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By DAVE DOMESCIK | Staff Writer

In an age when nearly everything can be delivered to our doorstep or streamed onto our screens, it’s easier than ever to stay home. Why fight traffic when you can order dinner with an app? Why sit on a hard bleacher when you can watch highlights on your phone? Why attend a community meeting when someone will post the summary on Facebook the next day?

But something is lost when we live our lives this way. And Shelby County, of all places, reminds me that showing up still matters.

You see it on Friday nights in Montevallo when a whole town gathers to cheer on their Bulldogs. You see it on Saturday mornings in Columbiana when Main Street fills with people supporting local businesses. You see it at the Pelham Civic Complex when an ice-skating competition or concert draws families together. These moments can’t be replicated on a screen. They’re built on the simple act of neighbors showing up.

The truth is, local life only works if people participate. City councils can debate, but decisions only carry weight when residents care enough to attend, to speak up or at least to listen. Churches and nonprofits can organize food drives or community walks, but they only succeed if volunteers choose to give their time. Even something as small as attending a high school play or youth baseball game sends a message: “You matter. What you’re doing matters. We’re in this together.”

Showing up doesn’t mean everything has to be monumental. It’s not always about elections or city-wide festivals. Sometimes, it’s about choosing to be present in the ordinary. A crowded coffee shop in Alabaster where friends linger instead of rushing out with a to-go cup. A farmer’s market in Calera where buying peaches is also a way of supporting your neighbor. A library event in Helena where kids get their first taste of stories that will shape their imagination.

These are not small things. They’re the glue that holds a community together.

There’s a temptation to think Shelby County is big enough now — one of the fastest-growing counties in Alabama — that these little acts of participation don’t matter. After all, with nearly 240,000 people, surely someone else will fill the stands, buy the tickets, volunteer for the clean-up crew. But when everyone assumes someone else will show up, we risk losing the very character that made our communities thrive in the first place.

And there’s another dimension too: showing up changes us. It’s easy to complain about “how things are going” from behind a screen. It’s harder to feel disconnected or cynical when you’ve actually met the people who are working to make Shelby County better — whether it’s a teacher staying late to coach a team, a small business owner sponsoring a local event or a police officer talking with neighbors at National Night Out.

In a world that feels increasingly divided, simply being in the same physical space as our neighbors — cheering, clapping, discussing, disagreeing — is itself a quiet act of hope. It says: we still belong to one another.

So the challenge is simple: keep showing up. Go to the meeting, even if it runs long. Sit through the game, even if it’s hot. Support the fundraiser, even if your Saturday was already full. Show up not because it’s convenient, but because it’s worthwhile.

Because when we show up, Shelby County shows its best self.