Figuring us out
On our Tuesday off day here (we typically publish here on Monday, Wednesday and Friday), I wanted to draw your attention to an important comment left last Friday by one of our long-time, active readers. Hopefully the revelation will help our readers understand exactly what we are doing here (and then help us out).
I finally figured Strong Towns out this morning!
I've been following you guys for several months now, and have really enjoyed the discussions here. I especially enjoy challenging status quo, and what appears to be common sense.
Often when I read what is said and written here, I get frustrated as you don't give us the answers, which you responded to a while ago when someone raised this point.
Sometime after that, I realized Strong Towns is, in part, trying to be a teacher who has given the class an open ended assignment. Some students (or readers like myself) complain with the lack of parameters and want more assistance with the answers.
This morning I realized that Strong Towns isn't a teacher, and they don't have the answers. They are taking part in the discussion, facilitating it really.
Perhaps I should have realized this a long time ago, but this epiphany has been building in me a long time. I look forward to more, and perhaps even participating more now that I think I understand it.
Thank you for your great work!
-George
This was a great insight. Thank you, George. Here is part of my response:
George,
Amen to you, I say.
You have made my day. Yes, we're not being coy when we say that we do not have the answers or know a magical solution. We're not trying to be cryptic so that you figure it out on your own. The reality is that there are things that we can do -- rational responses as JHK would say -- but no real solutions.
You get in a car accident, total out your car and suffer critical injuries in the process. There is no solution to that, just a set of rational and irrational responses. America is kind of in a slow motion car accident right now. I kind of feel like our role at Strong Towns is to help explain it so that we can start identifying and putting in place those rational responses.
-Chuck
Strong Towns is more than just the three of us. The strength of what we are doing here is only going to be realized when it brings others - like you - into the discussion and we can collectively figure out what to do about the situation we now find ourselves in. And this is not a one-size-fits-all type of deliberation either. America today needs the innovation and experimentation we discussed here last Monday (more on that tomorrow).
So consider this a call to rational thinkers everywhere.
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