Years ago, in a lifetime now closed, I lived and worked in Southwest Missouri. Twenty-five years. I came to the region to be a city manager. I did that for five years then spent twenty years as a college professor at a state university. I passed through the place on my way out West and could not get out of town fast enough. In your gut, you know when things are over. The city I managed is doing well, no thanks to anything I did more than two decades ago. The new generation of managers is highly professional and brings innovation and creativity to urban issues. Americans often fail to realize that while their national and state governments are broken, cities actually solve problems.
As I understand from news accounts, the university at which I worked is in melt-down The president for whom I worked was forced out by a board of short-sighted hacks. The clown the Board hired as president has successfully trashed the University’s image, eschewed meaningful engagement in the region, and gone through management staff like corn through a goose. Why this jaybird is still employed is a mystery to me. Friends of mine who are still at the University have a new past-time – counting the days until they are eligible to retire. Sad commentary when a respected institution can be driven into the ash heap by crooning incompetence – I say that because I understand the new president likes to serenade the community.
But all of that is in the past. A lesson I am learning and trying to practice is not look back. The legendary Sachel Page, related to Luther and June Page who lived in the Welch community when I was a kid, once said that you never look back because you never know who might be gaining on you. Risking it here for a moment, I am happy for the city. Congratulations to it for pressing on and holding fast to its commitment to public service. And, shame, shame, shame on the University Board of Governors for the despicable treatment of “my” president, and for hiring a buffoon as a replacement. It will take the University years to recover, if it ever does.
The place I called home for so long is quickly becoming a disappearing vision in my rear-view mirror. Don’t look back.
Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.
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