Find Your Niche in the Solution Process

One of the first steps I want to take is to confirm what local history is or is not being incorporated in the community school history and government classrooms. If I was a "half-empty" glass guy, I would put my money on nada. But who knows, there may be a whole six week period committed to the historical significance of the Jerry Bywaters mural on the upper West wall of the US Post Office in downtown Quanah depicting scenes of Quanah area history and what the WPA and related government programs meant to the lives of artists such as Bywaters during the depression era and how that gives Quanah a "one up" over Houston who did not have any better judgement than to bulldoze the building that held their Bywaters' mural. To say nothing of what those government programs meant to the lives of the families and men who built the city park and many other construction projects here and across the nation and what part the relative government policies and economic conditions in the country played in the events of the times. I will also inquire if there are lesson plans that include more than a fly-by study of the westward advance of the railroad that spurred the development of the town of Quanah. And what about Quanah Parker, who was a leader of his people in the great transition from a nomadic tribal society to a society of interconnected agrarian and industrial based economic settlements supporting the growth of a nation. What about J.L. Elbert and the ranchers and businessmen whose lives gave breath to our spirit in this place. What about the Quanah Tribune Chief? What about the history of the Oil Mill (ADM)and the QA&P RR and the Acme gypsum plant and mines? The examples can go on and on, but I think I have made my point. There is enough history relative to our lives today to instill a fierce spirit of community in our young people and to spark their imaginations which can generate the necessary economic climate to regenerate us and sustain us here in this place. We have so much to work with and so much to work for...I'm going to take that first step; find your path and take your step too.