TO THE EDITOR:
Our region has produced and continues to produce exceptional people in business, leadership roles, innovative entities, public servants, etc., and I do not believe it is possible for our current woes to continue without remedy. Too many people recently have all arrived at the same conclusion: It’s time that we begin investing into our region’s development and the belief that it starts with creating opportunities for our entrepreneurs.
It is our responsibility to become the supportive citizens that we are calling on, to become the embodiment of our own demands, and to begin working to create systems that will invest into our region by nurturing the God-given innate sense of curiosity that we all possess by putting in motion programs that will provide the people in our community of all ages with the resources they need to pursue their ambitions and further develop their talents, ideas, and interests.
My wife and I traveled to Bentonville to attend the “G60 Pitch Contest,” and I posed the question, “Why don’t we have something like this in Fort Smith?” We can’t allow our region to continue to talk about these issues without spurring a call-to-arms.
By practicing the habit of consistently talking about our problems without actively pursuing solutions, we have unconsciously helped to spread a contaminating logic that has us convinced “not here”, “not now”, and “not us.” So it is my goal to introduce another thread of thought to our region, namely, “why not here?”, “why not now?”, “why not us?” And in an effort to keep these thoughts from being subject to the paralysis that is only idle, idealistic conversation, I’m introducing an immediately feasible, tangible event to start with.
This is a call-to-arms. I have talked with the founding organization of the “G60 Pitch Contest” as well as a second event, which takes place every Wednesday morning, titled "1 Million Cups" to learn what it would take to bring these programs to our area. There is no reason that we cannot have these two programs in place in Fort Smith within the next couple of months. This is not the solution we need, but it is the first step on our thousand mile journey. Who’s interested in joining me on this journey?
Miles Crawford
Fort Smith