It is not my desire to get you to think like me, but it is my desire to get you to think! Buddy Hooper
I was born in a small East Texas town where everyone knew each other, and when anyone needed help, the whole community pitched in.

First Lesson in Business: My family had a farm. It wasn’t quite like Old McDonald’s farm, but close. They raised cotton, cattle, hogs, chickens, and all kinds of vegetables, fruits, nuts, etc. They would let me take our eggs to the store to trade them for items we didn’t raise or grow, at least, I thought I was trading them. Actually, I was leaving them on consignment. The store had about 15 buckets where they displayed the eggs and credited my family’s account when they sold. Hens often laid eggs in the mud, making them dirty and unappealing, and none of the eggs had been washed. After seeing that, I started washing our eggs, and our clean eggs sold out first. My family even increased the number of our laying hens. I don’t remember anyone else figuring out why our eggs sold so well. Although I didn’t know anything about business then, looking back, I realize this was my first taste of business, and it taught me the importance of standing out from the crowd and that small details are essential for success.

Understanding People: I remember exactly where I was when someone a little older than I told me the Japanese had shot down the largest American flag. This was devastating, because we said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning, and the flag represented America to me. A little later, I learned they were talking about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I didn’t know what a dictator was and couldn’t understand why anyone would do such a thing, and it started my quest to understand people and their capacity for such awful actions.

Individuality Over Group Identity: At a very young age, I learned that I couldn’t learn much from others my age, so I stayed close to my parents and other adults. Often, my dad had friends over to play dominoes and discuss various topics. Once, they talked about someone running for office, and even though they agreed the person was terrible, they all said they planned to vote for them. I didn’t understand this, so I asked my dad why. He said, “You will understand later.” To this day, I don’t understand. But I decided then that it’s not about the group a person belongs to; it’s about the individual.

Empathy and Helping Others: My family didn’t raise horses, but we had some for riding, pulling wagons, and plowing. One was a beautiful dark red stallion named Rex. Whenever a mare was nearby, he would go nuts trying to get to her. My younger brother and I would ride him bareback after climbing onto a fence to get on him. He was always calm with us, even with a mare around. I was devastated when the bank took Rex and our cows and horses because we couldn’t pay the loan. I couldn’t understand why the bankers wouldn’t accept what we grew as payment, as others did. This experience instilled in me a desire to help others avoid similar situations. I believe in the Chinese proverb, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” I believe in helping others help themselves.

Thinking Outside the Box: Very few people had electricity, running water, inside toilets, etc., and we sure did not. My dad rigged a windmill on top of our house, connected a car generator (now called an alternator) to a car battery inside, and hooked it up to a car radio. My mother would prepare a large meal every Saturday, and neighbors would come over. We all huddled around the radio to listen to the Grand Ole Opry broadcast from Nashville, Tennessee, with Roy Acuff singing “The Great Speckled Bird” and “The Wabash Cannonball”; Dave Macon singing “Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy”; and Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith with “Beautiful Brown Eyes.” Even today, each time I see someone with brown eyes, it reminds me of those times. This taught me the value of thinking outside the box and how important that is.

Sustainability and Respect for What You Have: Before I ever heard the word “sustainability,” I saw it in action. My parents made sure nothing on our farm was wasted. They rotated crops to keep the soil healthy, used what we had wisely, and planned ahead so the land would keep giving year after year. What we produced didn’t just feed us, it helped neighbors, and when there was extra, it became something we could sell or use to obtain what we didn’t have. We didn’t depend on others to get by, but we could always help when someone else needed it. Looking back, I see they were doing something bigger than farming; they were building a way of life that could stand on its own. That stayed with me. If something is going to last, a farm, a business, or a neighborhood, it must produce real value, meet real needs, and keep money moving among the people it serves. That’s the true meaning of a Financially Self-Sustainable Neighborhood: strong within itself, supportive of its own, and still able to connect, buy, and sell with others anywhere in the world. And when every neighborhood lives that way, you begin to see it: all people on earth are just one large neighborhood.