Ten months ago I assumed the duties of Mayor under what could best be described as cloudy weather… or would foggy better fit the circumstances surrounding events at city hall? Now, I’m happy to report that your Mayor and your city administration has dispersed the fog and both are chugging along in reasonable fashion… perhaps not unlike the little engine that could, who huffed and puffed while going up the hill, “I think I can… I think I can.”

I admit to some surprise at the belief held by those who hold a certain amount of esteem for the office of Mayor. This was unanticipated and took a while to accommodate. Age does not necessarily bring wisdom. Was I wise enough? Searching in the face staring back at me in the morning mirror, there was no evidence of wisdom. But then, what does wisdom look like? Would I find it if I sat as Auguste Rodin’s famous sculpture, The Thinker, and actually tried thinking? In doing so, what would I think of? Lewis Carroll’s work came to mind. “’Twas brillig and the slithy tove did gyre and gimble in the wabe…” No… that didn’t help. Then the revelation came. No one expected me to be wise. Why shoulder that burden? Wise is not a word today’s citizens associate with their political leaders. Still, I felt imbued with the idea that somehow… whatever it took… I had to be wise. The question then came…how to go about it? Should I take a crash course in reading classic literature? What about reading the history of some of our great leaders of yesterday? Perhaps a study of the various religions of mankind would bring wisdom. Then I thought of the Bible and the story of Solomon… the wisest leader of all. Reading his story offered no help whatsoever. It was obvious that no two women would come to my office giving me a chance to say divide the baby in two in order to determine who was really the mother. No… this business of being wise was becoming very difficult.

The humorist, Sam Levenson is quoted as saying, “It’s so simple to be wise. Just think of something stupid to say and then don’t say it.” Though the idea had some merit, it seemed too simple. Indeed, following that rule, there might be days when I would never speak. Perhaps there was another way to live up to expectations on the part of people who look to me as their mayor. Instead of wisdom, how about common sense. Now that’s something I might deal with. Horace Greeley was famous for saying, “Go west young man,” but he also said, “Common sense is very uncommon.” I would counter with… Is there born the man or woman who doesn’t think they possess common sense? Of course not! Voila! The answer to my dilemma began to swim in view. Form a new party called The Common Sense Party. With that title everyone would be bound to join. Why, the possibilities would be endless. Imagine a united citizenry under the banner of common sense. And the beauty of all this would be… it wouldn’t matter if I possessed any common sense or not. The Common Sense Party would be there to fall back on. Thinking myself brilliant, with a sense of fulfillment I stopped worrying about the problem.