Be. Here. Now.

We're very proud of our history around here but we're in danger of having who we once were, preventing us from becoming who we need to be. I wasn’t born here, but in all the years I’ve lived here, in terms of development, it’s never eaten as hot as it’s served. Here’s a story I’ve told before:

I've heard the 'back in the day' stories about Franklin Square, the sea captains who built houses on Laurel Hill, the downtown Sears and Roebuck (what happened to Roebuck, or Sears for that matter?) store and Thursday nights so hectic small children would cling tightly to a parent's hand lest they get lost in the throngs.

These stories always bring a smile to the face of the person telling me the tale. And then, of course, we wake up in the here and now and no one seems to know what happened, how, or why (actually, we’re long on theories but short on facts).

My Norwich history starts with extreme contrast and hard shadows, coming over the Laurel Hill Bridge (the old one) into a downtown with plywood for windows and not a soul on the sidewalks in the middle of October of 1991.

That was the year of the petition drives at local supermarkets to 'Keep the Boat Afloat' as Electric Boat was facing massive layoffs in the aftermath of the Seawolf submarine construction cutbacks. The same region that had no plan for the post World War II migration of textile mills to the Deep South had no clue what to do with the Peace Dividend when defense jobs dwindled and disappeared, and the search for the guilty (because all problem-solving starts and ends with that step) began.

Three plus decades later, what are we still discussing? The same old same-old. We’ve finally conceded Eisenhower isn't still the President and that your father's advice about never paying more than $15,000 for a house without a basement won’t even get you a good used car but we remain hobbled by our past, even when we weren't here to live through it or remember it. Instead of it being a step on the ladder to tomorrow, that history’s a hurdle on the steeplechase we've made of our lives.

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. By now, we should have all the experience anyone could ever need but instead of learning from it we too often use it as an excuse masquerading as a reason.

Sorry for being blunt but Norwich doesn't suffer from Future Shock. We’re immobilized by Present Shock and the fear of making a decision, taking an action and then having to own the consequences of that action.

We have leaders at every level across our community working in collaboration with one another every day to an extent I’ve never seen before in my limited experience who still face an uphill battle persuading us to trust in ourselves.

Too often the argument is ‘let’s wait for the right moment,’ except this is all the moment we have and will ever have. Far too many of us, discouraged experts, have decided if we don’t do anything, we can't do anything wrong. Except nothing ever happens if you don't make it happen. We must all Be Here Now.
-bill kenny