Own the Future

A couple of Thursdays ago in The Bulletin was an article on Norwich Envision 06360!, an outreach by the City of Norwich to promote citizen engagement. 

After I'd finished the article and read the comments on the newspaper's website and social media platforms, my hair hurt. No wonder, I keep thinking our spirit animal should be Eeyore; we really do think there are forces beyond our reach aligned against us. 

Thirty-one years of living here have taught me how well we, as a city and residents, do at the beginning of nearly any project, and then, as the bright, shiny object becomes a little less so, how both our interest and enthusiasm dwindle.

Envision Norwich 06360! is (potentially) an almost-ideal opportunity for anyone residing or working in Norwich with computer/internet access to make their voice heard and yet as my great granddad, Phineas, once told me, 'you can lead a horse to water but you can't get him to buy the next round.' 

In late September I wrote a column in The Bulletin about the launch and presentation of Envision Norwich 06360! at Kelly Middle School whose auditorium seats about 800, where that evening, by my count, those involved in its development and deployment outnumbered the interested residents in attendance  (I counted six 'just folks' including myself). So few people turned out, in the words of a former teacher of mine, 'if we'd placed them all in a mosquito's butt they'd have rolled around and made a noise like a bee-bee in a box car.' 

Envision Norwich 06360! is NOT another social media platform where people go to bitch and bellyache (though I suspect given the chance some of us will/shall) but where, should we choose (there's the rub) to become involved, we can find like minds (and also divergent opinions) that, when combined, can create a bigger and better Norwich for all of us, assuming we're comfortable with letting someone's chocolate mix with our peanut butter and vice versa. With Envision Norwich 06360! we can create the change we want in Norwich; it's as simple (and complex) as that. 

But we who live and work here, are critical to the success of the outreach. I read/hear everyday comments about 'them' and 'their' lack of communication on projects across the city. There ain't no 'them,' there's just us and we need to accept and understand communication is just as much an art as it is a science. 

It requires a sender, someone to offer a message, as well as a receiver, someone to hear what is being said and to respond creating the next link in the communication chain. It's a continuous and continuing process. The sender and receiver are equal partners and co-own the dialogue (and any decisions resulting from it) their conversation creates. 

Part of any successful communication is free-flowing, accurate information. I encounter folks who never allow their lack of knowledge about a subject to keep them from having an opinion, and we all lose when the attitude is 'my mind's made up don't confuse me with facts.' 

So do more than listen to the local radio call-in shows that more often than not are echo chambers rather than sources of information and this holiday give yourself the gift of a newspaper subscription (or two) and rediscover the joys of reading for knowledge. 

No matter how smart you are, together we are smarter (if I'm doing the math right). And the more of us who engage with one another on a platform like Envision Norwich 06360!, the greater the ripple in the pond we think of as Norwich becomes, and so much better as decisions reflect our collective ideas and aspirations. 

Anyone can complain (I'm doing it now in case you hadn't noticed). Too many of us speak without thinking. Look around and you can see what that's gotten us. Go to Envision Norwich 06360!'s website, and join, because if you want to make Norwich better you'll find a way and if not, you'll find an excuse.
When it comes to our future, you can be a victim or a victor. Your choice. 
-bill kenny