Last night I attended a meeting called by a developer who is planning to build luxury apartments in the heart of Downtown Petaluma. Reactions ranged from admiration for the architecture and support for filling in the unused space, to opposition against moving the city further away from it's small town feel.
Opinions both at the meeting and online were passionate. Kind of like a pre-game to this weekend's superbowl. What's the solution? Each approach has merits and faults, benefits and repercussions.
I asked one of the representatives as to why a mega-developer would even bother to involve the community, when they clearly have done their research and have their mind made up. It's not like they might call off the project. He explained, that while moving ahead with their main plan, they were seeking ideas, concepts, modifications, that would help bridge the gap of opinions. To get it as right as possible.
Challenge and exploration is really the only way to progress. Take a look at your local Superbowl 50 to see just this. Imagine if you took the 22 football players and instead of pitting them against each other, you simply asked them to demonstrate their incredible abilities by making world record football throws, or running at high speeds. Would it get anywhere near the same national attention? Not a chance.
Now, take the same players and put them against each other; each amazing QB has vicious tacklers charging for him, each player has defenders blocking him - and now, an entire country shuts everything down and sits at the edge of its seat.
To grow, (and I mean personal growth; city development plans, I will leave to the professionals) we need to challenge, we need to explore. And the challenges bring out what previously would have been unattainable, allowing us to rise to superhuman heights.
Growth can be great, it can also be painful, (just ask my kids who are visiting the doctor today, I think i heard something about shots). In reality, the two go hand in hand. As the football coach might say "no pain, no gain".
What does this have to do with cookies? Tonight, grow with us as we celebrate another week with a lively Shabbat service, followed by an elaborate Kiddush spread! Got questions or challenges? Bring it on! Let's grow together.
Shabbat Shalom!
Rabbi Dovid Bush
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