Witnessing the continuum of progress

The sun sets over the Ottauquechee River in Woodstock, Vt. (Gareth Henderson Photo)

There’s a certain calming effect from observing nature and letting its great majesty happen before your eyes. Such was the experience I had Saturday afternoon, standing out on my deck and viewing the yard and trees beyond, as the sun warmed my face and shoulders. It had been days since I’d done that, and after a week of hard work at the desk, it was certainly the right time. 

So often, simpler experiences like that can have great impact — or at least usher our outlook on life into better channels, where goodness shines more brightly. That inspiration illuminates what’s most important. I took a moment just to let nature “be” around me, and it was a reminder of the value of quiet reflection. 

For part of those few minutes, I pondered what Vermont’s congressman, Peter Welch, told me at the Quechee Gorge Bridge funding announcement on Friday. “When we get focused on solving concrete problems that affect all of us, it’s a way to be united,” he said in our interview. Importantly, he thought there were multiple lawmakers, of both parties, who were also quietly working with their communities on infrastructure issues, but maybe not getting the major media spotlight for it.

With that being the case, there are multiple people — locally and nationally — trying to take productive steps forward on issues that impact many people. Today, with all the partisan rancor out of Washington, those efforts may seem a lot like small glimmers of sunlight, very slight rays of hope. 

However, progress must be built, block by block. Each stage of progress is meaningful and important to the whole picture — whether it occurs in Quechee, in Washington D.C. or on the West coast. From that standpoint, each effort to improve our local communities contributes to the overall goal: progress as a state, and a country. Every step forward offers inspiration to proceed to the next one, and we’re all together in this continuum of progress for a reason: to witness the good we can cultivate and create together.

— Gareth Henderson