There’s an interview with Councillor James Cottis in Rochford Life this week. It’s not long , but worth a read. Here’s a flavour of it:
I?ve done a lot of growing up over the last five years or so. You learn about personal development and you learn that everything is not as clear cut as you might have thought. You might want to change the world but you can?t because there are so many rules. At first things upset me because there were things I wanted to change but couldn?t. But then you overcome that and think, well maybe there is a different side of the story after all. It?s been a massive learning curve. The original idea was that if I hadn?t won back into 2006, I would have gone back to University to do a Masters, maybe in politics, but of course that didn?t happen because I won my election.
Refreshingly honest and reflective. A bit like being a Man City supporter. You sit /stand there for years, seething at the masses of glory hunters who’ve probably never even been to Manchester and you wait, hoping against hope…
Then there comes a day when you say to yourself that it’s been worth the wait, worth the pain and you’re glad you’ve clung to your beliefs.
Today is such a day when we beat those red imposters from Salford 6 – 0.
It’s an interesting viewpoint. We don’t get enough introspection from councillors.
Though if I had begun writing the phrase “You might want to change the world but you can’t because… ” I would have completed it with either ” ….there’s not enough money” or “… other people don’t agree with me.”.
If you have an idea, there’s nothing wrong with submitting a motion to council and seeing what happens. The worse thing that can happen is that you massively lose the vote. The best thing is that you might achieve something…
In a small way we all change the world. The real puzzle for many must be whether they have changed it for the better.