There are phrases which can say a lot about a community:

“That’s how we’ve always done it.”

“We’re getting by.”

And the saying which can perhaps keep a community from growing and thriving: It’s “good enough.” 

This phrase can come in various forms but usually refers to when the speaker was younger or when their parents were around. It was “good enough” for me when I was a kid. Why isn’t it good enough for today’s kids?

The phrase has been applied lately to several situations. 

The pool was good enough for me when I was a kid. Why isn’t it good enough for today’s kids? 

The schools were just fine for me when they were built in 1967. Why do we need new ones?

Why do kids need all this technology? Pen and paper was good enough for me. 

Whether we like it or not, times change. 

We must be willing to both change and adapt. We must look down the road and plan ahead. We must consider what is needed to meet today’s ever changing world.

This doesn’t mean everything we’ve done in the past is wrong or shouldn’t continue. But we must acknowledge where change is needed, where growth needs to happen and where we need to adapt to our evolving society. 

Life is not stagnant. Communities are never the same, even day to day. Every day, we make decisions which affect not only ourselves but those around us. 

We choose whether to pick up that piece of trash on the sidewalk or leave it for someone else to step over. We choose whether to run for public office or let someone else make those decisions. We choose whether to shop locally or spend those dollars out of town.

Those decisions add up and determine whether we are just “good enough” or making our community the best it can be for generations to come.

McCook and southwest Nebraska is not the same as it was five years ago, 10 years ago, 100 years ago. And thank goodness. 

When it came time to pave Main Street in McCook, do you think people were saying “these dirt roads are good enough?” Perhaps there were those nay-sayers, but could you imagine if Norris Avenue was still a dirt road down the center of town?

Many people have fond memories of the YMCA at its first location on Norris Avenue, but its current site offers so many more possibilities.

And can you picture Southwest Nebraska without Heritage Hills, the Kiplinger Arena or the surrounding lakes (even if they are lacking in water)? None of those things just happened. It was people who said what was available was not “good enough.” They wanted more. They wanted it better for themselves and for others. 

For too long, we have been saying what we have and what we are doing is “good enough” and it has caught up to us. McCook has a lot of projects - large projects - looming on the horizon because we have kicked the can down the road for too long. We have said we’ll get to it; we don’t need it; or what we have is “good enough.”

But eventually that mentality catches up and now we must pay the piper. We can no longer accept that way of thinking. 

“Good enough” is no longer good enough. If we want our community to be here 5, 10, 100 years from now, we must change our way of thinking. We must think long term. We must think positively. And we must think about what would make our children want to raise their children here because thanks to technology, people can live just about anywhere they want. 

Yes, housing is a problem and the McCook Economic Development Corp. is taking intentional steps to address the issue. “Now Hiring” signs can be found in the front window of most businesses. And while child care availability has improved, there is still plenty to be done. 

But if we want people -both young and old - to move to McCook and Southwest Nebraska, we need to no longer think that “good enough” is good enough. 

We can be better than that; we are better than that. We’ve proven it. It is why Big Give McCook has grown year after year. Because this is a generous community. It is why when there is a disaster like the grassfires earlier this year, people stepped up with donations and offers of help. 

It is time to no longer accept “good enough” as good enough. We have the opportunity to make our community even better by tackling these hard projects. Yes, these projects are not cheap nor easy but isn’t our community worth the investment? Aren’t our family and friends worth it? Isn’t our future worth more than “good enough?”