If you missed the Our Humboldt community forum on Sept. 12, you've got another shot, because the next one is set for 6:30 p.m., Nov. 13 at the Humboldt Uniplex.
Sure, you may have been sick with the flu, busy babysitting rug rats, brushing out your Persian cat or just, frankly, not having any interest in attending, but you missed out.
Big time.
Over 140 local residents, from all walks of life, showed up to the Uniplex that night to debate, vote, talk and pinpoint areas of concern in the city and areas of pride.
As I've said before, it was democracy at its best and inspiring to see that people really do care about their own community and where it's heading.
The sad part is that there are many people who didn't show up because they felt their input won't make a difference.
There's many, many people out there who refrain from going to vote or attending community forums, from writing letters to city council or completing public surveys because they feel their voice will be drowned out by the political honchos anyways.
It's not true, in this case. Your input really does matter; the City of Humboldt wouldn't spend a chunk of their budget on hiring companies like Sagehill Community Futures or the Canadian Urban Institute to analyze our city, to interview our residents, to organize these public forums, if they were going to dismiss our opinion regardless.
You don't have to be political to have an opinion, a belief, a say in the matter.
"I'm just not really into politics," some will say.
You don't have to be.
"There's just not a lot going on in the city I really care about," another will say.
Yes, there is.
There's always something going on in the city that perturbs you or, on the flip side, makes you happy.
Some will declare their disinterest toward city planning but just see how indifferent they are when they're driving along shoddy roads in Humboldt and spill coffee all over their lap. Or are late getting to work because of the train that runs directly through the city, causing traffic to be backed up all along Main Street for 20 minutes.
You can affect that.
A city, a community, is only as powerful as its people.
Mayor Malcolm Eaton and city council aren't undertaking all these planning initiatives for their future, but our future.
We're all residents of Humboldt and want to see some changes made.
"This forum is going to point us in the right direction," Eaton said.
"We're going to figure out what our important values are and how do we move forward, how do we go about getting everything started."
Eaton promises this upcoming forum will be just as interactive as its predecessor, with lots of roundtable discussion topics and community engagement.
"Everyone should be at this," he said.
The forum, like the first one, is free to attend and open to everyone.
In other words, if you live in Humboldt or the surrounding area, you should go.
Not to sound like a grade-schooler but be there or be square.
