We're Number Twenty Eight!

As newcomers to this town five years ago, leaving a large city, we loved this sign.
But it made us ask questions about this curious ranking.

Are there foam hands available with twenty eight fingers, proudly proclaiming that "WE'RE NUMBER 28!!!" Maybe you have to buy six hands.

How does a town become the twenty eighth best small town in the U.S.A.? Where do you go to vote in this contest? And how can you win that sort of election? With the most votes? But then would you no longer be a small town if you can out vote other small towns? Did the small town that came in first have no votes at all? Probably not.

The people who put together the lists like this compile numbers such as local jobs, environment, taxes, schools, crime statistics, that sort of thing. Can they look into the soul of a community and see the every day decency of the people in it? Our entry into Seaford has been mostly through its homeschoolers, the local man who, until recently, operated the MailRoom, the post office and the credit union, and everyone we have met has been wonderful. Maybe twenty eight is too low a number for this town.

Americans are mostly good people. (Except for everyone in that movie we just watched, "Burn After Reading.") Wherever I have lived throughout my life, I have encountered hard working people who try to do the right thing. It is a part of our American spirit and I hope that we never loose it.