Inside City Hall, 7-15-09

The invitation for someone, anyone, to bring fresh vegetables to market is still open, although it appears unlikely to happen. I think most people would rather give their produce away than get organized to bring it to market. That is not difficult to understand. Rest assured, we have not given up on the idea of a community garden, even if it is in different yards.

I’ve had a vision for Munday since I was 17. Munday would be the Garden Capital of Texas. The soil in Knox County will grow anything. Our farmers have proved over and over again that they could grow the best vegetables. Growing the produce has never been a problem. Marketing and harvesting have been the culprits in our garden kingdom. All we need is a lot of money to build our own canneries, our own marketing system, and a trucking line to deliver MunTex Produce all over the country. Naturally we would have our own organic gardens as well, there’s a huge market there. Soy beans, same thing.

Instead of giving up why don’t we put our heads together and think our way on top again. This is no time to be giving up, but to over come. There are solutions to every problem, all we need to do is work ‘em out. This country became great because men worked hard to find ways to do things that had never been done before. They found ways to cross wide rivers and deep canyons. They conquered disease and the depths of space. No one ever said we had to get it right the first time.

Thomas Edison was believed to have “invented” the electric light bulb. Actually he improved on a 50-year-old idea, the idea of electric lighting was not new. However, nothing had been developed that was practical for home use. After a year and a half of work Edison succeeded when an incandescent lamp with a filament of carbonized sewing thread burned for thirteen and a half hours. Edison stayed with his vision until the right idea came along.

In addition to inventing the right kind of filament that would make a light bulb work, Edison invented seven system elements that were critical to the practical application of electric lights: the parallel circuit, a durable light bulb, an improved underground conductor network, the devices for maintaining constant voltage, safety fuses and insulating materials, and light sockets with on-off switches.

I don’t know if anyone hasmore patents than Edison, he had 1,093 successful inventions. He also had a few that failed. He was a curious child and taught himself much by reading about things on his own. This belief in self-improvement stayed with him throughout his life.

Munday is loaded with talented, creative, curious people. Much of this talent and creative power has been forced to the back room of our minds while we made a living using our “other” knowledge. It’s time to open the door and let it come out to play and work and dream and build and do those things we have always wanted to do. There will be obstacles in our way. Let’s think our way around them, if we can’t go over them. There is nothing more powerful than the positive thought. But there is no place for negative thoughts like, “we can’t do that.” We may just need to do “it” different.

An inventor by the name of Thomas Adams first tried to change chicle into automobile tires before making it into chewing gum. Post-It Notes came about because of a screwed-up batch of glue that wouldn’t work as a glue. Paper towels came about when a batch of toilet paper came out too thick to use as toilet paper. Who knows what our mistakes could become. There may be another use for cotton that hasn’t been discovered. Or the careless weed, who knows.

It can be done and Munday has the people who can do it. Think it - see it - do it! Let’s find it and do it.

Market Munday every chance you get.

Plan now to be in Munday on July fourth next year, for the second annual Freedom Fest.