Visioning the future

By By Buddy Bynum / editor
March 7, 2004
These recent rainy mornings have been tough on Mr. Buttons, the six-pound Maltese who runs my house. Or likes to think he does.
I watched him out in the backyard just before sunrise the other day, a little bundle of white hair moving on short legs from fenceline to grass to pansy to dead leaves to tree, all the while doing a little business and sniffing the ground to see what predators had intruded on his territory during the night.
Dogs, we all know, are very protective of their territory. Mr. Buttons may be smaller and closer to the ground than me, but his senses of smell, sight and sound are so far superior to mine that I would be truly embarrassed by a scientific comparison.
Rain is tough because it washes away what was familiar and comforting yesterday and delivers a whole new day's worth of challenges. Some might say rain refreshes the earth; what it does to Mr. Buttons is force him to cover the same ground to discern what's new and merits his attention at any given moment.
Simple glory
Even though I know he has to go outside for the obvious reasons, he still seems to anticipate the simple glory of walk in the yard. Since I don't pretend to speak Maltese, and he hasn't yet learned to speak English, I can only wonder what messages he receives.
Oh, this is not to say he doesn't communicate. He does, both verbally and visually. His changing facial expressions can tell a story of love, confidence, fear, fatigue and something we've yet to figure out that I call simply barking at the wind.
He seems to anticipate that he will come back inside knowing all he needs to know, until the next time he goes outside. And that is good enough for him.
Up until now, I had thought we humans had the franchise on anticipation. We have the more developed capacity for imagining what the future can bring and working to make it so. We have what we might call brainpower.
And now, locally, we have a number of people using their creative energies in various visioning processes to discern, maybe even anticipate, what kind of future we want.
Imaginative ideas
For example, participants in the Meridian Main Street program shared several of their imaginative ideas for the year 2010 the other day:
Mississippi Arts and Entertainment Center hosts Woodstock 2010.
Crocks of peanut butter return to the tables of Weidmann's restaurant.
Meridian and Lauderdale County consolidate schools, governments and law enforcement agencies.
The Commission on the Future of East Mississippi and West Alabama is working to identify what needs to be done to make this region more attractive to companies that can bring better-paying jobs. A key element is how education and economic development can complement each other.
The Montgomery Institute is engaged in visioning as it officially opens its search for a new president to replace Bill Crawford, who now is deputy director of the Mississippi Development Authority. Members want to build on the legacy of leadership, faith, patriotism and relationships retired U.S. Rep. G.V. "Sonny" Montgomery brought to the community table.
A company currently based in Noxubee County called TimTek also envisions a day when juvenile pine trees can be manufactured into an engineered product that is stronger than natural wood. Imagine how such a process could help add value to one of Mississippi's most plentiful resources, putting trees only good for pulpwood to a higher use, and creating new manufacturing jobs.
It seems to me, then, that visioning is a good thing when undergirded by healthy anticipation whether you're a small dog on a backyard mission or a community seeking the promise of a brighter tomorrow.