“We have tomorrow Bright before us Like a flame” — Langston Hughes
The new year reminds us to contemplate the future, and there is reason for optimism as the year unfolds.
Do you yearn for the days of your youth? Rejoice! The future holds boundless promise. Recover from nostalgia by anticipating a horizon that brims with joy. Brace yourself for tomorrow’s rewards, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.
For those of us who wish to be better-informed, the Center for Continuing Adult Learning in Oneonta offers a pathway to fill our gaps in knowledge. Enrolling in programs at CCAL can be an empowering step toward enhanced understanding.
Embrace personal, regional and even global issues. Although the volume of information can be overwhelming, your aspiration to create a positive 2024 encourages you to actively facilitate change, accept conditions beyond your control and move forward with purpose. Take action within your sphere of influence, and achieve personal and community growth.
At times, volunteer and civic organizations may identify you with the issues of the aging, ignoring the fact that you are a complete person with a lifetime of skills that can be directed at a broad range of issues. They may only see an old person and they can’t see past that and understand that you have your own passions and your own complex existence outside of this very limited window of what they see as your life. Reject that bias. Your identity is not tied to your generation.
Local issues, such as the influx of undomiciled individuals, the growing urban deer herd, the city’s reliance on reserve funds, the aging fire and police equipment, and the loss of a downtown parking garage may weigh on your mind. However, a positive perspective reveals opportunities within those challenges. Alternative revenue sources and population growth will offset municipal financial shortcomings. There is adequate parking. Downtown merchants contradict that fact at their own peril, discouraging visitors and growth.
Speaking of growth, which comes first — jobs or population growth? Conventional wisdom suggests that the local Industrial Development Agency must attract established businesses to achieve growth. But break that wisdom down into its essentials. What do established businesses bring to a region? They bring people and their economic activity. What if we attract the people without the corporations? One example is refugees. They will fill existing job vacancies or create their own businesses. Another example is Chobani. It was built from scratch into an international corporation by an immigrant. New residents will form a workforce pool to aid the IDA in its quest to attract employers.
Where will we find these people? Some of them may already be here.
New residents, with or without shelter, whether newborn babies or relocated adults, represent potential members of a growing workforce that can, in turn, contribute to growth, assuring our region of adequate resources to meet its needs and increase municipal revenue.
Clearly, compassionate humanity motivates us to nurture a person into recovery just as we nurture children into adulthood. Speaking pragmatically, either way, society gains a productive person, and the economy expands. The good news is that we don’t have to wait 20 years for a person in recovery to become socialized and acquire job skills. Social services represent an investment, not a cost.
Even when we feel that we must reach up to touch bottom, we are encouraged by the beacon of hope that community support is available. As 2024 unfolds, every problem is an opportunity.
Find joy in events, as yet unknown, as you expand your knowledge, navigate exogenous concerns with purpose, and replace imagined local challenges with reality. There are abundant reasons to be optimistic. Reaching up, even in the darkest moments, is a testament to the resilience of individual agency supported by our social web. We will collectively embrace a positive outlook and craft the foundation of a future that grows more fulfilling personally, locally, and globally.