Resolve to get involved

In a 1910 speech in Paris, former President Theodore Roosevelt delivered these lines, in a speech titled "Citizenship in a Republic":

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."

Sisters is at a watershed moment, when things are happening that will shape the nature of the community for years to come. Yakking over coffee with friends about what "they" are doing at city hall or the school district or the Forest Service isn't getting involved.

Decisions are made by those who show up.

Throwing rocks is not getting involved; that takes rolling up your sleeves and helping to find common goals and workable solutions. Sisters is still a small enough place that constructive, thoughtful voices can be heard and influence the course of events. Here, you can truly be a Citizen of a Republic.

2014 is a good year to get off the sidelines and resolve to get involved.

Jim Cornelius, Editor