The night is darkest before the dawn, the old saying goes, and that might be true of this recession as well. Though it appears Tooele County has been spared the worst of the nation’s economic troubles, a toll has still been taken. We see it everywhere — from the unemployed father scrambling to find work to the businesswoman struggling to keep her shop open to the harried social worker trying to help a newly homeless family. And yet, there are signs the dawn may not be far away.

Despite a spate of recent small business closures, big business continues to bet on the long-term future of Tooele County. Allegheny Technologies and Reckitt Benckiser, both Fortune 500 companies, have completed construction of massive new facilities at Rowley and near Deseret Peak Complex, respectively, this year. Tooele’s first true fine dining restaurant, Sostanza, also set up this year. And homebuilding began picking up during the second half of the year, particularly in the Stansbury Park area, where a new public recreation center is being planned.

These are all positive signs for the future, but no matter which way the economy is trending, there’s real cause for thankfulness for those of us lucky enough to live in Tooele County — particularly when we see the problems faced elsewhere.

In Afghanistan, a nation struggling to rebuild itself after decades of war, the recent election between President Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah was undermined by violence, widespread ballot stuffing, intimidation and other electoral fraud as Karzai sought to hold on to power. Contrast that with Tooele County, where recent elections — including a primary recount — were conducted smoothly and fairly in an atmosphere of mutual respect, with an incumbent councilman in Tooele and an incumbent mayor in Grantsville both being voted out of office peacefully by the people.

In Indonesia, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake in September killed more than 1,100 people — a death toll that was much higher than it needed to be because of shoddy construction and poor emergency response. In Tooele County, we have one of the best emergency response systems in the world, fine-tuned by rigorous testing and scrutiny through annual mock disaster exercises. We have strict building codes in place to protect people from shoddy construction practices. And our school district continues to build better and safer schools each year, topping even its own impressive record with the opening of the spectacular Stansbury High School this fall.

In Mexico, a massive war on drugs is being lost to vicious cartels partly because of rampant police corruption and attacks on media that report on the problem. In Tooele, the recent firing of two police officers was disclosed by the police department and reported on by this newspaper. Likewise with the suspension of a Stockton cop by the town’s mayor — disclosed by the police chief, reported on by the newspaper.

These are freedoms and privileges that shouldn’t be taken for granted. This Thanksgiving, we should be grateful for short-term improvements, but we should also never forget to give thanks for the less-obvious underpinnings that make our home so great.