Pick up almost any copy of the Capital, for example the 10 May edition. Front page has an article about schools, the Opinion page has editorials on downtown businesses and Crystal Spring. These are displayed as discreet items which, at ground level, appears to be the case.
But step back, think through the linkages that exist between Crystal Spring and traffic and the environment; between downtown business and economic development and traffic; between schools and economic development and the need for innovation to protect the environment.
Our community is a system of integrated systems. Impact one and you see the second and third order effect throughout all the others. We may be limited in the size and wealth of our local jurisdictions. We are limited in the extent of our roads and availability of land on which to build and tax. The limitations are on one side of our community ledger. What about the opportunity side of the ledger?
That’s the exciting side. The one that is barely tapped. The one that is virtually unlimited. This is a clear call to action. Let the community work with willing, risk-taking elected officials to develop the framework for the opportunity side of the ledger and scope out what we want our future to be. Timid elected officials? Let’s push them aside. We can’t allow ourselves to think in four-year blocks of time. We need to think about the next 20+ years.
Can we realistically achieve all that we can conceive? Who knows. But if we don’t try, we will never know.
Unless you are willing to muddle into the future and let it just happen to you, you need to take your fair share of responsibility for forging a future built on limitless, thoughtful imagination.
eastport defined 