Editorial: Small projects make a city better

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It takes all kinds of people to make a city like Rosemount work right. It takes people who are willing to do the little things people don't always notice, but that make life just a little bit better for the people who do.

It takes people like Jack Wallace, who for the past 15 years has taken time before Memorial Day to decorate the graves of military men and women in local cemeteries. Or like the members of Rosemount's new Sons of the American Legion, who have done a lot in the past several months to support their parent club, most visibly installing beautiful new benches around a fire pit outside the club.

Wallace's grave decoration might seem on the surface like a small thing. It's just a flag and a star he puts out. They're minor features in cemeteries filled with more notable markers. But they mean something important to the people who see them. They mean there is someone out there who appreciates the sacrifice made by someone they love.

Getting the decoration done each year can be a thankless job. Wallace gets help each year from a growing group of local Boy Scouts, but the job still takes three or four hours. For the effort Wallace might hear occasional words of appreciation, but more likely if someone spoke out it was because the grave of their loved one was missed. Wallace perseveres, though, because he knows what he does is important. Rosemount is better because of that.

Rosemount is better, too, because of groups like the SAL. Their benches will not likely directly affect a large part of the Rosemount community, but the effort that went into making and installing them is indicative of a larger spirit of community service. A lot of thought, a lot of time and a lot of work went into those benches.

We wrote about Wallace and the SAL in this week's Town Pages because we believe they are important. We feature other stories about other such individuals in other issues. All of them would likely keep doing what they do even without the recognition, but that's just one more reason to point them out.

They help make Rosemount a better place.

Tags: opinion, editorial, rosemount