First, a confession: I was not born and raised in Washington state. I was born in Los Angeles and was extremely fond of the opportunities and energy often found in a large city. My parents moved us five kids to Bellingham in the spring of 2000, motivated by a promise to offer a more wholesome growing-up experience and to take advantage of the majestic beauty that the Pacific Northwest is so admired for. Despite my initial objections stemming from no longer having Disneyland within a quick car ride, I quickly fell in love and traded my flip flops for snow boots.
I was a student at Shuksan Middle School, graduated from Squalicum High School in 2007 and went east, to Harvard University. Taking time off for the 2008 and 2012 presidential races, I look forward to graduating in the spring of 2013.
At that time, a looming question will need to be addressed: Where to settle down and start a new life? Major cities such as New York and Boston call my name, careers in consulting and marketing strike my interest.
However, it's those opportunities back home that beckon me with the most intensity. I feel that I have sat on the fence and have seen the grass on the other side, and while it may be greener, with its promises of flash and success, there is a rare opportunity to sow our side in Whatcom Country, and in effect make it as green as we want it to be.
As a student of history, I am often drawn to turning points, where the contributions of a motivated group forever impact a society. I believe that cities like Bellingham are currently in such a transformative moment. They are places that are rapidly growing and quickly having to adapt to new questions, concerns and goals. They are domains hungry for ideas, encouraging of small business, and always looking for people to come back home. I have always planned on retiring here, as so many seem to do, but wouldn't it be better to retire in a place you helped shaped with a culture you helped create?
In the next few years, Bellingham will find itself at a crossroads where it can take the path offered by the current metropolises of our day, or it can attempt to create its own identity, unique from anything currently on display. It can become the next Los Angeles or New York, large cities with feuding factions and gross disparities. Or it can maintain its charm, celebrate its history and keep in the spirit of serenity afforded to us by our lucky geography. Put another way, we have a chance to keep Bellingham as the place we have grown up and love, and away from the pitfalls that have befallen cities past.
Back in high school, several of my friends would talk about how great it would be to leave town and start anew. I went down that path and found success. From working on congressional and presidential campaigns to starting my own consulting business, I feel that I have been fortunate to explore what I so fervently talked about in school.
However, it's not in the big city where one can find the greatest opportunity to shape one's own destiny, but rather in those "small towns" from which we hail. Our city is changing and having a part in this moment is more exciting than being a spectator elsewhere. That's why I plan on coming back; this is why it's worth returning - because we have a real chance to build a city that will forever maintain the values of the place we know and love, while growing at a pace that opens up opportunity and innovation.
I invite those reading to celebrate the fact that we are at a turning point in our own history. And those thinking of going elsewhere, I welcome you to reconsider the opportunity at hand. This is a chance that is unique to Bellingham and it calls for all of us to work toward creating our own "city upon a hill" and have it reflect what we all, as a community, and as individuals, most want out of our experience here.
ABOUT WINDOW ON MY WORLD
Window On My World is an occasional essay in Monday's Bellingham Herald that allows Whatcom County residents to share their passion for what they do, an idea or cause they support. Send your Window On My World, which must be no more than 700 words, to Julie.shirley@bellinghamherald.com.
