Forward or Failure

Years ago I learned the Pareto Principle, also known as the Law of the Vital Few, more commonly called the 80/20 Rule, that postulates 20% of your actions will create 80% of your outcomes. The same holds true, I suspect, for the population and engagement in any community. 

It's sort of my flavor of the month, again, in explaining who we are as a city and how we got here. Admittedly, I'm being lazy intellectually; to a man with a hammer the whole world is a nail and right now I'm Trini Lopez (ask your grandparents about him). 

Each of us moves from one side of the 80/20 equation to the other but for the most part, the same people are playing the same roles in every situation. If you've ever had children in school, you already know about the PTO parents who were also the band parents who were also the class trip escort parents, and who were the prom chaperones and that list goes on forever. 

It's true in municipal government as well. We see the same people at City Council meetings who attend Board of Education meetings, and we see the same people at the front of those rooms holding the elected positions. And when you look at the tab called "Boards and Commissions" on the city's website you'll be struck by two things: the number of vacancies on so many important citizen committees and how frequently the same names are the ones who offer to serve on a committee of some sort or other. So many people in the same device.

Last Monday's City Council deliberations and decisions under duress on the next budget, judging from comments on various social media platforms, generated a lot of heat but, in my mind, NOT a lot of light. I had a friend in the Air Force who used to suggest 'nothing is impossible to the man who doesn't have to do it,' and that seems especially true around here (present company included).

Despite annoyance and anger bordering at times on vitriol that serving on our City Council seems to generate among so many, we are fortunate to have interested and talented people who are willing to serve. I think we need more of them, and you should think so, too, because that's how we bring about change in our city. The challenge is that our rate and pace of life keeps accelerating and no one has enough time while everyone needs help.

I get concerned when so much effort is devoted to searching for the guilty and figuring out who we should blame for a shortcoming or disappointment instead of trying to fix the problem. I don't have the energy for that (anymore), and I don't see the point in carrying around all the grudges and bruised feelings over slights (real and imagined) that keep us from moving on. Sometimes I fear the long, proud history of New England gets in our own way of trying new things and walking away from our past.  

How much of yesterday do we really need to overcome today in order to have a shot at a tomorrow that is large enough for us and our children and their children? As we travel through today, look around. Everything you pass was created because of choices made, good and bad; buildings, businesses, neighborhoods, families. We cannot go back but neither can we simply stand pat. 

Forward or Failure, 80/20. Your choice.
-bill kenny