Realizing this is a bit belated but nevertheless sincere (the special election for the Norwich City Council vacancy was, after all, last Wednesday) I'd like to thank both Shiela Hayes and Bill Nash who volunteered their time and talents and offered themselves as candidates for the vacancy.
Congratulations to Mr. Nash on his victory and I'm sure he's already rolled up his sleeves because he and the other six members of our City Council have a lot of hard work before them.
What had been a council with four Democrat and three Republican members is now just the opposite. Just as its never eaten as hot as it's served at the local level as at the state and national level, I don't think anyone, including the members themselves, anticipates cataclysmic changes in the policies and/or priorities of the Council between now and the November elections when we'll choose a new City Council and Mayor.
I think/hope we'll see/hear nuances rather than differences in the tenor and tone of the discussions and in the making of the decisions that will move us forward. Sometimes while we hope for substantial or substantive change, we benefit more from subtle.
And while news stories have persuaded us to see politics in the stark contrasts of black and white, here locally, where everyone is, or should be, everyone else's neighbor, we will continue to disagree without being disagreeable (fingers crossed).
I'm unclear when we went to the polls last week how much any of that was on anyone's mind. I usually have my hands full just making sure to fill up the whole oval and remembering to let go of my end of the ballot when the tabulation machine grabs it (timing is everything).
Quite frankly, based on the paltry if not pathetic turnout, I'm not sure how many registered voters appreciated the opportunity to make their choice known and their voices heard. But again, in this case, change is what happens when you're busy making other plans, perhaps especially when you make no plans. Choosing to not make a choice is actually a choice and all of us get to live with it.
Cynic that I am (I know; feign surprise), it'll be as easy as always to spot the stay-at-home voters over the next weeks and months as they'll be the ones loudly lamenting across various social media platforms about how 'no one ever listens to them'. Between us, I've seen that movie once too often.
I think the question we and, by extension, those whom we choose to represent us in elected office, struggle with here in The Rose of New England is 'What should we do next?' Perhaps for a start, we could promise one another to give everyone in office, whether we voted for them or not, the benefit of the doubt and help them to succeed because when they do, we will as well.
Think of it not so much as a leap of faith but more like a short hop with an element of a skip thrown in for good measure (just remember to stick the landing). We too often and so quickly jump to conclusions about ulterior motives based on little to no evidence whatsoever that just maybe allowing an extra moment to listen to another's point of view might be what helps us to help each other to build, or rebuild, this place we call home.
-bill kenny
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