Be Like a Theater Kid

At the time of me writing this, it’s been five days since I got to take part in theater camp. Needless to say it was an amazing experience. I got to be a part of two amazing shows and I got to have some fun playing drums for hours on end.

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank some people in the meantime. Big thanks to Gail Harrell for being the one to personally invite me back. Another big thanks to Sandy Dennis, another one of the brains behind the operation. And to the many others who were such a big part of putting this whole thing together. Tracie Tolentino, Joneen Padgett, Nancy Gunn, Karen Martin, Luke Vaughn, and Cissy Benton (just to name a few) were all very important in the success of making this camp work. With all of the names above and the many more who came together to help, I say thank you.

Being a part of this camp again has showed me just how much you can achieve in such a short amount of time when you’re driven and determined to reach a goal. The goal being for this, to put on two great shows for those in attendance. I feel that this group met that goal.

I think that there are some people that need to learn from the kids in theater camp.

You see in my time here at The News, I’ve got the chance to do a lot of on-site reporting. Majority of this reporting has dealt with the political side of things, whether be county or city politics. Let’s just say that I’ve not been too impressed with either.

It seems to me that what we have wrong with both the county and the city is the same problem we deal with as a country. Too much fighting and division and not enough unity.

I will preface this by saying that I am no politician, nor do I really even like politics. I typically take the politic assignments, however, because I feel that I can cover it with the least amount of bias possible. I am simply an outsider writing about what I see and hear going on in each meeting with no bias favoring any type of side. And that’s how it should be.

Because I’m a young and learning reporter, I don’t always know what’s going on in these meetings. I have to rely on instinct some of these times, more so in my first meetings than now. The first thing I could decipher from the early meetings was “Wow, there really is a lot of fighting and arguing here.” That hasn’t really changed in my time here so far. Does it make for a great story at times? Absolutely. Is it really helpful for the long term of both the City of Monticello and Jasper County? Well that, not so much.

Truthfully, I don’t think there will ever be a magic fix to any of this. If there was, wouldn’t the world be a much nicer place? However, I think we can all take a lesson from the kids over at theater camp. Sure one kid may not be the best singer, and the other may not be the best dancer, but you know what they did? They all put their differences aside, their strengths together, and put on two incredible shows.

Again, there’s no magic fix to political issues, and political figures in both the county and city may not even bother to read this. But if I had to pose just one challenge to our political leaders in the city, the county, and even the country, it would be to put aside your differences, bring forward your strengths, and work together to achieve what’s best for the future.

In other words, be more like those theater kids.