Building Hemet

I live in Hemet.  I work in Hemet.  My daughter goes to school in Hemet.  I raise my children in Hemet.  This is my home; my community.  When I was in college, I decided that if I ever had children I would raise them to know what it is and means to be an active/engaged citizen.  Agree with it or not, my girls have been with me to community/organization meetings, walked in parades with our Congressman, helped decorate campaign headquarters and made cards and helped with donations to those in need.  I will always be a voice for those whose voice is compromised.  I will always fight to make things better because I refuse to be any less of a women and I refuse to be any less of a mother. 

So, when I look at this election cycle and the wide span of opinions/positions on popular topics, I have to step back.  Just our presidential race alone is bringing out ‘true colors’.  And I say that because for the first time in many, many years, we are seeing a true voice.  People who truly are themselves are coming to the political forefront and those who have been a part of the political agenda are finally being seen for who they are; unauthentic and bought.  So I ask anyone who reads this, is it more important for a community leader to take a collective voice and engage the community dialogue including the ideas and opinions of others so that an idea can work because we have covered all the bases or is it more important to go with a narrow, less engaging voice that worked for a time but currently seems stagnant and failed the community as a whole?  Our communities are growing, expanding and changing in ways that some communities have yet to acknowledge. 

I get concerned when I see annoyance at community empowerment.  I get concerned when I see interest but a true lack of action.  In order to build this community back, we need more than a tax measure.  Yes, this will help significantly but we need to make sure that we can in fact sustain what we implement.  We need to fight for a better school system. Better schools build better communities.  We need to fight for more economic growth and enhancement.  We need to fight for a vision that we have yet to see.  We need to fight for a better ‘us’.  Superheroes (as much as we all want them to) are not going to come in and Save Hemet.  We have to do the saving and Save Hemet ourselves.