Brookfield Basics

I spent Saturday morning attending the final tours of our High Schools and did my best to answer whatever questions people had about the referendum.  I did not offer advice or direction; I wanted to make myself available for questions.  I enjoyed speaking with one gentleman who, while acknowleding the schools needed a lot, told me why he was not going to support this plan.   

Based on all I have heard and seen, I believe that is one issue upon which there is near unanimity - that the high schools are in need of some significant investment.  How much and what kind is obviously the question.  I have maintained for the last several years that the question of "what to do" is one on which reasonable people can, should, and obviously do disagree.  I have also remarked that this question of "what to do" is like Alexander the Great's Gordian Knot - a complex and seemingly unsolvable puzzle, with no single solution being attractive to a significant majority of our community.  

There is no doubting that there is a large number of residents who feel this plan does not go far ENOUGH.  Just as obviously, there are significant numbers who feel this current plan goes TOO far, and contains spending that is excessive and/or innapropriate.  And to both parties I say a sincere "fair enough".  I do not question the motivations or values of people on either side.  

I support this plan because I am convinced that no group has, can, or will conduct a more thorough and comprehensive analysis of ALL the factors involved (physical - educational - financial - political), and present such a comprehensive and responsible solution that encompasses the gamut of our community's concerns, as has the HSST.  I don't believe this School Board can do it.  I don't believe a future School Board can do it.  And I don't believe a future citizen's group can do it any better.  That doesn't mean I am right - it is just what I have come to believe.  Why?   

The process the Team followed, the comprehensive Program of Specifications used, the level of detail they looked at and evaluated, the number of stakeholders they interviewed, the exhaustive tours of our own and other schools, the expertise of the people on both the HSST and e Progress in the areas of construction, HVAC, and maintenance, the sheer amount of time and scrutiny employed, and the tough and difficult discussions held over the course of seven months - these are the factors that led to my conclusion.

The Board DID make changes to the original HSST recommendation.  That change was the addition of two classrooms at each school, and the enlarging of a fixed number of core instructional classrooms at each school.  There are real and legitimate reasons for this, and of course, grounds to oppose it.  The pros and cons of this were debated over the course of two Open Board Meetings, the content of which is public record.  Financially, these changes meant an increase of $1.1MM over the initial HSST recommendation.  It was the HSST plan, with this change, that the Board umanimously approved.

What the District has spent on maintenance over the last few decades and how such projects are identified, prioritized and chosen, is a matter of public record and a part of each year's publicly discussed and presented budget.  The average annual capital expenditure in the last many years has been a little more than one million dollars, and it is a matter of legitimate debate as to whether the District could have or should have spent more on maintenance.  

As to the operating budget itself, there are four areas that, in my view, constitute "critical mass".  Those four areas are utilities, busing, employee salaries and benefits, and the number of facilities owned and operated by the District. No serious discussion of ANY budget can be held without these areas.  This is not so much a political statement as it is an actuarial reality.  I believe that this Board, future Boards, and this community will have to give hard consideration to ALL of these areas, and I spoke to some of this at the March 4 Candidate Forum.  

As has been stated by the District many times, our High Schools are structurally sound.  Given that, people will decide this on a value proposition basis.  It has met my value test.  We will soon learn if it meets the community's.

Whatever your view, please vote tomorrow.

Thank you.

I took Thursday off to make a long Easter weekend, and since I always try and have a good book in progress, I went to the library in search of same.  I came away with a copy of Unspeakable - Facing Up to Evil in an Age of Genocide and Terror, by Os Guinness. 

Guinness is a graduate of Oxford and has an intellect that can only be described as superior.  Raised in China by his medical missionary parents, they fled the genocide of Mao's Cultural Revolution, to which Guinness lost two beloved brothers.  When he writes of terror and genocide, he does so from personal experience.  This book was written in the immediate aftermath of September 11th, and its premise is a wholistic look at what proper views of and reactions to evil might be.  

Here is a small taste:

"It is our responsibility and our right to come to our own conclusions and form our own convictions.  But the right to believe anything does not mean that anything one believes is right.  The former is freedom of conscience and must always be respected.  The latter idea is nonsense and must often be opposed".  

That's good stuff, and I'll enjoy reading it over the Easter weekend.  And speaking of Easter, the real purpose of this brief post was to wish you and yours a joyous one!!   

Unde Malum - Unde Bene, translated literally from the Latin, means "whence cometh evil - whence cometh good"?

I have been blogging for a year and a half and have addressed matters of history, culture, policy, and sports, with columns ranging from the deadly serious (a three-part series on the Virginia Tech. Massacre), to the political (two-part series on Separation of Church and State), to the adventurous (back-packing through Glacier National Park). 

Right now I need to pull back a bit.  I don't plan to stop, and if Brookfield Now will still have me, I will continue as matters of interest present themselves.  At some point I may return to a weekly schedule, but in the interim there will be fewer columns.  Given that, I would like to devote some of them to matters of interest to you.  So let me know what those topics might be.  

My last two posts were from the heart, and I still feel the enormous loss of William F. Buckley and Brett Favre.  Buckley was and Favre is; well - they are simply larger than life.  And since I believe we need heroic figures in our lives, I shall miss them greatly. 

I have been surprised by and grateful for the number of readers, and I say a sincere "thank you" to all who have stopped in on this page.  That said - I certainly acknowledge that the number of readers does not not necessarily correspond to the level of agreement or approval!

So thanks again everyone - I  had a blast.

Time To Say Good Bye is an operatic duet performed by Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli.  It is music of such soul-piercing beauty that I don't want to meet the person who can listen to it and remain unmoved.  I remember it playing in Madison Square Garden as Wayne Gretzky took his final laps around the rink, the greatest performer in the history of team sports humbly acknowledging the tidal wave of tribute pouring down upon him.  I remember The Great One gazing up at his lovely wife, Janet Jones-Gretzky, as she sobbed uncontrollably in the stands.

And now it is time for Packer fans to say good bye.

So many images, so many emotions, so many moments - how can we possibly capture them?  How can we grasp the magnitude of his career?  He was trained by his father in the rural deep South to be strong and courageous, and by his mother to treat everyone with deference and respect.  And what do we say of his records and achievements?  Most wins, most TD's, the League's only three-time MVP who at the age of thirty-eight, was denied an almost surreal fourth MVP only by Tom Brady's record setting year.  These are the components that have punched his first ballot ticket to Canton.  But they do not define him.  

I wrote a piece last fall which claimed that the greatest of the great athletes transcend their game and become part of the social fabric.  They have an ability to ELEVATE us, to take us places we cannot go by ourselves, and in some small way, to ENOBLE us.  I believe Brett did all of these things.  

Here are just a few memories I have enjoyed since Tuesday - memories garnered from a seventeen year scrapbook:

Running hard and in full stride to his left, and firing an across his body, fifty-yard laser beam to Sterling Sharpe to crush the Lions in a road playoff game.  The only other QB that could have made that throw was John Elway.  Not Bradshaw, not Montana, not Brady, not either one of the Mannings - no one else.  It was one of those moments early in his career that made us realize we had something special.

The never to be forgotten Monday night game in Oakland, played just hours after his beloved father had died.  Four-hundred yards and four touchdowns; it wasn't a game so much as a personalized memorial service.  On that night his teammates did not play for the Packers.  And they did not play for the fans.  And they most certainly did not play for their paychecks.  It was obvious to anyone watching that game that they were playing for HIM.

And after the game, with a poignance that was almost tangible, watching him look for Deanna - looking for someplace to put his breaking heart.  And I remember her silently saying with her outstretched arms, "here Brett - put it here".

I see him bounding and gamboling down the field when he broke Marino's record, gleefully shouldering an astonished Greg Jennings for an unrepentant romp on the field, exhibiting the same reaction he probably displayed in the fifth grade.

But as fabulous as these images are, they only tell us why he was great.  They do not explain why we came to love him.

We love Brett because, perhaps more than any superstar we can recall, he is one of us.  The ancient Greeks told us that the essence of heroism is a great figure that is also flawed.  As was Thor by Odin, Brett was gifted by God with the right arm of a hammer, and he used it to win more games than anyone who ever played his position.  But as strong as his arm was, it was not the equal of his courage, his toughness, or the unfettered joy with which he played the game.  

But he had flaws, didn't he?  On the field, he would bedazzle us with his prowess one game, and baffle and frustrate us with his decision making in the next. As a young man he was a partier of Bachnalian proportion, bringing into jeopardy his health, his career, and his relationship with Deanna.  His addiction to Vicadin was well chronicled.  But with Deanna at his side, he responded with his GREATEST triumphs - the termination of his dissipating lifestyle, the defeat of his addicition, and the subordination of his selfish desires to the larger goal of retaining, restoring, and nurturing his FINEST team - Deanna and their girls.

And he did all of this with the curtain pulled back.  He did not invite our gaze, but neither did he forbid it.  Rather, he lived amongst us - he lived transparently.  Of all the remarkable aspects of his career, perhaps the most is that I cannot imagine it unfolding in any other NFL city.

I mentioned earlier a few images I will recall.  But more than any other, I will cherish the scene after the final game of the 2006 season. Standing on the sideline of Soldier Field, clad in the familiar armor of the Pack's road-whites, he was asked if he would return for another campaign.  I see him pausing, struggling to absorb the question.  And then he just broke - he broke down and wept, caring not a fig what anyone might say or think of it.  He stood in the thirsty gaze of the camera and showed us what he was feeling.  He showed us that after nearly two decades in the crucible of fame, adoration, and wealth, that he was still just what his nickname said he was.  He was still just "Country".

We love Brett because he was a rock we could count on every Sunday.

We love him because he is an utterly unaffected and genuine man in an age and an industry full of manikins.

We love him because of the man he became off the field as much as the player he was on it.

Scripture tells us that God looks at our hearts.  And there, I believe, is the final answer.

We love him because of his mighty heart.  

The heart that he not only showed us  - but gave to us.