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I was talking with a young man about his situation. By young, I mean he’s 32. You know how it is when you start approaching 50. Anyone without wrinkles and without a little gray hair is just a kid.
This young man is talented and smart. He’s a creative soul running a small business in downtown Macon, Georgia. He’s in the mix of other younger residents who are changing the landscape in my former hometown. My young friend’s finest quality is that he’s a thinker.
We were talking about how things change, and how they stay the same. He was wondering how he could play some role in helping his town improve, and what improvement really means to him.
But he talked about how economics always rules the day. “Well, the men with the money always control everything. A small-time guy like me doesn’t really have a chance at doing very much.” I could hear a trace of despondent thinking in his voice. I recognized the sound quite well, having experienced it my own life.
He talked about the young people he met, and how they were excited about possibilities of the downtown area. He talked about a few of the things he’d heard mentioned. Some of them were simple. Some of them were complicated. The most impressive quality of the ideas he’d heard was how they didn’t really connect with one another. They were just a hodge-podge of thoughts.
As he talked I remembered running a small business in downtown Macon when I was his age. Things have changed in some ways since then. The biggest difference that I’ve noticed as I’ve worked on the Mayor’s race is that many of the “Old Guard” that were still in charge of things when I was 32 years old are no longer in the game. Some of their sons and grandsons are now running the show, of course, but these younger men have a different point of view. I mentioned this to my younger friend.
“Yeah, they might be a little more open-minded, but they still control the money, and they’re not always very open to new ideas. They still think the way their Daddies thought.”
I told my younger friend: “Yes, you are probably correct. If you look at the town’s history, the men with the money always called the tune. And someone will be calling the tune in the next few years. The big thing to remember is that in the larger picture of America’s history, there were always a few men of ideas who showed up to help call the tune of their time. They rarely had money, but they had ideas and could articulate them. This is your time now. And you are a thinker. Listen to what you hear. Talk to others. Stir the ideas, and watch what happens. Money is always available, but ideas are always in short supply. Make sure you get your ideas out there, so the tune will include them. Keep thinking.”
(Editor’s Note: Write David Clark at P.O. Box 148, Cochran, GA 31014, or at dclark@outofthesky.com.)
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