Last of the Line
Weekly Update 3/12/2023 to 3/18/2023 #164
What if you were the last of your family still alive? Before I venture down this path though, let me share some of my week serving as mayor of the best smalltown in America.
I started this week off with attending the Mayor’s Institute hosted by Ball State and Accelerate Indiana Municipalities. With session topics ranging from environmental to legal, from insurance to a legislative update with what is going on at the Indiana Statehouse, it was a good session, as it always is. Several sessions this round related to economic development and left me with some ideas on ways to improve our community for the future. Thank you, AIM and Ball State, for another good chance for the mayors of Indiana to learn and grow.
This week, we learned that another community was working on adding our Curb Appeal program in their community. Planning and Zoning met with representatives from Mitchell this week to answer questions and help them start making neighborhood improvements one residential project at a time. During our meeting, we also had a visit from Happy George as he sang to Patty for her birthday. Luckily, we were able to warn them before he arrived so they were not completely caught off guard. We now know of the program being adopted by cities as large as 250,000 and as small at 2500. When I introduced the idea to the council in 2021, I never thought it would win an award or lead to me presenting it at a Mayor’s Institute and then be adopted by so many other Indiana communities.
This week, someone said to me that they were the last of their family still alive, and it got me thinking about what would I do and what would I hope I had done if I was in their shoes. The first thing I think I would do is look back on what I had already been involved in over my life. As I looked, I would be considering what difference those items made to those around me. I am sure that I would look for those moments that I might not have been as kind as I wish I had. Who knows, I might even look for those amends that I need to make. Then my mind went back to the word difference, and I ventured down a path of how do you know you made a difference. How can you measure that? That led me to realize that we need to share with those who have had an impact on our lives the difference they made. Often we don’t think much about it as it happens. School teachers that I look back on now and know changed who I am today are often remembered, but what about the customer who became part of the family when the kids were young. The gal down the street who used to let them come visit after school while you worked. The lifelong friends who have been by your side through good and bad and often didn’t even know they were such a vital part of helping you get from being a kid to adulthood. Many on my list from above have already heard from me, but I will throw a blanket thank you out to so many people who have helped me along the way. Because of you, I am who I am and able to help others on their journeys often without even realizing it. Now to the going forward part of the thoughts, I would make sure that I was able to pass along as much knowledge as possible. All those previously mentioned have given me the chance to grow and learn, and I would spend what time I had left helping others to learn from me as well. Even if it was the smallest of things maybe it would be of benefit. Today, I want to leave you with a quote that I learned this week during a meeting. Many of you may remember Albert Skaggs and some of you may have heard this quote, but I never had. It was shared as follows, “Deal with the negative. Focus on the positive.” If we can all work on this, it will be easier for us to be remembered by others even if we are the last of our family.