Is It Really...Time To Take A Stand?

Yesterday we had a visitor stop by our house. We hardly ever get visitors--our house is kind of out of the way. 

And that's important to remember.

My wife answered the door. A gentleman was distributing flyers about a proposed building project in our little town. The man was so against the project he took time out of his weekend to go door to door letting us know of his--and other's--opposition to the whole thing.

And he has a point.

There's an empty plot of land at the base of the mountain just to the north of us. For as long as we've lived here it's been just a field. Now, someone wants to put up an apartment building or condos--not sure which. Plus, we were told, they would put in 200 parking spaces. The first thought that came to mind was the traffic at that intersection. Big changes to accommodate this and future projects would need to be made. If I lived over there, I would have a more personal stake in the changes. Like I said earlier, our house is kind of out of the way.

My wife and I discussed these changes and we agree--if we lived over there, we would be greatly opposed to what they want to do. However, the more I thought about it, the flyer's wrong. It's not time to take a stand. In fact, there's really no time to take a stand over this. Because what these people are fighting is change.

My family moved to our town in 1969. Back then, I doubt anyone had an issue with a married couple with three young adopted children building a house on the property they bought. There were so few people and so much space back then. Fast forward almost fifty years. Now people--most have moved in after us--have issues with people doing the same thing we did.

It's been said a million times in a million different ways that change is really the only constant. As I get older, I wish some things hadn't changed. I wish I could still see and talk to my parents. I wish I could hang out with my friends sometimes. I wish I could run and exercise the way I could as a younger man. And even though I love watching my children grow and experience life for themselves, I desperately miss those days when they were small and I could make them laugh, a sound that was pure music to my ears.

The people behind the petition to stop this development might win this battle, but they will lose the war. The small town they remember and want to keep intact will soon cease to exist (it's possible it never existed the way they think it did...). They cannot win this battle because the same thing that allowed them to live in the city they love, will enable others to live and come to love the town as well. They can't stop what will happen, they can only delay. Maybe a delay will be enough for them. I hope so.