Snap
Weekly update #267 3/2/2025 to 3/8/2025
Is a snap judgment good or bad? Before I expand on this question though, let me share some of my week serving as mayor of the best small town in America.
Another Read Across America week is in the books, and I can’t say thank you enough to the teachers for the invitation to read Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel to your students. I enjoy this classic, not only because it was my childhood favorite, but because it has a few subtle lessons about listening, believing in each other, and that good ideas can come from anyone. Each year, Read Across America Week corresponds with Dr. Seuss’ birthday. Even though we just finished it you can still grab a good book and enjoy.
Congratulations to Seymour Police Department and Chief Greg O’Brien for receiving a Patriotic Employer award from the Secretary of Defense this week. They received the award for their support of our officers who also serve in the National Guard. I believe Greg said it best when he recognized several members of the department for their contributions to adjusting when officers are out of town serving in the Guard because it does take a team.
Thank you to several departments over the last ten days or so who have embraced new software and started trying to utilize it to help improve their departments now for the future. I hope they realize that the results won’t be immediate, but it won’t take long to see the benefits as we learn the finer points of the program.
We learned this week that we received the Crossroads Community Matching Grant that we put in for earlier this year. We received the full amount allowable by the state which is $1.5 million again this year. We will match that with $1.6 million to work on over five miles of additional roads for the CCMG 2025-1 cycle. Since the start of 2020, we have worked on over 23 miles of roads via the CCMG program. In that same timeframe, we have received 99% of what we have been eligible for as a community in this program. Thank you to the state legislation for this program and for giving us a path to help maintain our roadways and please carefully consider what changes you pass to this program during the current session.
Back to the opening question about snap judgments. Another way you could describe snap judgments is your gut reaction. Many feel that your gut reaction is telling you something and you should listen. I have also found over the years that slowing my response to that gut reaction is important. Sometimes, it is a few seconds, and other times, it has been considerably longer, but taking that time to learn more has become a vital piece of the puzzle. More than once I have been accused of being too kind because of this initial pause, and well, maybe that is true. As I was reading this week about snap judgments, I found that people tend to believe in them when a situation turns out as a positive. When the result is negative, they often say things like they made a hasty decision. I guess the answer to the question is both. Snap decisions can be good or bad, and from my view, it isn’t that we as humans make snap decisions, but how we respond to those snap decisions that matter the most. Today, I will leave you with a quote from Dr. David J. Lieberman, "The next time you make a snap judgment about a situation, take a few moments to understand an opposing viewpoint."