"We've always done it that way."
"But, we've never done it that way before."
Change is not always welcome. It is hard. It often hurts. But, it can yield fabulous rewards.
For instance, changing one's eating, sleeping or exercise habits for healthier options can yield good health, more stamina, a better attitude.
Too often, we resent the people who force change upon us. But, in hindsight, we see that it was a positive move.
On the personal and corporate level, people tend to resist change. Hence the idiom of being "stuck in a rut."
Change is a constant. The seasons themselves testify to that.
Today, across the Ozarks, there are bare trees sprouting buds, red buds blooming, green grass replacing the apparently dead brown grass, yellow jonquils blooming. That's a change that many people welcome -- the beginning of spring. (Although those who suffer from seasonal allergies may not be as happy to see the results of pollen proliferation.)
The population of Pea Ridge in 1980 was 1,488, in 1990 it was 1,620, in 2000 it was 2,346, and by 2013, it had increased to 5,026, according to U.S. Census records. That influx of people is change in and of itself. But, it also necessitates change. There are more houses, more businesses, greater demand on the infrastructure: streets, water, sewer, police, fire. The school population has increased dramatically.
Whereas 30 years ago, the town and school were still small enough that nearly everybody knew everyone and many were related to one another; now, many people do not even know their neighbors in the subdivisions that have been built throughout the town. Business was done with a handshake. But, today, with more than 5,000 people in town, there is a greater need for guidelines from rules, ordinances, laws.
The school, which was once completely housed in a single building downtown, now spreads over four campuses.
The town, which was once mostly centered around the four-way stop downtown at North Curtis Avenue and Pickens Road, now stretches in all directions with many businesses at the south four-way stop.
From a small town, with closely-spaced houses in a central location and outlying farms, Pea Ridge has become a first-class city with many subdivisions including Givens Place, built in 1996; Standing Oaks, Creekwood Manor, Battlefield Estates, Battlefield View, 2005; Summit Meadows (later renamed Plantation) in 2006; Maple Glen, 2006-07.
Over the years, the Planning Commission has adapted and updated ordinances governing building and zoning in an effort to guide the city in orderly growth. There have been "hiccups," problems. There have been drainage issues and streets built poorly that had to be reconstructed. But, over the years, the men and women who serve on the Planning Commission have tried to govern the building with a view to what is best for the city. Their ordinances specifically state that decisions cannot be made, variances cannot be made, for financial profit or gain. The planners govern the constant change.
Fear of failure, love of safety, keeps some people stuck in a rut, but others forge bravely ahead reaching for better ways to accomplish the goals before them. Hence, Pea Ridge has seen many firsts -- Pea Ridge Manufacturing and Business Academy, a conversion charter school that was the first of its kind in the state; Bright Futures Pea Ridge, a first in the state; Pea Ridge Academy, a first to keep students here and in school; and a joint venture City Hall/School Administration building with the two entities working together for the good of the whole.
We applaud innovative thinkers who aren't afraid of change but who don't embrace change for the sake of change, people who have vision and the courage to share that vision with others.
I'll close with a few quotes about change:
"The path of least resistance and least trouble is a mental rut already made. It requires troublesome work to undertake the alternation of old beliefs."
John Dewey
"It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end."
Leonardo da Vinci
"We must learn that passively to accept an unjust system is to cooperate with that system, and thereby to become a participant in its evil."
Martin Luther King Jr.
"May your choices reflect your hopes not your fears."
Nelson Mandela
"There are far far better things ahead than any we leave behind."
C.S. Lewis
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Editor's note: Annette Beard is the managing editor of The Times of Northeast Benton County, chosen the best small weekly newspaper in Arkansas for five of the past six years. A native of Louisiana, she moved to northwest Arkansas in 1980 to work for the Benton County Daily Record. She has nine children, four sons-in-law, seven grandsons and two granddaughters. She can be reached at [email protected].
Editorial on 03/16/2016