We can’t forget our faceless, nameless, various volunteers, who made a difference of some kind

In my piece on state of the 2011 state-of-the village addresses, I claim that the utterances of small-town mayors are more revealing in many ways about the state of the union than the State of the Union speech.

They are also less polished, and thus often more funny. I didn’t have room in my roundup for this line, from Kenneth Maag, the mayor of Ottawa, Ohio: “I want to take this time to thank the people who have unselfishly served on the various committees. You’ve already made a great difference in this community.”

You know who you are—whoever you are.