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A VIEW FROM THE COUNCIL TABLE

The Wimberley Paradox

Radical acceptance is an idea popularized by famous American psychologist Carl Rogers, someone I follow closely as a counselor. He said, “The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change.” Acceptance, which is different than approval, is a necessary condition for lasting, positive change. Only when you see reality - and accept reality - can you accurately change it.

But there’s the rub, as they say. Seeing and accepting reality requires acknowledging that your own bias and ego may blind you to the facts as they are, and may cause you to see them as you would have them be, or perceive them to be in ways that best fit your personal narrative. When you use facts to illuminate your way forward, weighing both pro and con equally in context, then reality can be like a streetlight showing you the way. When you allow your biases and ego to filter your perception of facts, ignoring the con in favor of the pro, then you are using them like a drunk uses the light post – for support, not for illumination. Which means you are still stumbling around in the dark.

For too long, we in Wimberley have stumbled around in the dark. We do not see ourselves as we are, or the reality of what lies ahead. Hays County is one of the fastest growing areas in the nation. The Texas Demographic Center projects a population of 743, 171 by the year 2050. That is a difference of 517, 656 – more than a half a million people - from our current 2019-projected population of 225,515. We are in the midst of rapid change and are already feeling its effect.

Appraised land valuations more than doubled in our area last year due to the expanding shock wave of demand for property. Electro Purification seeks to steal the water out of our wells to provide it to residents of Buda and Niederwald. Transnational and national corporations will continue to come here to profit off -- even incentivize – growing development, endangering our momand-pop economy and our small-town atmosphere. Some long time Wimberley property owners seek to cash in on their family land, develop it as densely as possible and move on to their next venture. These are examples of the negative impacts of growth. There will be many more.

We are scared of what this growth means to our natural resources, our beautiful green spaces, and our slow neighborly way of life. We are angry that it’s happening and that we feel powerless to stop it. Fear, and the anger that often cloaks this uncomfortable feeling, causes people to do things they might not do otherwise. People react rather than think. People push away the difference that comes with community, rather than lean in with curiosity. People use power over others rather than work together have more power. People try to control others rather than lead them.

As a public servant in this space, I have observed the dehumanization of my neighbors because of their beliefs. In most circumstances, these acts of incivility involve an element of self-righteous anger and a narrative of conspiracy – even war, making enemies of our neighbors. Justification for this treatment is nearly always ones love for this community and one’s desire to preserve it.

In order for us to move past our current disfunction, the reality we must accept is that we cannot stop this growth. We must accept that our world is going to change rapidly in the next decade – much less the next three. This is inevitable, but we can shape the way it changes our community.

By working together, we can use our local government as a tool to protect what we hold most dear, to defend the Magic of Wimberley. But that means acknowledging that our biases and egos are preventing us from seeing things as they are. We must acknowledge that the way we act toward each other in general and specifically on council – the way we self-righteously seek to destroy each other and impose gridlock and heavy-handed policy to crush our opposition – adds to the dangers we face from growth.

Wimberley’s paradox might be that in our attempt to control one another, we are missing a chance to control how growth shapes our community long-term. In our attempt to stop change, we are changing in ways counter to the Wimberley Way. We must agree to weigh the pros and cons of the reality we face in full context with compassion for our neighbors in order to use that reality to illuminate our way forward together.

Wimberley View

P.O. Box 49
Wimberley, TX 78676
Phone: 512-847-2202
Fax: 512-847-9054

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