Going Home?

Yesterday, I wrote about visiting a town I once lived in. I was happy there but was fresh out of college and living alone. In that town I found myself in early adult formation without any restrictions imposed by family. These were my decisions and ones I would live with for a long time.

Often we say we can’t go home again. And for the most part that is correct. We surely cannot rebuild what once was many decades ago. Times are different. I’m different. You are different. All of the synergies are different and we are new inventions of ourselves. We have fresh purpose and a lifetime of experience that was absent back then.

I recall a time I visited an old employer after many years. This was the job I held full time during college breaks and summers while still in college. The people were terrific. The company’s product was super good and very special. I could stand in one doorway and observe all of the key operations of the firm. I worked on production lines, in the warehouse as new raw inventory was delivered, and also when finished goods were distributed to our customers. I took phone orders from the public and arranged emergency deliveries of fresh product in out of the way places.

I also worked in administration, tallied and analyzed sales data, did accounting, and helped the senior boss and owner in testing new products. I knew this business inside and out and loved it. In my college classes I often used my experiences at this business as a case study for special projects and class papers. And yes, nearing graduation, I offered my services to this firm but they thanked me for my interest and advised me to stay clear of a family owned business. The future would never totally work out as I would like because family members were most likely going to take on the ownership and management positions I would like for myself.

So I didn’t work there after graduation. But I do remember the feelings of pent up excitement as I walked in to visit with my former co-workers and see, feel and smell the old place again. My heart thumped in my chest. My hands shook. I was nervous as a cat but also excited and way over expectant. Of what I’m not sure – then or now. All I remember was shaking throughout the entire visit.

My visit to Oak Park, Illinois yesterday was different. I did not shake. I calmly drove into town early enough to wander around to my old haunts. The town had changed in many ways but, being a locked in urban suburb, land mass had not changed. Population has become more dense. The grand old homes remain and in good shape. But many new buildings have been built in place of old homes. The new are high rise and modern. Even the single story library was razed and replaced with a four story structure.

I noticed the huge old trees. They were a fixture 50 years ago, too. Today they are even larger with some of the old removed when dead, but new plantings now flourish to fill in the gaps. Streets were still the same just more congested. Downtown shopping had intensified and become more diverse. Shopping malls are scattered near and far but the walking traffic of most residents keep the downtown and neighborhood markets alive and prospering.

Oak Park abuts Chicago on its west side. It is 10 miles from Lake Michigan and a quick train ride to all that Chicago has to offer. Universities and colleges abound and public institutions are of high quality. Public schools are very highly rated. Diversity of race and ethnicity abound along with an enriched education attainment level.

My visit quickly recaptured the sophistication and erudition I remembered from 50 years before. A lifetime of learning and experiences in civic matters has quickened my knowledge, questions and grasp of complicated issues. The public in my other towns have been slow to grasp these issues, but not Oak Park! In one 90 minute meeting our discussions ranged far and wide and the grasp of issues was astounding. In five word phrases people gathered significant data and ideas and creativity soared in the room. Exciting does not fully explain the exhilaration I felt. The people were alive and filled with ideas and understanding. They were realistic and hopeful. Suddenly I recalled how I had felt 50 years before – everything was possible, everything was rife with potential.

That’s how our communities should be today. Alive, alert, and aware of the assets and talents of the community, and ready to do whatever is good with whatever is available for the good of the people’s quality of life. It does not always require more money. Just an investment of time and effort to understand reality and create new futures.

That is exciting stuff. It fills the mind and the spirit with accessible futures of opportunity. Not to be wealthy, but to live well with what one has.

Now that’s something that will make America great. It already has. But it could use some polish!

December 9, 2016