Trusting or Complacent?

Sometimes I wonder if we are a trusting society or complacent. There is a responsibility that is inherit in positions of power to know the facts and to act upon them. It is too easy, especially in small, tight knit communities, to just take everything at face value. In another time, that might have been fine. There was a time when a man’s word was his honor but, unfortunately, that time has long past. This is the time of prove it and very few things are as they seem to be. For those that have moved into the County from other, more populated, places the concept is relatively easy. But for those who have always known their neighbors, rarely locked their doors and can remember when much of the business in the community was done on a handshake, the idea that it is often much more profitable to skew information than be forthright is a difficult and bitter pill to swallow. I look around Jefferson County and see it coming at us from all sides.

A respected friend who lives in another part of the State asked me the other day, what is going on in Jefferson County and I didn’t have a good answer. He, tongue in cheek, asked if we had something against grass around here, noting that between the proposed Intermodal, the proposed megasite and the low income housing development planned for Dandridge we are getting rid of grass as quickly as other communities are trying to reestablish it. Of course, he lives in a metropolitan jungle where lawnmowers are unnecessary, little alone a tractor. All you need is a good broom and a pooper scooper for your dog.

I understand that there are needs in the County. Good jobs, affordable housing, economic progress, all important goals. But, it concerns me that none of these ideas for “progress” came from anyone inside Jefferson County. Those that live, day to day, in this County have taken a back seat to those that are just passing through but seem to know just what we need. They promise great economic benefits, high paying jobs and workforce housing– and all it will cost us is to risk our current investments, our way of life and $306 million dollars. And we collectively say ok– because, and this is what is really troubling, we always believe that someone outside Jefferson County knows more than we do. There is no confidence in our ability to plan our own future, establish our own path. And for some reason THEY know it. Those that come from lands far away to tell use how we need to live and what we need to do. Do we all wear t shirts that say gullible? Or maybe instead they read complacent.

The truth is, we only have our self to blame. If we fail to look before we leap then we cannot complain if we land in shallow water. Three months ago, the majority of the people in Jefferson County would have said that they liked the area that they live in. They took pride in this community, in spite of, or, perhaps, because of its rural flavor. That was before someone from outside told us that we were wrong. Now there is a neighbor against neighbor feud that could rival the Hatfields and McCoys. Long after negotiators and developers and certifiers move on, we will be here picking up the pieces of progress. I find myself asking- Do they want to change Jefferson County for our benefit or theirs? Because, believe me, they will soon move on to the next little community that is waiting for the windfall of their experience and wisdom…if they aren’t already there…