You Move Either Forward or Backward
By Larry Oscar
How can some folks just go trudging through life and miss the mark so 
completely? As you get older, you’re supposed to get wiser, or so the story goes. Common sense should begin to sink in at some point in our lives, but for some folks it just never seems to get there. I couldn’t help but laugh at a recent article I read about the development around the lake I live at in Oklahoma. It was written by some bozo from Edmond, OK. Now there’s a place we all want to go visit! T he article was trying to point out how our recent development is a “cushy deal” for developers. Obviously written by an individual who is uneducated about our community. My hat goes off to people who not only embrace change, but are actively involved in making change happen; especially those of us who don’t have to.
Those of us that put our time and money where our mouth is, need to be congratulated. For those of you who want things to remain the same, I say you need to educate yourself a bit. There is no such thing as “remaining the same.” If you are not moving forward, then you are moving backward. The rest of the world will pass you by and you will find yourself living in a “mud hut” someday. Movement is relative. Go take a physics course.
If you want a better life for yourself and your children, then you must look around and get moving. Let’s do a reality check here. Osage County, OK is one of the poorest counties in Oklahoma. If you don’t believe that, then just drive through our communities. I have, and let me tell you what I see. I see downtowns that have almost as many dilapidated and vacant buildings as those that are occupied. I see rural and urban slums that are filthy with trash laden yards and poorly maintained residences.
Now when I drive through some of the other Oklahoma small towns such as Chandler, I see a huge difference the minute I enter the town. Chandler is clean, well maintained, and looks very prosperous.
It doesn’t take much effort to be clean. In fact, it provides good exercise. It is also good business. Nobody wants to do business with a filthy and poorly maintained business establishment. They want to do business with someone who looks clean and prosperous. Image counts for something in business. A dirty image is a looser image. Just observe successful owner operators!
The development around our lake has brought long awaited prosperity to south eastern Osage County. A county that lacks good restaurants, hotels, hospitals, theaters, and so many more amenities that I don’t have room to list them all in this article. Some of us are trying to make a positive difference. The Hominy Chamber of Commerce has completed a long range vision for development, as did the Osage County Tourism Committee. Good for them. They are moving ahead.
Development is like loosing weight, it’s a lot harder than it looks.