Springhill is growing...haphazardly

 

“Springhill is growing: … ‘Haphazardly’  “I’m the Governor” ‘John Dutton’ by Kevin Costner  “Yellowstone”   Costner is without any doubt one of America’s primary leading men, awarded, decorated and highly respected, he has become a voice for conservative value- and that’s a tough voice to carry these days.  There are some things about this show that are worth your while, as a viewer, there isn’t much better writing than Taylor Sheridan, his name is on many shows, his skill in portraying how we are, is remarkable.  That being said, the punches don’t get pulled in this presentation, the language and skin time, aren’t held back, but they aren’t in real life either, are they?  Our culture is challenged these days to try and figure out what we’re going to do with what we have, because in America we have a lot.  Dr. John Sullivan many decades back in seminary put it this way, “America’s problem isn’t with want, we have more than what most in the world want, no, our problem is with affluence.”  You wouldn’t think it would be a problem, but quickly, it becomes one.  We have so much, yet if we simply redistribute it, people figure out how to achieve that as a goal, how to get, without earning the get, and that, creates entire generations that begin to do less and less expecting more and more- it’s a real problem, and we’ve got it.  So whenever we have a problem, and we’re aware of it, what do you think we do?  In this drama, John Dutton takes action!  Here’s an interesting thing about action, it can’t hit and miss, can’t be taken, without planning, Dutton plans and never haphazardly.

              Economic development in Springhill Louisiana has some very real problems.  It should, developing small business shouldn’t be so challenging, but, like the enormous West portrayed in Yellowstone- that seems to mean one thing, and yet, just might mean something entirely different, so it is with the challenging nature of, small rural community business development. We have a certain mind set about how that’s accomplished.  The only problem with that mind set is it works so deftly against what we want as a result.  We want store fronts filled with successful businesses and happy customers constantly telling us to go and shop at this place.  We want joy, we want success, we want profits, we want people getting jobs.  We’d like all that without us having to do a whole lot about it.  There’s a part of the problem, without you getting involved, no small business has a chance.  But that’s only a part of the picture- customers do mean profit, if the business is set up and running as it should.  However, just having customers doesn’t guaranty a thing, does it?  So there is an addition to the recipe for small business helping with economic development, what would you surmise that might be?  Part of the big problem is we solve it haphazardly.

              How do solutions to necessary problems solve them, without the solutions merely meeting the immediate need?  They have to be part of a larger, better, more well realized plan, and that, your community doesn’t have.  We’ve been saying it now for at least two decades, and so far, nobody wants to actually grab the bull by the horns and try to ride that issue- if you fail to plan, which we do, then you are really planning to fail, which is where we are.  Planning, it takes work, hard work, and lots of it, no matter how precise your plan is, it cannot anticipate the things that are outside the plans realm.  What that takes is a professional trained in the ways of flexible and adjustable plans, and such plans don’t just happen by wishing they existed, but that’s how your community continues to act like they can.  Why your leaders won’t plan is almost too simple, nobody actually knows how- isn’t that bizarre, you have leaders who’ve never had to plan beyond the immediate needs.  Business these days seldom comes from a well planned out agenda, business is taught, at the highest levels of collegiate research, as a “Make a decision,” if we’re to listen to men like Jack Welch, a well respected author about planning, such should be “From the gut.” The problem of quick decisions and adjust to the consequences is, the consequences can become, and almost always do become, overwhelming, and usually that’s not to the positive side of outcome- it’s done far too haphazardly.

              It’s odd that in our community we pay for things that we really ought not to have to, but when you the voters elect people who don’t know how to plan, and then let them not become trained to plan, you set yourself up for charges to come at you that shouldn’t.  You spend way too much for far too little, but you don’t believe that you’re part of the problem.  You are, you don’t talk to your leaders, you don’t demand that they be responsible, you don’t ask hard questions such as, “Why do we pay 100 percent for static systems that only function 25 percent of the time, but, then, we’re told those charges are necessary?  We never question such, and if we do, do the people we’re questioning act like they’re glad we’re asking?  See the test for such is, you call your leader and instead of getting a cold shoulder feeling that you shouldn’t have asked, you get a warm thank you for asking.  Make the call, your utilities are too high- unless you’ve had your head buried in the sand you ought to know this- even in the major cities of Louisiana, they pay less for their utilities than you do in a small rural one- that my friend, is beyond ridiculous, since the powers that be are willing to supplement local rural use- if it’s asked for?  Think your leaders are asking, or is it possible they’re so proud they can’t bring themselves to?  If they finally do, it’s haphazardly.

              Ask a judge what the saying is for a person who represents themselves when they should have an attorney?  That judge will let you know right snappy, such a one is called a fool.  When you elect people to office who can’t get their own egos out of the way- when they can’t get straight in their thinking that they really “Aren’t all that,” too big to fail- ‘Yellowstone,’ shows that danger.?  If you allow your community to be led by those who are out of touch because they can’t be bothered to find out what being in touch is about- that failure won’t happen haphazardly.

Dr. Dana C. Richardson,  “Inverted Culture” on Amazon, and Dr. Steve Broe, author, “Leaders in Transition.”