Looking at Fairhope it’s easy to see beauty. The flowers, fountain, pier, parks and trash cans are beautiful. The parades and celebrations are beautiful. So are the churches, coffee shops, book stores, art galleries, library and museum. These are all beautiful things, but they are not what make Fairhope beautiful. Our town is beautiful because of what these things do for us.

These things make us proud. Our community is uniquely wonderful and that bolsters our self-respect and feeling of worth. We respect our neighbors and go out of our way to maintain what we have.

I’m a Fairhope cheerleader. When I speak of Fairhope I struggle to tell the whole story. I say that Fairhope started with a group of free-thinking utopians. We have a school of organic learning. We’re packed with intelligent and creative people who’ve come from around the world. We own our utilities and when the storms come we recover days before nearby towns. We have exceptional public services with recycling and our trash is picked up twice a week! We have authentic Mardi Gras parades, a ‘crystal ball’ drops on New Year’s Eve, and July 4th on the bluff is the greatest! We’re like Mayberry with high-speed Internet.

At that point I have to take a breath and give my listener a break. But I always end with, “You should definitely visit sometime.”

For me, and I suspect for many others, that special feeling is the real beauty of Fairhope. It’s exemplified by civic pride, the volunteering spirit, and even the willingness to pick up trash from the sidewalk. Reaching out to others and treating each other kindly comes from that feeling. As a result we enhance our town by adding more flowers, more art, more lights, and more celebrations. Then just like the seasons, the cycle comes back upon itself and there is more to feel good about.

That special community feeling is rare. I suspect other towns once had it then lost it. The same could happen here. Damage to community reputation erodes civic pride. Like dominos, when civic pride goes then so does self-respect, respect for others, feelings of friendliness and finally caring for the community. It becomes easy to ignore the trash or the needs of a neighbor.

That’s why unnecessary fighting amongst our elected officials is so harmful. It embarrasses us and damages our reputation. When our reputation suffers our pride is injured. Does anyone in Fairhope not feel diminished when that happens?

As citizens, we are all responsible for Fairhope’s reputation. But our elected officials and other public figures influence it the most. Ultimately it’s not the things they help support such as libraries, museums, paintings or parks that matter. What matters is the good name of Fairhope, and our most public citizens owe us that before anything else, including the beautiful flowers.

Chris Toney is a Fairhope resident who cherishes the gift of living in Fairhope.