The onset of a new year is laden with symbolism. It’s a rare clean break within the incessant turning of the calendar, even as one week can seem indistinguishable from the next.
It’s logical, then, to reflect upon the possibilities of a new 2014. They’re intriguing, both for individuals and this great, leafy space we call home. It’s natural to relish the chance to ditch old, unproductive or unhealthy habits. Or the opportunity to begin new, more-productive endeavors.
A clean restart can also be good for metro Atlanta as a community, we believe. Our region and its many components could benefit by visualizing a new year as summoning new opportunities to a place just outside our current grasp. With the right, smart work, they are then ripe for our taking. To stubbornly choose inaction is to see those chances pass us by, increasing our risk of stagnation or decline.
A valuable corollary to the preferred, positive impulse of “let us begin anew” should be, in our view, to banish old, tired thinking. It serves little purpose except to lead us into communal ruts and dark valleys from which escape invariably proves difficult and costly.
Yes, in many cases it is more comfortable to cling to outdated habits than it is to usher in new thinking and action. The former requires no provocative thought processes that can shove us out of zones of ease and into fields of discomfort, if not upheaval.
There are legitimate reasons why the business world’s buzz-phrase “disruptive innovation” can set the pulse racing and the stomach churning — even as our brains intuitively get that change is often good and productive. At some level, change itself is unavoidable. It’s up to us to make the best of the inevitable, we believe.
Metro Atlanta has a history of doing just that. We long lived by the creed of dreaming large and striving hard to transform innovative visions into reality. We saw great benefits from that work. As we prospered and grew, the world came to see them too.
We need to get back to those roots in 2014.
Reclaiming that hard-won legacy calls for a new civic spirit in this region. It begs for a shared recollection of how the Atlanta metro grew steadily into greatness. And it calls for a broad realization that our past rise need not plateau into a mediocre future. We can become even greater still, if we keep pushing in smart ways.
Which brings us to a big question. Which is better: Focusing on a future that’s bound to be different? Or obsessing over past struggles while holding tight to shopworn grudges? In other words — to build or to battle? That is a real choice facing this region.
There’s a widespread tendency here to focus inward within the borders of a single county or city. Such localized effort has its place, for sure. Yet this practice often leaves the broader metro to fend for itself on major issues we can all name by heart by now. We’re a less-vital region as a result, in our view.
The best path should be obvious. Yesterday is done. And tomorrow will require new work of us all.
We believe there’s great value to be reaped from thinking broadly around common issues and the potential benefits to be gained by working together toward smart, effective solutions. Our fiercest competitors in many cases are doing just that, fueling their future prosperity, while we here too often dither or wrestle each other to a standstill.
There is great synergy to be gained when neighbors can profitably coalesce around shared challenges. Money can be saved that way and bigger problems resolved in the most-efficient manner. Working better together shouldn’t compromise any of the lifestyles metro Atlantans have grown accustomed to, from trendy Intown condo living to exurban developments.
Anyone believing we’re fine just as we are should take a drive on Interstate 285 anytime after sunrise on the next workday. That trip is likely to prove our point. And it should make clear that we share joint problems in this mighty metro.
Beginning to address them in 2014 will let us all share in dividends driven by real solutions. Atlanta can get there, we believe. If we all believe.
