When we, as teenagers, leave our homes to pursue our future careers in college or begin our time in the workforce, we tend to forget where our lives truly began.

I believe that as we grow older, we reflect on all that we have accomplished and achieved. We ponder the great things we have received. We may have financial security, or we may also be well endowed with numerous items that show how wealthy we are.

We may be recognized and revered by the community we live in. One might say that we are living our best lives.

However, all of this fortune, comfort, and recognition means nothing, because there is a void inside ourselves that cannot be filled with tangible items. There is something that is missing, but we try not to pay attention and instead ignore it. We think that our money and considerable success will aid us in forgetting or ignoring the void, but it will always be there, until a change is made.

Over the course of my high school career, I have had the opportunity to hear some incredibly powerful stories of how people have managed to find their way back home to pursue their dreams where they grew up.

I have been able to actively sit and listen to their vivid descriptions of how they got to their starting point that inevitably led them to their hometown. These deep and emotional narratives have impacted my life significantly.

A teacher of mine, we’ll call him Mr. Lyn, shared his story with our class. I looked forward to hearing his story because I thought of him as ancient and sage, for he was always willing to share his experiences so that others could learn from him.

Mr. Lyn began his story by describing how successful he felt for graduating high school. Not long after, he moved away from his hometown to pursue a career in agriculture at a four-year university. Obtaining an agriculture degree was a dream he wanted to achieve since he was a young boy. Mr. Lyn’s ultimate goal was to make a difference somewhere by impacting the people around him to be better versions of themselves.

He described his love for the experience he had and that he would most certainly do it again if given the opportunity.

Nevertheless, he also shared that while he was gone, he felt alone and stressed. There was something inside him that just didn’t sit right. It was like a prickling on the back of his neck, a constant discomfort that never seemed to go away.

While in college, Mr. Lyn decided to further his passion for agriculture by becoming an educator because he wanted to share this passion of his with the younger generation.

After graduating, he soon got a few jobs teaching around the state, but he still maintained close ties with the university he had attended. He was a well liked man who was easily recognizable. His life was full of prosperous blessings, but still, despite all the attention he received, he could not stray away from the loneliness that burrowed in his heart and mind. Mr. Lyn wondered whether he needed to look at the world from different places. He thought to himself, perhaps this will fill his void? Maybe afterwards he would feel better and be able to continue, so he took on traveling. Although he had plenty of company and was genuinely enjoying himself around different countries, the sadness continued. He began to think that perhaps this wasn’t his purpose in life. All of the knowledge he had gained in school, all of the experiments and beautiful things done in college, he could no longer do. Every place he would travel to did not feel right for him. It was as though he did not fit in. Shortly after, he received disturbing news that his father was gravely ill. He returned home … only to bury him.

A few years after his father’s passing, he had an epiphany — he was no longer depressed. During these short years, he was hired at his alma mater, the very same place he graduated high school. He was teaching what he loved most — agriculture. He was given the opportunity to teach diverse students from ethnic backgrounds and learn both with and about them.

Although Mr. Lyn returned home for unexpected and worldshattering reasons, there was a blessing hidden underneath the dark cloud. For he was able to continue sharing his passion for agriculture with students who he had common interests with. He immediately knew that this job was what he wanted to do, but most importantly it was where he belonged. As the years go by, Mr. Lyn’s story continues to inspire several of his students in the same manner in which I have been inspired. He taught us that sometimes, we do not need to travel the world to make a difference. Sometimes, the difference can be made in our own community.

Mr. Lyn set a goal for himself and achieved it. He educated us with the proper way to give back. Everyday we learn in class about what we can do for others around us and what that feels and looks like when we do things for others. For example, our annual canned food drive, we give food to local families in need during the holidays. Or our community garden, where we gather fruits and vegetables to donate to our school cafeteria for lunch. With his knowledge and kind heart, he has helped provide several amazing things to his community table that go beyond the examples previously described.

In conclusion, to reiterate the Rural Kansas question, what can be done in our communities for people to want to come or return? What challenges must be over come to encourage others to be rural?

The first step is that we need to have faith in ourselves and determine and set goals. The steps taken to get to the end goal aren’t as important as meeting the needs of our community.

The second step is that we must learn to collaborate as a community so that we can easily recognize and address the highest needs of our rural areas. In every place we choose to settle down in, there will always be something that we can help with. No matter the profession, no matter the person, the amount of work is endless.

One possible solution to the challenges that need to be overcome is by making our communities more friendly and welcoming. By making the community approachable, comfortable, and atease, it shows people that anything they contribute is useful and resourceful. The people of the community need to feel as though the location where they choose to make a difference, suits them. They need to feel that they belong.

Julisa Wolf is a senior at Ell-Saline High School. Her essay on rural Kansas was a winner in the annual Rural Voices Youth Contest sponsored by the Beloit-based North Central Regional Planning Commission, of which Ellsworth County is a member.