If you've taken the time to read my profile, you've learned a little about me. Now I'd like to take a moment to talk about the area I'm from. Dickenson County, Virginia. I promise, it's relevant. I live in neighboring Wise County now, but it's also seen the hardships Dickenson County has faced over the decades. As you browse through Dickenson County's website, I'd like to introduce you to a few areas of interest. Our area is often overlooked simply because people act as if "Southwest Virginia" drops off at Roanoke. The first area I'd like to show you is the Coal Miner's Memorial. Why? Because it's a very important part of our area's history and right now I believe everyone could use a good history lesson. Coal. "The largest source of fuel for the generation of electricity world-wide" according to the Wikipedia article I linked. The coal industry is also one of the primary providers of employment in Southwest Virginia. Yes, every single day, men and women still crawl around under these mountains, in areas sometimes as small as 36 inches, to dig out and mine the coal the rest of the world often takes for granted. My dad's name is on the Coal Miner's Memorial. He was 20 when he was killed in the coal mines trying to make a life for his young family. He left a 19 year old widow and 2 year old daughter. That's life. Why are the coal mines some of the best-paying jobs in our area? Because coal is so needed by the rest of the world. Coal trucks are very damaging to our roads, helping make a bad impression on bigger businesses. Bigger businesses don't want to populate in an area that looks so run down, or is so far away from the interstate and a large flow of business. They ignore the fact that residents in our area are accustomed to living on very little and if they brought jobs into the area, their businesses would likely flourish. That's life. Southwest Virginia has relied primarily on small, family-owned business for decades. Businesses like MAW's - Mountain Art Works in Haysi are staples in the community. That particular location wasn't always called MAW's but you can read their website to get more information about them. The owner is one of my mother's life-long friends. What's going to happen if people stop visiting her restaurant? Will the government step in and bail her out of all of her financial woes? How about the other family-built businesses like Belcher Insurance, Charles Hay Insurance Agency, or Edwards Food Center? Can they look forward to governmental intervention if they make poor business decisions and fail? No. Businesses fail. That's life. Businesses fail. No matter if it's a mom-and-pops corner grocery or an internationally known corporation, poor business decisions will cause businesses to fail. Outsourcing causes people to lose their jobs. Loss of employment is accompanied by loss of money which is followed by loss of home and vehicles. When a high percentage of mortgages in the U.S. are in or near default, who's decision was it to increase interest rates? What type of logic does it take to increase payment amounts when people already can't pay their bills? Stupid business decisions have led to the downfall of our economy. That's it. There is absolutely no reason we should reward those in charge of making the decisions with big pensions and a free ride out of financial troubles. It would be ridiculous to do that when the rest of the nation has to suffer the consequences. Where I come from, if you make a bad decision or poor economic choice, you pay the price. You are the only person responsible for your decisions. How those decisions affect those around you is your fault. How poor decisions of big business owners and CEO's have affected our economy isn't our fault, it's theirs. Businesses fail. That's life. Now we learn from our mistakes as well as those of others if we're smart. The economy will bounce back. It may take several years, but it can happen. If the government intervenes, the only lesson learned is that it's ok to feed your greed by preying on others. I hope all Americans with any hint of entrepreneurial spirit will take proper advantage of this situation and make the best of it. This country needs more job growth and right now could be the perfect opportunity for a start-up.