By Tia Will
It is the morning of Saturday July 5th and I have just returned from Farmer’s Market.
Like most every Saturday, I check out not only the food and craft offerings, but wander the whole length of the park to see what informational booths have been set up. This morning held a special treat.
The new Central Park playground has opened and was full of children ranging in ages from those still confined to strollers or their parent’s arms, through toddlers, to a few representatives of the preteen set. With the exception of the occasional tears associated with an unexpected fall to the soft underfoot surface, all were happily engaged with the many different features of the new playground.
It occurred to me as I watched them play that what I was seeing was not only the joy and intrigue of the moment – the swings, the climbing structures, the water features, the musical structures and the not-so-parent-friendly mud pit. I was also seeing the early hands-on education of our future gymnasts, architects, city planners, water experts, musicians and diplomats.
Not one of these residents of our community has the ability to express convincingly to the older and supposedly wiser members of our community just how essential these types of experiences are to their development. As adults, we of course believe that we know better. Just this morning, I wrote that I believed that we needed to prioritize roads above recreational infrastructure. But, that was before I watched the sense of wonder on the face of a young girl when she realized that she could block or increase the amount of flow just by changing the position of a paddle. That was before I watched two boys changing their world by operating the “earth movers”. Now, I am not so sure I was correct.
Roads, sidewalks, greenbelts and their maintenance are of course critical to the well being of our community. As adults, it is easy for us to appreciate this. What I am afraid we may have lost sight of is what is critical to the smaller, less articulate members of our community. If they could make the comparison, I would bet that many of them would prioritize this playground above the presence of potholes on their street. Now as adults, it is our responsibility to make the important decisions for them. It is our responsibility to provide a fiscally sustainable, safe environment with an intact infrastructure for them to inherit from us.
Today highlighted for me that it is also our responsibility to provide a stimulating, thought-provoking environment for them to explore and grow in. While some may see this as secondary, or as “nice to have,” today’s experience showed me that such spaces are critical (not optional) for the well being of our community. Within this space was not only the joy of discovery for the little ones, but also the direct involvement of their parents strengthening family ties and the delight of those seniors amongst us who could relate to this time spent happily with our own children or grandchildren.
Today, in the playground, I was reminded of the importance of that which is intangible. While we certainly need to be cognizant of the amount of money needed to repair our “necessary” infrastructure. Perhaps, over time, we might want to reconsider just what we define as “necessary” and for whom. Although we cannot measure joy, or a sense of peace and well being, or determine which experience it is that draws a young child to a particular interest, or which shared experience it is that bonds a family together, that does not mean that these are not all critical aspects of the well being of our community.
I am not making a case for playgrounds or pools over roads. I am just no longer quite so certain in my conviction that they are not of equal importance.
There is a second lesson for us all in your experience Tia. Human beings often make decisions based on the information that is available to us at the time the decision is made, and often that information is limited. When new information is subsequently obtained that expands the parameters of the original decision criteria, some people are comfortable revisiting their decision, and if the new information warrants, revising the decision. Other people adamantly resist such an adjustment.
I’m not sure whether others see it this way, but I often find that the key factor that determines whether a person falls into the former group or the latter group is testosterone.
If you made a similar analogy towards women, you’d be tarred and feathered as sexist, right? But it’s OK to take swipes at men, no points lost. Such is liberalism.
I have reread my comment numerous times and try as I might, I can’t for the life of me find any analogy. I see only see the description of a cause/effect relationship.
Regardless of whether my comment is an analogy or an opinion, it is not a swipe at all. Swipe means to strike with a sweeping blow … coming in from the side rather than a no-nonsense frontal blow, head-on with nothing disguised.
Of course it is sexist … sexist by definition.
It also is a generalization that clearly does not have universal application.
With that said, Queen Gertrude would be proud of your response.
Who is Queen Gertrude and what the heck did any of this have to do with being liberal ?
Queen Gertrude was/is Hamlet’s mom.
It has nothing to do with being liberal. TBD didn’t accuse me of being liberal, s/he accused me of being sexist.
There is a second lesson for us all in your experience Tia. Human beings often make decisions based on the information that is available to us at the time the decision is made, and often that information is limited. When new information is subsequently obtained that expands the parameters of the original decision criteria, some people are comfortable revisiting their decision, and if the new information warrants, revising the decision. Other people adamantly resist such an adjustment.
I’m not sure whether others see it this way, but I often find that the key factor that determines whether a person falls into the former group or the latter group is testosterone.
If you made a similar analogy towards women, you’d be tarred and feathered as sexist, right? But it’s OK to take swipes at men, no points lost. Such is liberalism.
I have reread my comment numerous times and try as I might, I can’t for the life of me find any analogy. I see only see the description of a cause/effect relationship.
Regardless of whether my comment is an analogy or an opinion, it is not a swipe at all. Swipe means to strike with a sweeping blow … coming in from the side rather than a no-nonsense frontal blow, head-on with nothing disguised.
Of course it is sexist … sexist by definition.
It also is a generalization that clearly does not have universal application.
With that said, Queen Gertrude would be proud of your response.
Who is Queen Gertrude and what the heck did any of this have to do with being liberal ?
Queen Gertrude was/is Hamlet’s mom.
It has nothing to do with being liberal. TBD didn’t accuse me of being liberal, s/he accused me of being sexist.
Matt
I don’t know about the testosterone part. However, I do think this demonstrates the difference between those who consider a change of opinion “flip flopping” vs those who consider it reasoned reconsideration of one’s initial position. It also demonstrates a difference between those who see and appreciate nuances and those who view the world from a more “black and white” perspective.
Thanks for the comment Matt. It did indeed present me with a different perspective !
“flip-flop”
It depends if the initial arguments in support of a position where reasoned or principled/biased/political, etc.
It is the difference between “I am, hence I know”, and “I know, hence I am”.
I very much dislike stubborn dismissal of the facts just because they inconveniently disrupt an agenda… almost as much as I dislike over exploitation of facts to push ann agenda.
Every decision can be optimized as long as facts, honesty and objectivity rule the process. We are all emotional creatures and our feelings are a necessary consideration, but only after they are rationalized (i.e., why do I feel this way). Except for fundamental fight or flight situations, decisions made from primarily an emotional basis will always be sub-optimized… they might achieve an agenda of short-term good feelings, but at the expense of long-term good.
Looking at the children playing and learning would swell the heart and inspire interest in more of the same.
But then there are other considerations in terms of city funding and taxation. And util those that can’t find an expense or tax they don’t like figure out a way to grow money trees, math will be their eventual downfall.
There are many, many amenities we can think of that will make our hearts swell. But someone has to pay for them and there are consequences for where we direct our limited resources.
“There are many, many amenities we can think of that will make our hearts swell.”
Frankly, like our new Arnold Palmer designed public golf course?
I support that! Think about how great it would be for more young people and older people to learn how to golf… get out there in a beautiful park setting getting exercise.
And what about a city-owned gun range to teach gun safety so that we reduce the risk of accidental shooting?
Hello Frankly,
How is your day going?
Re: golf, my kids couldn’t learn golf because we couldn’t afford the equipment and the greens fees. Thy wanted ski lessons, but transportation, equipment, and lift fees also restricted that sport. I suppose some kind hearted person in Davis may have donated old golf clubs to my kids, and waved or reduced the green fees. But then we would have felt like we were accepting charity, and that would have felt uncomfortable.
My kids were not nvolved in private soccer leagues for the same reasons. They are just way too expensive for a middle income family.
🙁
Re: gun safety: I don’t own a gun but I’m 100% behind your idea to teach gun safety.
(Also don’t believe people under the age of eighteen should have sex, but I believe in teaching safe sex in jr. high and high school, too.)
Hope you had a nice Fourth of July.
Yikes… need an edit button to fix spelling and grammar problems.
I admire (you, me and others) being able to change one’s mind and admit it! But I am reminded that playgrounds and other amenities which help our next generation to grow into their best selves, do not need to cost as much as roads or pools. Keeping your thought but prioritizing our money might be the best solution. There undoubtedly are low cost/free amenities which can accomplish the goals you outline for our kids….I am reminded that pans, spoons and pots plus wooden sewing thread spools were often the ‘toys’ my kids liked the best….and for me I was a mud pie maker and seller when young. Taught high finance and supplies were free!
Frankly
“I very much dislike stubborn dismissal of the facts just because they inconveniently disrupt an agenda… almost as much as I dislike over exploitation of facts to push ann agenda.”
I am in complete agreement. I also feel that it is very much easier to perceive these tactics in others and very hard to perceive them when we ourselves are employing them.
This was exactly how I felt when you were calling fluoride a poison when the proposed levels were well below those that any of the articles cited by the opponents considered as dangerous levels. You persisted in this hyperbole even though you had provided fluoride to your own sons and advocated that it be provided for free to those needing it.
I am fairly sure that you would not have attempted to poison either your own children or those less wealthy, and yet you were fully willing to exploit “facts” to “push an agenda”.
Fluoride is a drug when administered or prescribed by a dentist, otherwise it is a known toxic substance. And at high enough qualities it is certainly a poison. In in case, it is amoral to add a drug or toxic substance to the drinking water against the will of the majority only to benefit a small minority.
So where we should have ended up is exactly there. You admitting that, based on what the medical profession tells us today, the fluoride we would have put in the water was in industrial compound that was potentially toxic/poisonous if ingested at higher quantities, and me agreeing that the PPM the city would add to the water was significantly less than what the medical profession has found to be harmful.
“Fluoride is a drug when administered or prescribed by a dentist, otherwise it is a known toxic substance”
Then there must be a lot of companies selling “toxic substances” in tooth pastes which are marketed and sold freely without a dentists prescription, application, or even recommendation.
I don’t disagree with anything you said about dosage. My point was your willingness to imply that the amount planned for the water supply was harmful when all the evidence, event that provided by the opponents demonstrated that it was not.
My point was not to argue the pros and cons of fluoride, but in response to your statement that you disliked exaggeration to push and “agenda”
which was most certainly what you and the opponents were doing.
“almost as much as I dislike over exploitation of facts to push ann agenda.”
Yes I agree, it reminds me of the plastic bag banners who falsely stated that Davis plastic bags made their way to the ocean in order to push their agenda.
BP
I thoroughly agree. Surely the distastefulness of seeing the plastic bags hung up on fences and bushes around town ( I had pictures of 7 that I saw on one side of the street while walking from 2nd and J to 14th street a few months ago but couldn’t figure out how to post them) would be enough to convince people of the need to minimize their use. One shouldn’t need to exaggerate to convince reasonable people of reasonable environmental protection steps !
Plastic bags are not good for the environment. Period.
Matt
I don’t know about the testosterone part. However, I do think this demonstrates the difference between those who consider a change of opinion “flip flopping” vs those who consider it reasoned reconsideration of one’s initial position. It also demonstrates a difference between those who see and appreciate nuances and those who view the world from a more “black and white” perspective.
Thanks for the comment Matt. It did indeed present me with a different perspective !
“flip-flop”
It depends if the initial arguments in support of a position where reasoned or principled/biased/political, etc.
It is the difference between “I am, hence I know”, and “I know, hence I am”.
I very much dislike stubborn dismissal of the facts just because they inconveniently disrupt an agenda… almost as much as I dislike over exploitation of facts to push ann agenda.
Every decision can be optimized as long as facts, honesty and objectivity rule the process. We are all emotional creatures and our feelings are a necessary consideration, but only after they are rationalized (i.e., why do I feel this way). Except for fundamental fight or flight situations, decisions made from primarily an emotional basis will always be sub-optimized… they might achieve an agenda of short-term good feelings, but at the expense of long-term good.
Looking at the children playing and learning would swell the heart and inspire interest in more of the same.
But then there are other considerations in terms of city funding and taxation. And util those that can’t find an expense or tax they don’t like figure out a way to grow money trees, math will be their eventual downfall.
There are many, many amenities we can think of that will make our hearts swell. But someone has to pay for them and there are consequences for where we direct our limited resources.
“There are many, many amenities we can think of that will make our hearts swell.”
Frankly, like our new Arnold Palmer designed public golf course?
I support that! Think about how great it would be for more young people and older people to learn how to golf… get out there in a beautiful park setting getting exercise.
And what about a city-owned gun range to teach gun safety so that we reduce the risk of accidental shooting?
Hello Frankly,
How is your day going?
Re: golf, my kids couldn’t learn golf because we couldn’t afford the equipment and the greens fees. Thy wanted ski lessons, but transportation, equipment, and lift fees also restricted that sport. I suppose some kind hearted person in Davis may have donated old golf clubs to my kids, and waved or reduced the green fees. But then we would have felt like we were accepting charity, and that would have felt uncomfortable.
My kids were not nvolved in private soccer leagues for the same reasons. They are just way too expensive for a middle income family.
🙁
Re: gun safety: I don’t own a gun but I’m 100% behind your idea to teach gun safety.
(Also don’t believe people under the age of eighteen should have sex, but I believe in teaching safe sex in jr. high and high school, too.)
Hope you had a nice Fourth of July.
Yikes… need an edit button to fix spelling and grammar problems.
I admire (you, me and others) being able to change one’s mind and admit it! But I am reminded that playgrounds and other amenities which help our next generation to grow into their best selves, do not need to cost as much as roads or pools. Keeping your thought but prioritizing our money might be the best solution. There undoubtedly are low cost/free amenities which can accomplish the goals you outline for our kids….I am reminded that pans, spoons and pots plus wooden sewing thread spools were often the ‘toys’ my kids liked the best….and for me I was a mud pie maker and seller when young. Taught high finance and supplies were free!
Frankly
“I very much dislike stubborn dismissal of the facts just because they inconveniently disrupt an agenda… almost as much as I dislike over exploitation of facts to push ann agenda.”
I am in complete agreement. I also feel that it is very much easier to perceive these tactics in others and very hard to perceive them when we ourselves are employing them.
This was exactly how I felt when you were calling fluoride a poison when the proposed levels were well below those that any of the articles cited by the opponents considered as dangerous levels. You persisted in this hyperbole even though you had provided fluoride to your own sons and advocated that it be provided for free to those needing it.
I am fairly sure that you would not have attempted to poison either your own children or those less wealthy, and yet you were fully willing to exploit “facts” to “push an agenda”.
Fluoride is a drug when administered or prescribed by a dentist, otherwise it is a known toxic substance. And at high enough qualities it is certainly a poison. In in case, it is amoral to add a drug or toxic substance to the drinking water against the will of the majority only to benefit a small minority.
So where we should have ended up is exactly there. You admitting that, based on what the medical profession tells us today, the fluoride we would have put in the water was in industrial compound that was potentially toxic/poisonous if ingested at higher quantities, and me agreeing that the PPM the city would add to the water was significantly less than what the medical profession has found to be harmful.
“Fluoride is a drug when administered or prescribed by a dentist, otherwise it is a known toxic substance”
Then there must be a lot of companies selling “toxic substances” in tooth pastes which are marketed and sold freely without a dentists prescription, application, or even recommendation.
I don’t disagree with anything you said about dosage. My point was your willingness to imply that the amount planned for the water supply was harmful when all the evidence, event that provided by the opponents demonstrated that it was not.
My point was not to argue the pros and cons of fluoride, but in response to your statement that you disliked exaggeration to push and “agenda”
which was most certainly what you and the opponents were doing.
“almost as much as I dislike over exploitation of facts to push ann agenda.”
Yes I agree, it reminds me of the plastic bag banners who falsely stated that Davis plastic bags made their way to the ocean in order to push their agenda.
BP
I thoroughly agree. Surely the distastefulness of seeing the plastic bags hung up on fences and bushes around town ( I had pictures of 7 that I saw on one side of the street while walking from 2nd and J to 14th street a few months ago but couldn’t figure out how to post them) would be enough to convince people of the need to minimize their use. One shouldn’t need to exaggerate to convince reasonable people of reasonable environmental protection steps !
Plastic bags are not good for the environment. Period.
We are aware of the website problem, working to fix it.
We are aware of the website problem, working to fix it.
A reminder …..If Davis residents , in 1986, had accepted the then City Council’s decision to turn Central Park into a 3-tiered shopping mall, we would not have the wonderful Central Park with all it’s facilities and amenities that we have today and Tia and others are celebrating. Thanks to 5 visionaries, myself included, who met one early evening in the park back then, and were able to gather enough signature to qualify a referendum and take it to a vote – and voila.
Nancy Price
And I for one thank all of your for that.
Yes … I too thank you Nancy. Sometimes we are so busy living our lives that we don’t pay attention very well. You and your four cohorts were indeed paying attention.
I did not know that. Thank you for preventing that from happening, Nancy.
I am happy to have Central Park as it is. I remember parking in the lot when we rode the Davis Double century. But I am surprised the folks who bemoan the lack of retail in Davis don’t think it was a mistake. Third street IS the gateway to the university and we are revisiting that and considering some improvements. And had we done the Third Street Parade we would surely have had more commercial space and more income for the city and less pressure for retail on the perifery. It’s interesting to consider how different it would be today and if it would have improved the downtown.
Thank you for your input. I love Central Park.
However, how many tax dollars would that business development have brought, how about surrounding businesses, and how would that have reduced the current financial problems? A new park would have been created, and the business community would be more vibrant.
A reminder …..If Davis residents , in 1986, had accepted the then City Council’s decision to turn Central Park into a 3-tiered shopping mall, we would not have the wonderful Central Park with all it’s facilities and amenities that we have today and Tia and others are celebrating. Thanks to 5 visionaries, myself included, who met one early evening in the park back then, and were able to gather enough signature to qualify a referendum and take it to a vote – and voila.
Nancy Price
And I for one thank all of your for that.
Yes … I too thank you Nancy. Sometimes we are so busy living our lives that we don’t pay attention very well. You and your four cohorts were indeed paying attention.
I did not know that. Thank you for preventing that from happening, Nancy.
I am happy to have Central Park as it is. I remember parking in the lot when we rode the Davis Double century. But I am surprised the folks who bemoan the lack of retail in Davis don’t think it was a mistake. Third street IS the gateway to the university and we are revisiting that and considering some improvements. And had we done the Third Street Parade we would surely have had more commercial space and more income for the city and less pressure for retail on the perifery. It’s interesting to consider how different it would be today and if it would have improved the downtown.
Thank you for your input. I love Central Park.
However, how many tax dollars would that business development have brought, how about surrounding businesses, and how would that have reduced the current financial problems? A new park would have been created, and the business community would be more vibrant.
SODA
“do not need to cost as much as roads or pools. Keeping your thought but prioritizing our money might be the best solution. There undoubtedly are low cost/free amenities”
I agree that these types of amenities need not cost “as much”. Many costs can be defrayed by seeking volunteers as during construction of Rainbow City when my children were little. As an administrator, I am however aware of the implications of the expression “what gets counted, gets done”. Goals and parameters that we measure and give feed back on actually get accomplished while those that we pay lip service to are frequently neglected.
This mornings piece was largely a plea, not for any specific amount of money, nor to equate needs, but rather to highlight that a strong community is based not only on its readily measured infrastructure needs, but also on that which cannot be measured but is of equal value.
SODA
“do not need to cost as much as roads or pools. Keeping your thought but prioritizing our money might be the best solution. There undoubtedly are low cost/free amenities”
I agree that these types of amenities need not cost “as much”. Many costs can be defrayed by seeking volunteers as during construction of Rainbow City when my children were little. As an administrator, I am however aware of the implications of the expression “what gets counted, gets done”. Goals and parameters that we measure and give feed back on actually get accomplished while those that we pay lip service to are frequently neglected.
This mornings piece was largely a plea, not for any specific amount of money, nor to equate needs, but rather to highlight that a strong community is based not only on its readily measured infrastructure needs, but also on that which cannot be measured but is of equal value.
Wow. Very eery timing of this essay by Tia. I’m finishing up a book in progress for the better part of two years. I’m writing about the intangible stress relief I get from being around children and watching children play. I devoted many years to my job at W.I.C. because I believe, as corny as this sounds, that “children are our future.”
This article was released at a perfect moment, while I’m finishing my book. I won’t be publishing it for the public. It is a cathartic book being self published for my family and friends. I can’t get over the timing of Tia’s essay. It is just perfect.
Enough said. Wow.
Thank you, Tia. This was a very nice piece you wrote.
D.D.
Thank you so much for sharing. I also find the timing interesting and am wondering if when published you would be willing to share the book with me ?
Dear Tia,
Yes, I will will send a copy to David’s P.O. Box.
D.D.
Wow ! That’s perfect. Thank you.
Wow. Very eery timing of this essay by Tia. I’m finishing up a book in progress for the better part of two years. I’m writing about the intangible stress relief I get from being around children and watching children play. I devoted many years to my job at W.I.C. because I believe, as corny as this sounds, that “children are our future.”
This article was released at a perfect moment, while I’m finishing my book. I won’t be publishing it for the public. It is a cathartic book being self published for my family and friends. I can’t get over the timing of Tia’s essay. It is just perfect.
Enough said. Wow.
Thank you, Tia. This was a very nice piece you wrote.
D.D.
Thank you so much for sharing. I also find the timing interesting and am wondering if when published you would be willing to share the book with me ?