Roll with it
Weekly Update 9/17/2023 to 9/23/2023 #191
Mike Tyson once said, "Everyone has a plan 'til they get punched in the mouth." Before I share why this quote is on my mind, I will share some of my week serving as the mayor of the best smalltown in America.
This week, we had a chance to break ground on the renovation at Fire Station 1. This is the third and final project in a series of projects started in 2021. The largest was the addition of Fire Station 2, which included Headquarters on West 2nd Street. The renovation of City Hall was also part of this group of community updates. Finally, we have been able to break ground on Fire Station 1 this week. This will include improvements to living quarters and equipment storage to name a couple. Thank you, Chief Lucas, for all of your hard work getting us to the ground breaking.
This week, we had a community showing of the documentary The Addicts Wake. The film is about Brown County Indiana, but it could have been filmed anywhere in the nation and have a similar story. Helping to bring this film to town was important to me because if we don’t maintain the conversation around substance use disorder and recovery, we will never break the stigma and help our community members find that there is hope and it is possible to end the cycle for a brighter tomorrow. My biggest take away from the event was the idea that we all need to step into the conversation and find how we can help. That spot might be via 180 Recovery Community Organization, The Alley, or any one of the number of existing organizations or ones that could come along soon. Thank you, Tyler Henkle and Ben Beatty, for all your work bringing this event to Seymour and thank you to all the sponsors.
This week during my department visit, I had a chance to work on mowing ditches for Water Pollution Control. This is also how we got to the quote from Mike Tyson that I led with this week, "Everyone has a plan 'til they get punched in the mouth." As I left the plant in the Mantis, I went through a checklist in my head of how it works. As I pulled up to the ditch I had selected, I had to adjust my plan due to access points. Mower out, PTO on, forward motion started…Wait, I am not mowing the ditch, but instead it seems I am leaning a little farther than I thought and am taking the weeds out by the roots instead of just cutting them. Up with the boom, problem solved. Oops, a little higher than I was shooting for. Ok, getting adjusted to the controls and moving a little better than before. Oh wait, the ditch makes a sudden jut to the left and I am almost driving over the bank. Correction made and time to back up for the second pass. Here we go again. A little further out this time and the auto level kicks in to make you feel as if you are falling into the ditch. Heart beat back in check and on with the next round. I have shared all of this because life throws us curve balls or, to follow the quote, punches us in the mouth. As we grow and learn we are able to improve our skills and our handling of situations. We create a plan of how we think it will go and then we adjust to the various moments that come up. We spend our lives figuring out how to react to what comes up because as Epictetus said, "It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters."