Dear Nestor,
I learned about you when journalist and broadcaster Pedro Sabino conducted an interview with five local leaders in a weekly newspaper about their vision of the City of Lawrence, you were one of them. I read carefully their approaches; what caught our attention was your knowledge in the area of business and your vision for the future of the city from the arrival of investors to bet on the city.
In inquiring about you, the references were unison, all in agreement pointed you out as a serious and respected person in town. It was imperative to know you and I decided to approach you. Our initial conversation consisted of his subject: “the problems of the city”, how to approach them, your open, almost stark referring to the work of some public servants, your vision of the future and longing to be part of the solutions. Undoubtedly I understood that diplomacy is not your forte but sincerity.
That desire to be part of the solutions, led you to raise your voice channeling it through the local radio, and from that platform you delivered “roses or thorns.” Those performances you deemed plausible sent roses and thorns to those you understood to be despicable citizens of Lawrence in their public and civic behavior. Needless to say, this affected more than one and you planted thorns in some branches not yet blooming.
To the surprise of many you jumped into the political arena and chose to be a candidate for mayor in the recent electoral tournament. An equal number saw little chance of you reaching the municipal throne. For some it was an endeavor that was beyond your means, for others, your image was not potable. We were puzzled why, if you had not been a councilman or mayor, hence your rejection rate was practically zero. Amen to a select group of committed volunteers who took campaigning for your election bid as their own and endorsed it offering it to the citizenship.
Another surprise was the amount of votes you received which encouraged a good start for you, but I fear that politics is opportunity, is the art of the possible, is the seizure of power, which is built not from one day to the other, the work must be constant, unstoppable, of the twenty-four hours in the day, the politician needs thirty to build their leadership. I’m afraid that is a “luxury” that you were not allowed, nor can occur. So dear friend, you threw a dart at the target, did not hit the expected circle but was embedded in one of the circles of the city of Lawrence, i.e. your offer was appreciated by an electorate who gave his vote believing in your promise of change and transformation.
What will you do with the hopes that were deposited in your words and in you as a person? Would you try running again, or simply pass the torch to new generations?
Please think about it. If you decide to abandon that path dotted with “thorns” as all politics can be, because you must learn to smile through the sadness, and to make matters worse you never smile, you have to promise everything, even knowing that when you reach power you will have to lie because you cannot do everything that was promised. And as far as you know you do not sleep when a debt has not been settled and no matter if this is moral or monetary.
Finally you will need to build a leadership within the population, because this new emerging generation is starting to break through and reclaim space that is now occupied by leaders who dominate the Lawrence electoral spectrum. Thus leadership cannot be emergent or transitional, if you fail to insert it in the immediate present it will not become accepted because when the current leaders leave the scene, you will also leave the local political scene with them by force of osmosis.
Dear Nestor, the future of politics has changed a lot, now the whole electoral platform is not moved by ideals, struggles and social gains, much less for the welfare of the community at large; it all disappeared with the death of ideologies. Business acquaintances and populism are the new political categories that have disrupted the foundations of the political agenda in the world. Your political purity is uncommon, scarce these days, but if you still decide to continue your path in this way, remember the words of the poet Antonio Machado, “walker, there’s no path, we make the path by walking.” No matter what path you decide to take, do not take the path of turning back, “because there is no road, only ripples upon the sea.”