Pleasant Garden. Remembering the past while looking to the future. That motto, given to us by a very insightful young man should be engraved on a plaque and set where every Council and Board member can see it as a reminder of what they are there for. There is no better ‘Mission Statement’ then our Town motto. Simple, easy to remember and most of all something that everybody agrees on.
After some thought, I decided that that motto, that simple phrase, will be the main driving force for me should I be elected to the Town Council. I went so far as to break it into two parts in order to better explain to people why I came to this conclusion. This may not be what that young man was thinking, but this is my interpretation.
Remembering the past – Looking back at not just the far past when farming was the mainstay in our area but also looking at the recent past up to and when it was decided to incorporate. Think back to what it was like then. A legacy passed on of a quiet rural community. A community that was a good deal self sufficient with the basic needs close at hand. Minimal noise, minimal pollution, minimal intrusion by the outside world. One long time resident referred to it as ‘Camelot’. We cannot bring all that was those days were, but we can bring some of it back.
While looking to the future - The beginning of looking to the future was the decision to incorporate. There were some then and still today that didn’t want incorporation out of concern for what it would bring. But without it what would our future have been like? Urban sprawl, annexation, <strong>the complete loss of control over our own destiny</strong>. Many will agree that incorporation brought challenges, but the alternative was far worse. We cannot wall out the rest of the world. Changes happen. But we have the ability to moderate and control those changes. And we do this by looking to and planning for the future. We do this by looking not just inside our borders but outside as well, both near and far. We do this by looking at what is going around us and finding out how we can use those actions to our benefit and betterment.
Taking these two statements and combining them I see a situation where we as citizens, in a united effort, work to retain as much of the old as is possible for as long as possible while preparing for what is coming in order to mediate it’s impact on our desired way of life. To do this we need two things. First, citizens who are active, motivated, and informed. Second, people selected by the citizens who have the drive, the desire, the leadership to focus the energy of the citizens onto common goals while putting aside their personal feelings, agendas, and desires.
Disagreements are a basic human characteristic. We are not sheep. But what is needed in an elected representative is someone who can honestly work hard towards the goals and desires of the people regardless of how they feel about it personally.
