist will often make drastic alterations that put a tremendous amount of stress on the tree. It is easier for the tree to recover and grow into its new shape if the alterations are done in its youth. Some of these alterations can leave scars that take years to grow back over.

While the tree is being transformed by the cutting, bending and wiring process, it is often unsightly. From the vision of a bonsai artist: he or she understands that, while stressful, the alterations are necessary to create the most beautiful future for the tree.

Every three to four years a bonsai tree will need to be repotted — especially if it is to remain in the same container. As a root develops it calluses and will no longer take in water. The bonsai adapts by growing new, tender roots that are able to provide this life-sustaining function. When a bonsai tree is repotted, the stylist will often leave the above ground “nebari” for aesthetics and cut out the other larger and non-essential roots. This act of removing the larger roots prevents them from binding and choking out the smaller and vital vessels needed for the uptake of the life- essential water.

The bonsai artist studies, considers and understands the patterns of nature. The custodian of the tree cannot command that the tree stops growing when he or she becomes happy with its appearance. The tree will continue to grow and sometimes the initial design plan will need to be modified to prevent any unchecked growth from destroying what makes that particular tree special.

I propose that the Heber Valley, today, could be likened unto a bonsai tree in training. We are lucky as a community to have obvious physical characteristics that can be enhanced and embellished upon. We are also lucky to have some visionary “stylists” that are stepping up to address the fact that our optimal environment is creating an unchecked pattern of growth. Our container is small and will require some specific and implementable planning if we are to embrace an extraordinary future.

Our destiny is far from being set. One certainty, however, is that we will continue to grow. Pablo Picasso is quoted stating, “Every act of creation begins with an act of destruction.” The disruption of the status quo is difficult because change and uncertainty are inherently scary. If we accept the fact that we cannot stifle the growth or its speed, then we need to create a plan — based on real and implementable solutions given our current circumstances — that provides our tree the best opportunity to be beautiful, interesting and to fit within the provided container that is our geographical valley.

My summer challenge to the community is to think about our tree as a whole. Each leaf, branch and root effects the overall, but cannot survive individually. Let us all work together toward the overall success of our tree.

The transition from winter dormancy to tender spring awakenings has a soft spot in my heart. Our mountain desert environment is so harsh, and yet the most delicate and intricate flora and fauna have somehow become specialized enough to survive our seasonal transitions. The annual rebirth is a miracle in my eyes.

When those frail and dainty, newly-emerged little shoots start to stick their heads out from the left-over blanket of expired vegetation of seasons past, I cannot help but think about their – albeit temporary – vulnerability. If a passerby were to exert any level of physical dominance at this stage of the plant’s life, it would certainly perish.

On the other hand; the very same passerby has an opportunity to practice kindness. An opportunity to celebrate how precious and unique each of the plants’ lives are through observation, thought and admiration.

Is it possible for a human being to feel empathy for a plant? Empathy is, by definition, the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. It requires stepping out of one’s self and taking the time to thoughtfully consider what it would be like to exist within another being’s spiritual and temporal situation. While vegetative empathy may be a higher-level goal in your personal Zen progression, there are many of your very same taxonomic rank – of whom you interact with daily – you can practice developing empathy with.

I believe the Heber Valley could be an even nicer place to dwell if our residents could be more empathetic towards fellow citizens and local merchants. My spring challenge to the community is to refrain from making a judgement until you have adequately considered the other’s side of the situation.

Before you write that “one star” review or demand reimbursement, before you downplay to your peers the services provided, before filing a formal complaint or enacting any level of personal boycott: just think about the people your decision will affect and assess the potential outcomes of your actions. This is a very small community and every action creates ripple effects. Let us all not step on any newly-sprouted wildflowers. I hope you enjoy this volume of Heber Valley Life magazine! Thank you for celebrating the season and our wonderful community with us.

One of my favorite life moments is to wake up on a cold, crisp winter morning only to find that a new, deep layer of snow is covering the existing landscape. I love to gaze upon an unblemished field of light, fluffy powder. I adore that fresh coating of pure white; clinging to the trees and softening the rocky summit line of our surrounding mountain landscape — only noticeable after the clouds break and the light returns with all of its blinding clarity. I delight in how the snow drifts and covers everything that I once knew as the native perennial landscape.

After many years of living in snow country, I find myself reflecting as to “why?” What is it about this weather event that so captures my heart and mind? Why would something as benign as the accumulation of phase-changed atmospheric precipitation cause my “inner child” to resurface?
At one point I thought the answer involved recreational pastimes, but my “middle-aged self” has come to believe the feelings originate from a deeper source.

White is, by definition, the absence of all other hues. It is the essence of cleanliness — an unblemished and pure beginning to a pallet of color. Our natural landscape is a melee saturation of colors and textures. There are so many color complexities that I dare not to believe they could ever be fully cataloged. Our daily, individual lives could be likened unto a similar complexity of color saturation.
When I see a new covering of white burying the landscape, it has come to represent forgiveness and an opportunity to let old offenses go and begin life anew.

As we receive each new blanket of snow this winter, I encourage and challenge the citizens of the Heber Valley to recognize all-encompassing, new opportunities to forgive past offenses and to move forward with cleanliness and optimism.

The Heber Valley is a small place. Complexities will inevitably arise within our dealings. The ability to forgive each other for those complexities will allow us, as citizens, to experience joy, fulfillment and the positive community growth we strive to promote within this publication.
Thank you for supporting Heber Valley Life magazine!

The autumn landscape is a perpetual sequence of change. Within a slight glimmer of time the heat of the high desert summer passes, days grow shorter, the landscape itself explodes with a celebration of color and morphs into a preparatory state suitable for the endurance of the season to come.

As we assembled this volume of Heber Valley Life magazine I have seen a likeness between the autumnal transition and the condition of the Heber Valley. The Heber Valley stands in its own transitional period. The acknowledgement of change forces an individual to make a perceptual choice between past, present and future. One can choose to look at the deciduous leaves on the side of an autumn mountain landscape and feel disappointment that the green is gone, another can see the change of landscape and experience anxiety over the anticipation of winter, while yet another looks at the beauty of the moment and feels joy. The reality of the mountains is constant. However, a variance of viewers may choose to experience a broad spectrum of emotion from their own observations.

The components that build our community are equally spectacular to our landscape. Throughout this fall edition of Heber Valley Life, we honor our civic history and the individuals that have brought us to where we are today. We promote a positive community identity that is proud of where it has been — a community that prepares for the future with both excitement and wisdom.

There will likely not be another generation in the Heber Valley that has as many opportunities to transform the actual face of our community as we have today. Our challenge is to embrace this reality with optimism and revere the transition. We are history in the making.

The seasonal transition from spring to summer in the mountains is a magical time. The deciduous landscape itself morphs from sterile dormancy to a vibrant, colorful and delightful palate of texture and color. The air is scented with the fragrance of blooming flowers, the dampness of the river bottom and the crisp cleanness that drapes our mountain summits. Children can be found playing in the streets, riding bicycles and celebrating the open-ended freedom of long summer days with limited obligations. Yardwork commences and gardens are planted.

As individuals, summer institutes the shedding of the literal and symbolic layers that protect us from the harshness of winter. For most of us it is quite easy to sort away our favorite winter “puffy jacket” and once again don the shorts and T-shirts of summers’ past. What seems to be more difficult for all of us “grown-ups,” however, is to make ourselves as willingly available to our friends and neighbors as we are to receiving the first sunburn of the season.

Contrary to mainstream philosophy: it is perfectly acceptable to have a differing opinion with a neighbor and still be able to send the proverbial “hi-diddly-ho neighbor” across the freshly-mowed lawn. An even better standard would be to celebrate our differences and end neighborly divisiveness.

So here is the Heber Valley Life challenge for the summer: be accepting of your neighbors.

Barbeque in your front yard and prepare a little extra just in case. Learn something new about each of the people that share your space. Look past petty stereotypes and discover just who are the people in your neighborhood. I am willing to wager that you have more in common than you might think.