By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
We had just come off the biggest Trunk-or-Treat ever. Mayor Ronnie told me that 2,000 bags of treats had been given out by our first responders, and it was a wonderful time for all—the kids, the parents, and those who serve our city and county. “One of the things the first responders told us was how polite and thankful the kids were,” he said. We moved to a talk about our town—how we love it, how others love it, and how Mayor Ronnie is constantly being asked by other mayors how “Athens beez Athens.”
“Public safety is crucial, and if we didn’t have that, we couldn’t do things like Trunk-or-Treat, or anything else,” Mayor Ronnie said. Then he added, “Families need to feel safe so we can keep this going.”
We moved to the topic of voting. Even though that is now in our rearview mirror, the need to take voting seriously and elect the best possible leadership is something that never goes away, irrespective of what you think of the outcome. We both had lived around people who had been ruled by dictators and had never had the chance to vote in “real” elections. It changes you.
Mayor Ronnie wanted to take time to thank Tere Richardson for her many years of hard work making Athens Main Street what it has become. So many projects have been completed under her leadership; one of the most spectacular being Merchant’s Alley. It has gone from being this strange semi-abandoned strip of unused space to one of the coolest places in the downtown core. All the celebrations—Fridays After Five, Chocolate Walk, Sippin’ Cider, the Summer Concert Series on the East Side of the Courthouse, Summer Sippin’, all of the holiday events — what a wonderful difference they have made in our quality of life! Anna Clem is the carefully-selected new director of Athens Main Street, and seeing as this is the 20th year, she is stepping into her new role on a firm foundation.
We talked about transportation, infrastructure, all the things that are ongoing challenges in our city and county, what things are the purview of each as well as the Federal government. This moved us on to a discussion from John Maxwell’s classic work, Failing Forward. He wrote it over a quarter of a century ago, and its principles are timeless. Not everyone knows that John Maxwell has a “most unique” golf swing that Arnold Palmer described as once having “nearly decapitated [Arnold] on the 17th hole.” What would have normally been seen as a failure ended up being something over which they had bonded, and Arnold even reframed John’s golf swing as something that would make John a perfect potential member for an elite group of over-50 golfers.
John responded by saying that sometimes it comes down to a choice between what he calls “breakdown or breakthrough.” Boy, that’s true,” I thought. And for his part, the mayor quoted John and said, “I’m gonna get up and keep swingin’!” There was only one thing left to do, and that was to pray. So we did, and then it was time for Ronnie to roll.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
