SBJ reporter takes lessons learned into future

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I'm leaving SBJ to write in a more pastoral setting. But as I go, I take with me the love of all those who have made SBJ such a wonderful place to play, for I don't call what I do work.|ret||ret||tab|

That was one my of lessons this past year as I worked in a nurturing, but challenging, environment and remembered my true self.|ret||ret||tab|

In leaving, my warm thoughts are for this wonderful town that could truly be heaven on earth if those in power will remember, as the Pointer Sisters sang "We are family!"|ret||ret||tab|

So here's a simple message to all community members: Empower each other. Help one another to be the smartest, richest, most compassionate person possible, and in the process, you'll find yourself being the same.|ret||ret||tab|

Springfield will be a city that attracts everyone and that shouldn't be a fearful thought. City Council worries about being known as a "welfare city" because the compassion of a few brings the poor here from other less compassionate towns. But why is being known as a city that exudes love for our fellow man a bad thing? |ret||ret||tab|

We should be glad the less fortunate migrate here because it gives this wonderful city a chance to share its love by enabling others to share in the basic dignities all humans should have food, shelter, work they love, and, as a result, an absence of fear.|ret||ret||tab|

The opposite of fear, of course, is love. I'm not the first person to stumble on that truth. I can envision that when word gets out what a spectacularly loving city this is, Springfield will attract even more loving people who bring their talents and resources to enlarge the work being done here.|ret||ret||tab|

There are those who call Springfield the "Heart of The Dove." Did you know that? Perhaps we should put that on our city logo. So, with this shift in our perception of what Springfield is all about, this city could become a leader to the rest of this nation. |ret||ret||tab|

As a leader, let's evaluate our assets. Our greatest of course, is our children. And to them we must give the gift of critical thinking. I learned how to do this well in law school, where the Socratic method is used. I had an inkling of the method from Ty Thomas, my Glen-dale High School history teacher. |ret||ret||tab|

Don't be afraid to teach critical thinking to your children, not just factual knowledge. Teach them to challenge the status quo to question every concept that is carved in stone. |ret||ret||tab|

Why? Not to create anarchy, but to empower them to create a world where there is no fear, no hunger, no ignorance. |ret||ret||tab|

We tend to get stuck in minutiae. For example, we decry serving alcohol at a Friends of the Zoo fund-raiser on park property. But we have forgotten the larger issue that the zoo is an experiential educational tool and should be fully-funded by our tax contributions. Why must the Friends of the Zoo beg for contributions?|ret||ret||tab|

Here's another. We worry about the deterioration of neighborhoods instead of spending money to encourage their stability and improvement. Have you driven in the areas north of Chestnut Expressway lately? Some delightful little neighborhoods are disintegrating before our eyes, where those of modest means could live comfortably, happily, if we but spend some of our resources there.|ret||ret||tab|

Such expenditures would increase property values and the tax base, while encouraging property owners to work to improve their little piece of heaven. |ret||ret||tab|

Instead we praise and encourage those who build bigger and more expensive homes to the south, east and now west. It brings in more money, and money is a good thing, but there are ways to build, to bring in money, that are kinder to our environment and more fulfilling to our city's purpose, as well as its pocketbook.|ret||ret||tab|

I've observed a great deal in my year at SBJ. Before, the business community was an unknown to me. I was lost in the tight, single-focused world of the legal community. But here at SBJ, as I observed, learned and reconnected to others, the lesson became clear. |ret||ret||tab|

Under the guidance and determination of SBJ Publisher Dianne Elizabeth, under the care of Dorothy Gardner, more our mother than our vice president of finance, with that little push to fly from Managing Editor Clarissa French, and with the ready and immediate acceptance of the 17 others who have been part of my SBJ experience, I remembered that we are all connected. |ret||ret||tab|

We are, indeed, family. [[In-content Ad]]