Praising initiative
Initiative may not be an American invention, but initiative, defined as starting and getting things done, is what makes America great.
This week in the Lakes Region and around the state we witness acts of initiative both large and small.
Who has initiative worthy of praise? For starters is Joshua Conley, the boy at George E. Jack Elementary School who is suffering from the terrible disease of lymphoma. Somehow Conley finds the energy and desire to raise money for the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital. (See the page 1 story.) And just as praiseworthy are his classmates and their parents and teachers who recognize the singularity of Conley’s passion and are, in turn, raising money for their friend.
Also, there is the story of two sisters who attended a Windham Adult Education class on how to start a business and are now making pursuing their dream. (See the page 8 story.) They planned their work and are now working their plan. Taking risks is a rewarding part of life and their initiative is admirable.
Nate Bennett, son of Windham Town Councilor Lloyd Bennett and a teacher in Taiwan, is certainly taking initiative. (See the page 1 story.) Dedicated to teaching the English language so the Taiwanese can excel in the global marketplace, his initiative and self-starting persona is America at its best. And through him, the Taiwanese are seeing an American at his best.
Other stories of brave initiative range this week from the Raymond kids trying to “knock the socks off” the audience for this weekend’s Aladdin Jr. performance to the Spiegel family that donated $25,000 for the preservation of Morgan Meadow in Raymond. And, after fairly big budget increases in recent years, we can’t forget the initiative shown by local leaders in Windham and Raymond to keep taxes to modest increases.
But those that show initiative sometimes come up short. Most noteworthy this week is the failed attempt to get the Taxpayers Bill of Rights on the November ballot. Hailed as a savior by proponents and a scourge by opponents, TABOR’s promise of constraining state spending may have suffered a setback by missing the signature deadline, but it’s certain Mary Adams and her followers will show the same initiative they have in the past to resurrect TABOR.
Another group of Mainers attempting to show initiative but being foiled are small tourist-focused businesses like shops, restaurants and places of lodging who use the Internet to advertise. On the State House page this week we learn that the state tourism office is outbidding local chambers of commerce and individual business owners for ad space on search engines like Google. Surely, the state should not be outbidding private entities that, no matter how much initiative they show, can never compete with government’s deep pockets. Government is infamous for sapping private industry’s initiative. This is just another example.
While some believe love or money make the world go ’round, without people taking initiative, nothing would get done. It takes initiative to meet a deadline. It takes initiative to do a good deed. It also takes initiative to make your life worthwhile. Our communities are filled with people who take initiative to do something meaningful for themselves and others. It’s right that we praise them more often than we do.
-John Balentine, editor
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