Pierre, or: A Cautionary Tale

Let’s get it over with, shall we?

Be it known that, on this eighteenth day of February in the year 2018 I, Julia Jackson McCready of Village Green/Town² am running my annual “Why You Should Care About CA Elections” Post.

I do it every year.

And most of you don’t care.

You have your reasons. You don’t have time, it seems irrelevant, you’ve been rebuffed by members of your local village board or your CA Rep. You’ve been turned off by long, crushingly boring meetings.

You don’t care.

Let me introduce you to Pierre, whose tale is told by Maurice Sendak. There’s a read-aloud with illustrations, or, if you prefer, a musical setting.


Pierre doesn’t care.

He doesn’t care, and he doesn’t care, and he doesn’t care until life pretty much passes him by and he is left to contend with a hungry lion. Having practiced nothing in his short life but not caring, Pierre has no useful skills with which to navigate this situation.

Friends, don’t be Pierre. If you live in Columbia and allow community involvement to pass you by then the day will come when you are confronted with your very own hungry lion and you, too, will have no useful skills.

Small decisions and big decisions are made every day in Columbia. They have an impact on how we live today and in the future. If we don’t get involved then it will be the hungriest lions who make those choices for us. And they are perfectly satisfied with a Columbia where you don’t care, because it consolidates their control of the outcomes. If you know anything at all about James Rouse and the mission of Columbia, you probably know that was never the goal for how our community should be run.

Contact your Village manager to learn more about serving on your Village Board. Follow this link to learn more about serving on the CA Board of Directors. (CA Rep)

Pierre had to cool his heels in belly of a lion before he came to the conclusion that he cared. What will it take for you?