A Bubble Off Plumb

I thought maybe it was just me. But Monday night, in a room full of Watonga citizens and supporters, I changed my mind. It isn’t just me.

There is something different in the very air here in town, and it isn’t from the grows. Change is happening, and the whole attitude of this little burg is uplifted.

We are looking for the change. We are willing to help shoulder the load if necessary to make it happen. Some things we know will have to wait, but it seems everyone is working while they wait on more money, more grants, more businesses. No, we don’t necessarily like the sales taxes that are helping to fund the upgrades, but as the town grows and changes, the taxes will reap benefits well beyond the monetary value they represent.

By that I mean the improvement in water supply and disposal. I mean better streets and cleaner alleys. New pipes under those streets.

I mean the families who looked all over the nation for an affordable town to call home, with good schools and a hospital and other services. They can choose Watonga, choose Blaine County.

One of the speakers at the community dinner said that achieving the vision we have for the town starts with what we have. It starts with the resources and businesses that are already in hand.

Then it takes someone to raise their hand and say I’ll do the work. I’ll be the one to help make it happen.

It isn’t easy. It is mind numbingly slow, and it is hard to be patient. But just like a truck stuck in the mud, the hardest part is overcoming the inertia. Once those wheels start rolling, it will slog and bump onto the high ground and then those who were back there shoving or out front pulling can wipe the mud off and laugh about it.

The speaker, Jared Cooper with the Department of Commerce, also said the work requires asking some hard questions. Questions like where are we now and where do we want to be. Questions like how do we get there?

Here’s another one. Where are you, and what can you do to change the town and the county from where it is, what it is, into what we want it to be? Will you be the one to raise your hand and say, “I will. I’ll do the work. I’ll stand in the gap until others join and there is no gap?” We can all be that kind of hero.