Good morning and happy Mother&8217;s Day to all. My own mother taught me volumes of wonderful life lessons &8212; they continue to this day.

But as I sat down to ponder some of the things she&8217;s taught me through the years, one of the most important &8212; and most fun &8212; is to have an imagination.

Mom taught kindergarten and managed day cares for years and years, so she knows more than her fair share of child-managing knowledge.

This morning, I started melding together today&8217;s holiday of Mother&8217;s Day with the imagination my own mother helped foster within hundreds of children.

Let&8217;s use our imagination for a bit. What would happen if the City of Natchez had a mother?

What kind of advice would she suggest?

Lots of it might just wind up being common sense kinds of things. You know, the kind of things one is supposed to learn in kindergarten.

Momma Natchez would probably warn the city to, &8220;Hold hands and stick together when you go out into the world.&8221;

Natchez was a city built on the backs of inequity, but times have changed and we need to embrace our differences &8212; from race to economics.

&8220;For Natchez to grow,&8221; Mom might say, &8220;it needs to become unified.&8221;

So what does that mean?

It means that each day everyone needs to keep working and pushing to get past the minor differences that separate us.

Natchez residents need one another. They need each other to survive.

Sure, Natchez has a select few people who are so incredibly wealthy that the economics of Natchez don&8217;t really affect them much.

Beyond that, most folks want and need the economy to be booming. They want the stores filled and the sidewalks bustling.

And Momma Natchez thinks we&8217;re making progress. Several years ago, Natchez-Adams County had one of the most convoluted economic development authority boards around. The group had a massive number of members &8212; too many to ever consistently agree on a direction or get much accomplished.

Part of the reason the group was fashioned that way was to help protect all of the little factions involved in its creation &8212; and funding.

Through time, the city and county took to heart other lessons learned at Momma&8217;s knee including &8220;Share everything&8221; and &8220;Play fair.&8221;

Today, the economic development organization has become much more streamlined and seemingly effective with Rentech still planning a coal gasification plant in the area.

Speaking of economic development, often lots of people think of that in terms of bringing in an outside company such as Rentech. But in addition, economic development can happen with existing businesses and residents, too.

The key there is combining two more of Mom&8217;s lessons: &8220;Put things back where you found them&8221; and &8220;Clean up your own mess.&8221;

The &8220;put things back&8221; is fairly obvious. Natchez needs to preserve its history. Next to our amazing people, it&8217;s one of the best things the city has going for it.

And for the most part the agencies in place to handle that in the historic portions of the city do a good job in policing that and still allowing for some growth and change.

Yet, apparently, the city is still having &8220;issues&8221; (Mom also taught me to be careful in what words I use) within the city&8217;s planning department.

City leaders need to stand up and take some responsibility and clean up any messes that may have been created there. It&8217;s not a matter of blaming one another. Mom wouldn&8217;t approve of that either. The point is to get things &8212; projects, communication, etc. &8212; flowing well again.

Just as Mom said Natchez can do anything. &8220;You&8217;ve just got to make your mind up and do it.&8221;

Don&8217;t you just love mothers?

Happy Mother&8217;s Day!

Kevin Cooper

is associate publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or

kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com

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