Debra Beatty_1If the aging population will use the resources that are available to them, senior citizens can be power houses. The mental image of the smiling, helpless, wrinkled skin, slow moving human being setting in the corner waiting to be rescued is out of date. Grandma does not set on her front porch and rock herself into tranquility. Grandma is a political activist. Grandma likes to visit the casinos. Grandma likes to take day trips and visually inhale nature’s beauty. Some of the older citizens enjoy the dating scene. Grandma likes to dance to happy music. Grandma has un-finished living to do.

Yes, despite the fact that seniors are more active and involved the population over 60 years of age do physically move slower than they did when they were physically younger. There is no urgency to rush. Activities will wait. In our town urgency has taken a permanent vacation. It is OK to be late as long as it is not over ten minutes late. It is OK to tell the visiting politician that you do not like him/her. After all they are probably just hustling for votes so that they can continue riding the gravy train. Besides, do they, your elected political servant follow your instructions? No they just mouth words that they think the gullible public wants to hear. Let’s go back to the words – paid political servant. Do the elected ones know that they are your elected, paid political servants? They are not elite.

There are bullies in our town. They are the adult version of the obese third grader who have organized their un-thinking, willing fighters. Of course the bully will not fight he is a coward. He has learned to use descriptive words that are negating. His word weapons are intended to tear another apart. No he/she is not logical. They just have the need, the psychological desire to win at all cost. My best advice is to ignore this person. Walk away as if the bully was not present. There are too many pressing issues to deal with than the manipulations of the bully.

Our town has economically slowed down. We need the green paper that tourists bring into Mesquite to remain financially healthy. As long as we have empty store front’s we need to promote our town as the place to work and play. The price of houses has dropped. That means buyers will be able to get an excellent buy. The seller will take a financial bath. All of us together have to work together to stabilize our town.

Let’s put our differences aside and come together as one unit and put our town back on the financial fast track.