Catherine Mayorga

February – the month of hearts and flowers; of poems and promises; of love to hate and hate to love! It’s also the month of our statehood.

I write with the memory of falling in love.

Let me recall this: It was new and full of promise! There was so much territory to cover. We could write our own script. There were adjustments to be made: compatibility issues, trust issues, how much were we each willing to invest in this new relationship? Were there superficial issues to address? Looks? Size?  Intellect? Values? Baggage?

Over time we became too comfortable with the relationship. We took each other for granted. Wasn’t it always going to be there for us? Finally, chaos erupted. What I thought was a solid relationship is no longer.

Too many others came into the relationship. We took advantage of all that was offered to us. We did only what was good for ourselves. We didn’t take care of what we had. We used up all of its goodness.

So it is with our great state – Arizona.

When it became a state on Feb. 14, 1912, it was ours to take and make. So much territory to use, so many resources – cattle, copper, citrus, cotton and climate. 

We took advantage of the state, and now, what is left of this relationship? Is there any more space in this relationship? Can we recover from the mess we’ve made? We used up what was “brought to the table” – the five C’s!   

With the climate, we had oh so many people, and now we have too many empty houses.

We had to make room for the housing development, so we moved the cattle ranches.

The boon of the copper is over, and we have small “mining towns” drying up.

Citrus: Much like cattle, our growing population has moved into the land where we once had beautiful and plentiful citrus orchards!

In the name of economic development, we made more roads for travelers at the expense of losing the cotton fields, and we helped to diminish jobs!

We have a large deficit (among other problems) because we are focused on little pain for ourselves, not little pain for those who come after us. It’s not like we are all willing to overfund schools.

When we think back to the great days of our new romance with our great state, it was hopeful, it was young, it was fresh, and it was pure. It was rich, but, like a strong relationship, it requires maintenance to return to all that it is capable of giving. Now is the time to build the relationship, not just by bringing flowers but by taking it to the next level so that we might solve our state’s problems and let our state’s strengths shine through.

Relationships work because people reflect on their value, decide they’re worth saving, make sacrifices, re-prioritize and find solutions to the difficult problems because the problems aren’t as great as the promise. This Valentine’s Day, let’s commit to the future of our state in the same way we commit to the future of our loved ones; they’re both work and they’re both worth it.

Catherine Mayorga is Vice President of Public Affairs at the Tempe Chamber of Commerce.