I've discovered in the decade-plus that these ramblings have been appearing in The Bulletin that a lot more people than I ever imagined actually read my words (Gulp).
At first, I thought that obligated me to make sure the spell-check function was always in order (My previous computer had a wireless keyboard and after a while when it discovered what I was doing, it ran away) but I've come to realize that whatever form our conversations take, the important thing is that we have them and keep having them.
Some time ago, I mentioned the various agencies, boards, commissions, and committees across the city in need of infusions of enthusiasm and interest in the form of volunteers and reader responses ranged from 'who needs all that aggravation?' and 'where do I sign up?' to 'it wouldn't make any difference anyway.' In the latter instance, whether you think you can or think you can't, you're still right.
The sky is not the limit; YOUR sky is the limit. And that's the difference.
There are municipal elections this fall for the city treasurer, Mayor, City Council, and Board of Education; and you don't have to be a spectator or a walk-on in someone else's campaign.
If you feel we are heading in the right direction, then do what you can to strengthen that belief. That can take many shapes from informing yourself as a voter, posting a lawn sign, or contributing to a neighbor who has volunteered to be a candidate.
And, conversely, if you feel a change in course is what's called for, then you should be part of that change in whatever shape or form you can offer.
Government is not something done to us, but rather for us. The bumper stickers with 'Freedom Isn't Free' don't have the space to point out a lot of freedom is unglamorous and sometimes tedious, but always necessary, small-scale tasks, quite often unnoticed and even more often unthanked for, like chairing a committee hearing or helping a Saturday morning clean-up crew.
We view so much of the world and events in it right now through prisms and filters of particular political or ideological perspectives that we often fail to see the expanse between earth and sky or how limitless the horizon stretches before us. We literally cannot see the forest because we fixate on a specific tree.
Here in municipal government, at the most local level of democracy, it should be easiest to create consensus. Yes, as elsewhere we have Democrats and Republicans and each have a platform of ideas that, by design or happy accident, must also appeal to just more than their own members if they hope to have a role in the forward motion of the city.
But the white space between those ideas in terms of effort and implementation is where each of us can take our shot and make our mark. But you must be registered to vote and then you have to maintain an open mind and heart when weighing and measuring proposals and platforms.
American democracy isn't for the faint of heart and that's been true from the very start of our country, whose birthday we celebrated a month ago but sometimes we're better at remembering the monumental events than the mundane miracles that made those milestones possible.
A critical element in recapturing the morale and momentum we had around here before COVID-19 is for each of us to reengage in making Norwich the best place we can for our families and friends to come home to.
To stop missing and mourning what we don't have and looking instead for allies and cohorts to help us build back better and bigger for everyone. Because, everything we have, are, and will ever be, ultimately comes down to who we choose to become. But first, you have to choose, or we all lose.
-bill kenny
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