Well hello, stranger
This post started out as a rant after a long day at work, and it turned into a reflection post 😂. It just goes to show once again that we can always learn something from frustrating situations. So come along on my journey, maybe you'll gain something from my rant turned reflection.
"If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got. If what you are doing is not working, do something else - J. O'Conner"
Landscape photograph I took a while back on my way home from holiday. Peaceful and a reminder that there is always more to every situation. I might have been going back home, but life around me was still beautiful.
These past two days I've been in back-to-back meetings at work. I'm an Urban and Regional Planner but it's just a bit difficult as a young planner to change the minds of the older generations. We are currently working on new five-year development plans (SDFs) for a few municipal areas and all the towns in these areas are classified as rural, low-development towns. They survive on small-scale agriculture and occasional tourism... As a planner with a focus on regional development, I can tell you these towns need more economic development strategies.
We are currently communicating with the municipalities and the people, finding ways forward. Economic hubs, agri-centres, roads, industrial development, etc are being looked at, and for the most part, everyone is happy! Yes, there have been shifts in development, instead of following dead old processes, we've suggested new strategies, new layouts, and new focus areas. And you know what... some people were against it... "Why are you changing the process?", "Why do we need a new policy?" "Why did you decide to shift the urban edge?" "Why can't we have this development here, it was done like this in the old days?"... My friends, we were not in the "old days" anymore.
The issue that came up was a proposed development for a cemetery. We had a discussion on this for almost two hours. So a little background, cemeteries used to be close to residential areas, and as towns expanded new residential areas were built around these cemeteries. In today's day and age, this is not ideal. No, we are not moving the old cemeteries, just planning new ones on the edge of town or a bit further away. There are many reasons for this; we can use space in town for other activities, crime near cemeteries is usually high, what if it needs to expand?, it influences the housing market, and you have traffic during funerals... the list goes on. And of course, many people, like myself, want to leave the dead in peace.
We had one colleague that disagreed with us. It was suggested that we make space for a cemetery within the already-established residential area and on top of that move 25 years' worth of graves from the "old urban edge cemetery" to the new one in town. The reason for this is "It used to be this way back in the day". This would mean that we need to move more than 300+ families and go grave digging. Naturally, we were all against it. After the explanation as to why we said no, it was suggested that we demolish a mall for this new cemetery. Roasoning? "It used to be this way back in the day".
Despite all the comments as to why cemeteries within residential areas were not ideal, our colleague kept insisting that we must do it since "It used to be this way back in the day".
In the end, we did manage to get to a conclusion, voting on things helps 😅. The new cemetery site was to be located just beyond the urban edge. The site is accessible, there are a few different churches close by, it's not located on a water body, it won't flood during heavy rains, and the dead can rest in peace.
What is my point with this?
Sometimes change is needed for us to go forward. "If you always do what you have always done, you will always get what you have always got. If what you are doing is not working, do something else - J. O'Conner"
If you want to move forward in life you may need to change a few things. You can't achieve new goals if you keep sticking to the old ways of doing things. No two goals will require the same "input", just because it worked this first time, doesn't mean it will work again.
I'm not saying forget everything and start doing each aspect of life differently, but go sit down and ask yourself "is this even working?". For us as individuals to move up the ladder in life we need to make changes even if it scares us.
