Little Things Matter — By John Reed

Little Things Matter
We’ve all seen the phrase “don’t sweat the small stuff.” The idea is that if you take care of small things, they don’t become bigger things. Years ago, that philosophy was adopted into crime prevention as the “broken windows” initiative. Adopted in New York as well as other cities, the idea was to crack down on minor offenses such as graffiti and subway jumping.
To the surprise of many, major crimes dropped noticeably after this effort began. Apparently, those who commit big crimes start small. Many successful schools have found this to be true with student discipline as well, but it doesn’t work in every situation.
We’re seeing a variation of this locally. After years of neglect, city sidewalks are being cleaned of rubbish and plant growth. A minor thing, easily overlooked: who even walks anywhere these days? But paired with other actions, the results could be far reaching.
There’s an effort to enforce and change the laws regarding abandoned and crumbling homes and buildings. Like anywhere there’s constant poverty, there are many eyesores in town as well as in the county. Sure, cleaning up the trash heaps is a small visual thing. But changing way people see the community might, just might change how the community sees itself.
If you looked up “Luddites” or “Sabots” in the dictionary, you’d likely find pictures of many locals going back decades. Opposition to change has become synonymous with Jeff Davis County. We’re always complaining about no money for services, yet we’ve chased out business after business that could have strengthened our tax base. Perhaps if we start looking at ourselves differently we might be more open to future projects.
One addition I’d like to see is a sign at each city or county limit highlighting local citizens. Every other town I pass through proudly announces they’re home to some famous or successful person, whether it’s a beauty queen, world billiards champion, or some such. Are we not proud of even one native son or daughter?
This really isn’t a partisan issue. In fact, recent letters here have shown other points of agreement such as the danger of school vouchers or the problems with unfettered illegal immigration. Civic pride is something we can all agree on.
But it starts with the little things.