Last week — from celebrations honoring Dr. Martin Luther King to our county’s first measurable snow in several years — was a reminder of just how wonderful it is to live in a small community, where neighbors still help neighbors, children of all races and religions play together in peace, and politics always seems to take a backseat to simply doing what’s right when it’s needed the most.

We should be thankful to live in such communities. From Plain View to Ingold, Turkey to Autryville, Newton Grove to Clinton, good people abound, individuals and families who work hard, try to raise their children to do the same, lend a hand when they can and show pride in the things that matter to them, often joining together to do so.

Take last Monday’s King celebration as an example. People from all races and walks of life came together Monday, filling the Agri-Exposition Center, to honor King’s legacy and the tenets he fought so hard for during his short life. While others have such celebrations the third Monday of every January, there’s something special about ours. The emotions are very real, the camaraderie palpable and the efforts by Sampson’s Multicultural Business Committee always intent on serving others and not self.

Watching people hug one another, offer hearty handshakes and pats on the back as they greeted folks they hadn’t seen in a long time, it was reminiscent of a family reunion. And perhaps that is exactly what makes our celebration seem more real — at our core, we consider one another family, and we treat each other in that way.

And then came the snow. While not completely unexpected, the flurries that started Tuesday afternoon and left a blanket of white from one end of the county to another provided a little extra respite for students and educators but dampened an already slow January for many local businesses.

But, in true Sampson fashion, even the snow couldn’t stop the constant social media call to shop local as soon as it was safe to do so, offering local shop owners a boost by virtue of pleas to spend money with those who always support all of us when we come calling for one fund-raising after another.

We felt that support, too, as hundreds answered our own call to participate in a little social media fun of the newspaper variety — posting pictures of children of all ages playing in the snow. In less than 24 hours we had well over 500 photos submitted to our social media page, many of which we also used in print.

Seeing those photos was uplifting in its own way, showing us the light-hearted side of residents, as they enjoyed time with family and friends, using makeshift sleds to slip and slide their way down hills, or join together to build some big and small snowmen.

It also did our hearts good to see Clinton’s Mayor Lew Starling and city manager J.P. Duncan out and about early Wednesday morning checking roads to ensure snow had been removed so residents who had to get out could do so safely. The pair even let our editor do a little ride-along with them, giving us a close-up view of city administration’s care and concern for its residents and its own staff.

Rare is the word we’d use to describe seeing city officials out that early to do safety checks on residents and city staff, stopping to offer thanks and to just chat about the impact the storm was having on locals. Impressive would be another adjective that best describes Starling and Duncan’s efforts last week.

And as we said from the start, all of these examples just serve to remind us once again how fortunate we are to live in a small community, where people matter and actually take care of one another.

For that, and so much more, we are truly thankful.