I wrote a lot of what follows well over a
decade ago during a different time that somehow feels so much farther away than
the calendar suggests. We got from there to here and that should inspire us to
continue.
For many if not most of us, this year so far
can be summarized as a very sharp intake of breath and a word that sounds a
little bit like 'shirt,' but isn't. Thomas Paine noted in the early days of the
American Revolution 'these are times to try a man's soul.' I'd suggest our here
and now would also qualify.
Desperate times
call for desperate measures, I'm told. And for many in Norwich, throughout the
state of Connecticut, across the country and around the world these are (close
to) desperate times. Our cities and towns, and the families who live in them
and the merchants and businesses who provide our goods and services never
thought of themselves too small, too fragile, or too beleaguered to fail. Until
now. And now, for far too many, that's all they can think about.
As a nation, we've
always been able to run so far and so good for so long because we’ve had the
better part of two and half centuries of sacrifice and success to fuel our always-forward
momentum. We’ve had bumps, rough patches, and unanticipated challenges but
we never broke stride and never doubted ourselves. Today is no different.
We face hard times whose cost and
price by whatever metric you choose may be close to incalculable. For those in
elected leadership here in Norwich, blame-gaming and finger-pointing solves
nothing so it's heartening to see sleeves rolled up replaced by hard work,
compromise, and communication no matter the party or politics because at the
end of the day, partisanship won't get our children's schools funded, put
emergency responders on the streets in the needed numbers, get roads repaired
and rebuilt or help those in need of social services to get them.
As those on the City Council strive
to listen to 'we, the people' they hear many distinct and different
messages as they try their best for the good of all of us (to include those who
didn't vote for them). Many of us have compelling reasons for why we feel
Norwich cannot afford to spend more money next year than we have this year. And
just as many feel otherwise but that's not actually our choice.
Providing for our schools, rebuilding
downtown, preserving historic treasures, offering family-friendly recreational
opportunities and hundreds of quality of life services and programs cannot be
paused because of hard times. Rather, hard times require hard choices fueled by
new perspectives that will create new opportunities with new solutions because there’s
no other direction for us to go, but forward and together.
-bill kenny
No comments:
Post a Comment