Really worth Our Time?

It was a place of wetlands and marshes, or wet lands that would have been wet if the drying white organic matter on the shore that reeked of bird feces would have allowed it; but as matter stood it was not “pristine” nor a “jewel” of our town, it was simply a overrated sloppy marsh like the faintly tolerable casserole which was forgotten for the last call to the fridge the night before. It was a marsh in which a rough trail encircled its swamp, people walked upon its flat terrain, chitchatted in their sociable trot, and then departed. The marsh also attracted one runner one which was I. Those runners ran about a consistently sufficient textured dirt, which was doubled by an equally consistent paved path, upon a consistently pancake flat topography around the consistently round loop which consistently displayed marsh stocks on one side and vegetation on the other, allowing eyes to wonder within the scenery of the trail. Nothing spectacular. Nothing Symbolic. Nothing Special. The runners circle the marsh and then leave the path through the same exits as the steady walkers and the bird watchers. Birds, they like the swamp and the stagnant clam substance in the marsh. Personally, I don’t find the birds much of an allure of the park, for the reason that there is an absence of them, even with the presence of the birds, the park still is not a gem of any sorts. When one spots the occasional bird, it squawks, and mingles with fellow ornithoids. Birds are everywhere: the birds at this specific park look no different in my mind, which is utterly disinterested of the habits of birds.

The walkers walked around the park, the runners ran around the park, the walkers chatted around the park, the runners ran around the park, the birds took breaks in the marsh, observers observed the birds in the marsh, Birds came and went from the marsh, humans did the same, nothing which was entirely exclusive to this place.

In recent local news the park has undergone an altercation with an asphalt plant which wishes to provide our homey little town with sufficient asphalt for our failing roads which are littered with craters, crumbling down the centers and could chatter the bones of a seasoned competitive cyclist. Those who oppose of the instillation across the river from marsh strongly believe it would ruin the core of our Podunk town, they relentlessly argue that it would soil the marsh and its natural beauty which it emits. I did not sense any of this abundance of beauty from my experiences, I did not feel the sensation of a wholesome pure experience, and it served more as a utility. The utility that it served was a close, non-urbanized trail, which did not quite meet my standards of a real park, which contained terrain and variety, it ranked above the track at Casa Grande, nothing more nothing less. If a large asphalt plant was to be placed across the river it would hardly be detrimental to the quality of the marsh because there was not much to lose in the park, and the value of the park was contained within it and would be unaffectived by a necessary implementation of industry in a town with an inflating population. People continue to clamor of the heavy loss which comes with the plant, and will continue all for the sake of keeping Petaluma small and local, while being strapped and starved for public facilities, and funds to actually accomplishing some movement and some vital development within our town.

The world forever will be changing and if the people continue to resist and deny this evident impending change, we as a community will never improve. The roads will stay rough and hazardous, city projects will be eternally delayed and terminated, and the demands of a swelling population will not be met and the young life will migrate away from an oxidizing town and enter a booming community. In the town the buildings will age, the facilities will age, people will age, the spirit will age, the vibe will age until the ageing has aged no more and the town is stagnant and solidified, nothing will enter and nothing will exit, amelioration is up held, fresh faces and feeling are non-existent

These attributes of our town and its citizens display the single-minded and disregard for the well being for the town and it’s entirety. With historic homey venues, with a growing population, with little industrial progression- citizens and it's leaders should find areas to compromise and be flexible to compose a happy median which the community suffers minimal loss, without such interventions the viscous cycle of political grid lock and the inefficient use of human abilities, resources, and potential is squandered. There is a place, which is not magnificent in quality nor captures the true heart of a token indispensable experience, one must access the real gains and losses of the situation at hand and find weather it is really worth our time rallying and complaining against the new and the change, all in the name to preserve which I question if it’s worth preserving. The park--which was not the defining factor of our town--could afford to be compromised for the common wealth of the people.

The park is not the greatest, the crown jewel or monumental to a towns experience, but it does deserve its respects for those who do take advantage and enjoys its attributes. It is nice for a small town but can we call this town a small town anymore? Accommodating for whatever this town needs and its best interests should be priority not the specific image which some try to accomplish. The times are changing, the world is changing, and the people are changing, as a community we must venture forward from our old tradition with new ages and find where efficiency and progress can be achieved with the support of the people.

-Stanley