I've written it a lot over the years and the more i know, the better i have come to understand our history, the more true it becomes. From the day the first buyers moved into Sun City, the last week of April 1060, those coming here became "cogs in the wheel." Admittedly, some were more so than others; some played huge roles, some tiny; some played none at all as they elected to be non-participants in the self-governance concept. We know from our history, during those first 50 years, we enjoyed a much larger number of those involved. The greatest generation were joiners, planners and builders who took great pride in the ownership of our community. We also know the decision to push the membership away by proclaiming we were no longer "the city of volunteers" to become "the original fun city" set us on a course that was a paradigm shift. We know around the same time, committees were eliminated and those that remained held less sway in the decision making process. But alas, this diatribe isn't about the choices made along the way. It's not even about how to get back to the point where members are involved and committed. Nope, i've started those threads dozens of times with little impact other than me sharing my thoughts and opinions. This one, this "cogs in the wheel" is a simple tutorial, a life's lesson on what our history has taught us. Over the past 65 years, there has been a plethora of names of those that were bigger than life. Those that carried the water on helping shape Sun City. Their names live on in our history and Ben and i use them often when explaining how the community was built and why it succeeded. Their efforts, their relentless drive to insure success along with the number of years they dug in and gave back, they were all just "cogs in the wheel." Here's the oddity that has become a truism: At the end of their Sun City journey and their quest to make us a better place, they understood it was never about them. NEVER. They all, we all are just "cogs in the wheel." It's a lesson we should never forget, always embrace and hopefully be our guiding light as we move forward. It's troubling, trying to be kind here, to see so many threads where the bottom line is simply about trying to make the outcome all about the person writing and not the community. As John Fast said, "not me, we." Apparently easier said than done for some.
“Mongo just a cog in the wheel of life.” Alex Karras in Blazing Saddles ( thought you could use a bit of comedic relief)
