In either case, it made me reflect on the things we learn at school and how they contrast with the essential skills we need for life.

The world is an ever-changing place, but school curriculums are adapting slowly to these changes. Teachers expect parents to teach kids morals and life skills, but parents often find it difficult to get their offspring to listen to and accept the lessons. In the end, it doesn’t matter how we learn these skills, but that we learn them. To that end, I made a list of classes I wish I could have taken in school:

Learning 101: Does anybody remember the saying “Because I know what I don’t know, I’m smarter than the ones who know?” In today’s world, it’s more important to learn how to learn rather than simply teach knowledge. Knowledge can become outdated rapidly as science, technology, social behaviors and culture change. The need to learn and re-learn — the ability to adapt to an ever-changing environment — is just as important as purely remembering facts.

Thinking 101: Simply put, the ability to properly think cannot be overstated. It includes the ability to disseminate the proper information and learn how to ask questions, because if we know how to ask the right questions, we have a better chance of arriving at the right conclusions. Unfortunately, not enough emphasis is put on teaching proper logic, sequences of events and the other skills that allow not just high-IQ individuals but “the rest of us” to think through a situation by applying a systematic approach.

Finding the Truth 101: In today’s world, where we are literally inundated with information and even more misinformation, would it not be useful to learn how to cut through the noise to get to the essence; to learn how to spot and check for misinformation; to learn how to research and test for the truth?

Right and Wrong 101: Even if we master all these skills, we need to know how to distinguish right from wrong. Obviously, this is the core skill, one that has to do with moral values and the ability to judge with certitude even when the evidence is conflicting. Is it the parents’ responsibility to teach this? Sure. Can religion help? Yes. But schools emphasize it more? Possibly. It’s true that teachers and principals do this a great deal, but I wonder if an actual class on the subject could be developed.

Creativity 101: Can creativity be learned? Absolutely. This is a much-overlooked skill that is becoming more and more valuable. Creativity is not just something that is expressed in words, paintings or music. Creative solutions are becoming the norm in other areas, such as business and science. In this context, creativity refers to the ability to create rather than repeat. Sometimes it is referred to the ability to “think outside the box” — in other words, don’t be afraid to find your own answer, to go where nobody has gone before, to be judged, to be wrong.

Life Skills 101: It amazes me how much today’s young people know, but how little they can do. Today’s children are not afraid to tackle complex academic subjects, excel in arts and athletics and organize events etc, but they often fail when it comes to practical matters in which simple common sense or basic life and survival skills would come in handy. I’m talking about money management, household organization, planning ahead, making checklists, fixing things, why checking your smartphone every five minutes doesn’t necessarily make you smart. You get the picture.

Connectivity 101: It has become fashionable to talk about the interconnected world, yet we often fail to teach the basic connectivity between fields of knowledge and life skills, such as how understanding science makes you a better writer, how learning good English enhances your chances of succeeding, how proper manners will pay dividends, why math is essential even if you are not planning to become an engineer, why learning to draw has nothing to do with becoming a painter and how the concept of chemistry will be useful when tackling a painting project.

I have to go. I need time to learn new things.

A smell of blood, diesel fumes and sea salt was in the air. After what seemed an eternity at sea in the eyes of a 10-year-old boy, we pulled back to the harbor with two dozen bonito on board our lightweight sport fishing vessel. Bonitos are in the same family as tuna, but smaller. It was the summer of 1966. We proudly showed off our catch in the small village on the Italian Riviera, and because it was more fish than one family could eat, we gave away the rest, which was no easy feat since tuna, in the Mediterranean, was not regarded as a desirable seafood staple in those days.

Today, this would be a different story. Parallel with the rise in popularity of tuna, men have managed to overfish the oceans. That, combined with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico (one of only two spawning grounds for blue fin tuna), spells disaster. One of the few remaining wild food sources is about to be depleted. The end of tuna is in sight.

The catastrophe in the Gulf prompts me to write about “sustainability” this month. What once seemed a trendy word used by environmentalists, scientists and economists is rapidly becoming the way we all have to think and live; it is no longer a choice but an absolute must. For many species it is already too late, and that might include our own. My biology professor summed it up best by saying: “I’m not worried about nature; I’m worried about us.”

The many facets to the theme of sustainability (the capacity to endure) could fill a whole library. But I want to clarify that “sustainability” touches every aspect of our lives—not merely our interaction with the environment—and has far larger philosophical connotations than merely “going green.”

“And they were sure and certain, forever wrong, but always confident. They had no hesitation, they confessed no ignorance or error, and they knew no doubts.”

This is a quote from the novel “You Can’t Go Home Again,” written in 1940 by Thomas Wolfe, but it seems a fit description of the men in suits at BP oil. In the same decade this novel was written, a typical farmer would produce five calories of food for every one calorie of fossil fuel used; today, the average farmer produces one calorie of food using ten calories of fossil fuel. Now that is simply not sustainable!

We keep ignoring that the easy-to-reach oil reserves have been tapped and that future oil production will significantly increase the cost and the risks we take.

If the economic recovery seems as sluggish as the summer seems hot, we have to realize that much of our past economic growth was built on unsustainable deficit spending by both governments and households. That poses real long-term challenges, because the way we used to create “the perception of wealth” is simply no longer sustainable. It has now become so evident that we need to bring the U.S. household deficit under control that even politicians talk about it; part of the solution will have to include curbing military cost, which represents 23 percent of the total U.S. federal spending ($689 billion in 2009). Having nearly 300,000 active servicemen and women deployed in 152 states and territories around the globe is not only unnecessary, but simply unsustainable. To put it into perspective, the U.S. is single-handedly responsible for 50 percent of the world’s total military spending. Extreme Islamic ideology and the terrorists it produces continues to be a real threat to us and our allies, but the traditional weapon systems (like the F35) will do comparably little to protect us from this danger.

It seems that we have forgotten that we are one of the few countries that could be completely self-sustainable: We have enough natural resources, talent and factories to ignore the rest of the world, if we really wanted to. Yes, it would mean finding alternative and renewable energy sources, but eventually we will have to do that anyway.

It is unfortunate that we have not adapted any of the philosophical attitudes the Native Americans had: Take from the Earth only what you need. The times where we forge along by taking as much as we can, believing that man is stronger than nature, are coming to an end.

Before you fall into a depressive mood and start declaring that all is lost, consider it an opportunity. Making the Earth sustainable could very well be the next economic engine that will drive our economy into positive territory. After all, we have no other choice; and the faster we adopt this new attitude, the greater the chances are to become, once more, the Earth’s leading country and advocate. It is no coincidence that forward-looking companies and municipalities have started to hire chief sustainability officers… Onward!

E-mail your thoughts to Marc at mfrey@freymedia.com; or comment on his blog at www.hiltonheadmonthly.com/blogs.

Let’s agree that we live in a wonderful community and that many good things have been achieved in the last 20 years. Would it then not be best to assume that everything is fine and that we can continue to go down the same path as we have been?

In my opinion the answer is clearly no. We have to come to accept that our local economy and our home values are not as strong as they should be.

We missed many opportunities in the past to take actions that could have positively impacted the community’s standing.

Here are a few examples:

• Why could we not have come to the same conclusions about how to get the airport extension done five or seven years ago? This would have made a big statement of who we are and where we intend to go, which in return would have prompted other investors to consider moving forward with their revitalization plans.
• Why did we let the Technical College of the Lowcountry move off-island? The town owns 17 acres right next to the ex-campus. This would have been an opportunity for a public-private partnership that would have given that part of town (the Park Plaza area) an anchor tenant and would have revitalized the whole area. Instead we are left with aging office building structures, struggling restaurants and a movie theater that is need of an upgrade. Along with keeping young people here and giving all of us easy access to learning experiences, we could also have given the American Culinary Institute a home. This would have sparked the need to upgrade the already existing affordable housing facilities and would have given our island a vibrant and economically-feasible core. How are we going to attract knowledge-based businesses to our island if all our learning institutes are off-island?
• On a much smaller scale, there have been efforts in place from engaged citizens to get the town to provide a public water access facility for fishing and crabbing that would also allow a youth-oriented rowing and sailing club to have a home. But for some reason or another after 10 years of discussions and promises, we have not achieved this simple goal despite the fact that the town already owns the land and all that”””””””””””””””’’s needed is a site cleanup, a dock and a permit.
• What happened to all the great thoughts that went into the “Bridge to the Beach” plans? Why did we miss the opportunity to become a model for an environmentally-sustainable town?

Hilton Head Island had the potential to become a city of the future, but while we were hesitating, our competitors made huge strives. Savannah, Charleston and Kiawah Island are all very different places; but the fact is that they have made more positive progress over the last 20 years than we have.

There is a popular saying here in town: “We do not want to be another Myrtle Beach.” To that I need to ask: When is the last time that you have been to Myrtle Beach? And if you have, did you notice that the old clichés attached to Myrtle Beach do not necessarily longer apply? While I agree that we want to be a very different resort destination, we need to take a look at some things they do better than we do: The citizens, business leaders, town and Chamber work much closer together and align their goals better. In return they have demonstrated that they can get things done. They understand that tourism is their main economic driver (just as it is for us) and invest accordingly. Their marketing budgets (measured on per bed basis) dwarf ours.

It is not too late to take the road that leads to a better future, but it is time that we get going.I’m not blaming town council; I’m blaming all of us. Unless we the citizens speak up and declare our will and understand that we are in need of change, nothing will happen. The solutions are not particularly complicated or costly, but they can only happen if we elect a town council that demonstrates that they understand what has been holding us back in the past.

Marc Frey
Pathfinder

E-mail your thoughts to Marc at mfrey@freymedia.com; or comment on his blog at www.hiltonheadmonthly.com/blogs.

It won’t surprise you that we concluded that the population shift to the Southeast will continue; life expectancy will increase significantly; geographic boundaries will blur; that everybody will be in the know; and that technological advances (such as bio-, nano-, genetics, robotics, Internet, renewable energy and sustainability) will be the big economic drivers of the future.

But what might be less obvious are some of the consequences and balancing points to the afore-mentioned trends. For example, our desire to constantly interact with the rest of the world will lead to a complete loss of privacy; the current retirement model will be replaced; local and regional economies might see a resurgence as a counterpoint to globalization; the desire for physical encounters and experiences will grow in order to balance the fact that people spend so much time in the digital world. We anticipate that conscious consumption will replace conspicuous consumption; that having time and having space are going to become scarce commodities; and that family and community values will become more important than they are today.

With this information as a backdrop, we created a wish list of attributes and qualities that we would like to see for the island.

From a business perspective, they included great educational choices; affordable housing; start-up business assistance; great transportation; and beneficial fees and tax structures, to name a few.

From a resident’s perspective the list contained great multi-use village centers; continuing educational opportunities; island-wide Internet access; great recreational facilities and programs; public transportation; cultural diversity; easy interaction with unspoiled natural habitat, and many more. From a visitor’s perspective, we wished for first-class resort experiences; interesting and unique things to do, see and learn that will allow multi-generational get- togethers; and several more detailed ideas.

Once we had a picture of the perfect place in our minds, we proceeded to talk about how to get there. Here’s where things became interesting:
Recognizing that HHI has a product crisis. Developers planned large communities like Sea Pines, Palmetto Dunes, Port Royal, Hilton Head Plantation and Indigo Run, but never planned for what holds them together — a town corridor. That as never truly been part of a master plan. In order to keep and increase our competitiveness, we need to do that.

Recognizing that HHI has an identity crisis. The island can’t decide if it wants to grow into “the best it can be” or if it wants to continue to stagnate and therefore, over time, deteriorate.

Recognizing that we have a communications challenge. Community leaders and the community at large need to recognize that they need to communicate and get together and agree on the urgent need for solutions.

Forward-looking leadership. The developers used to play that role, but since they left HHI hasn’t had forward-planning and visionary leadership.
A policy that starts with: “We want to be…” And everything else follows that and makes that happen.

Changing the restrictive building code while maintaining the nature- based look. New LMO needs to allow for mixed use, density transfers, flexibility on how to achieve an overall balance, and not be as restrictive in the details, etc.

Revitalization. Including village centers, activity centers, public parks, historic sites, water access, etc.

Going green. HHI has a chance to match its image with “truth” and become a leading sustainable community. This will enhance its image and attract like-minded people on all levels (visitors, entrepreneurs, workforce, retirees).

An HHI Learning Institute. Many interpretations of these theme were discussed, but they all centered around creating an intellectual experience both for visitors and residents alike.

Make Hilton Head Island a healthcare destination.
Create an interpretative nature center.
Create public private partnerships.

Many more suggestions were put forward, such as the future of the airport; clean public transportation; 5-star hotels; tax incentives; regional development plan, an urban planning institute, urban agriculture, etc.

Now it’s your turn to put your thinking hat on and send me your solutions. Your input is important and will be read and discussed by members of the Mayor’s Vision Task Force and the Town Council.

Please take a moment to send me your thoughts, ideas or concerns.
Thank you.

Marc Frey
mfrey@freymedia.com
Solution-Finder at work

* Jack Alderman, David Ames, Mark Baker, Terry Brubaker, Kevin Cerevati, Jim Chafin, Jim Coleman, Lee Edwards, Marc Frey, Elizabeth Lamkin, Ed Pickney, John Reed, Don Ryan, Kim Statler

But enough of the philosophical observations. What in reality should we expect?

First, the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) appears to be growing at an annual rate of 3 percent. That”’’s means we are adding jobs rather than losing jobs, but not enough to bring the national unemployment rate below the 9 percent mark anytime soon. The Dow Index is bound to surpass the 11,000 mark; still a ways to go from its highpoint of 14,000 in late 2007, but a remarkable rebound from the 7,000 level recorded just about a year ago.

The dollar is slightly stronger against other currencies, in part due to the rebounding U.S. economy, and in part due to the U.S. doing better than other nations”” economies in relative terms.

The trade deficit was much lower in 2009 due to the recession, but is now back to its usual levels. This still poses a long-term risk, since we continue to import more goods than we export. It is not likely to reverse itself until we achieve both energy independence and China import independence.

The U.S. budget deficit is — as should be expected — on the rise again due to the ongoing cost of the two wars and the economic bailout. This remains a long-term problem that will need some correction over time.

With that said,  “panic makers” are publishing charts which are showing an enormously growing budget deficit. The proper way is to look at household deficit as a percentage of overall GDP. Put in historic perspective, we are currently at around 40 percent of annual GDP. The high was during WWII, when we hit over 100 percent of GDP; and the low was between 1830 and 1860, and then again between 1910 and 1920, when it was less than 10 percent. In more recent history, 1970 to 1980 showed levels below 25 percent. But I digress. My personal assessment is that we are at the end of a two-year shaky, bad stretch and that the economy has started to grow again, and that (unforeseeable events excluded) the remainder of 2010 is showing signs of recovery. That”’’s likely to last through 2011.

There is a lot of economic data which I have not included in this brief summary, and common-sense observations that make me believe that we are on the road to recovery. Keep in mind that economic prediction is an art and not a science, but my senses finally say again, “Onwards!” and “Full steam ahead!” There is new territory to be conquered and the timids will be left behind.

What we are getting instead is bipartisan bickering, a media frenzy that feeds on negative energy that in turn divides the nation. As a result, the majority of our leaders and the general public lose their way, their sanity and their dignity by focusing on single issues without putting them into perspective. We get into heated debates on who is right or who is wrong, and by doing so, we forget the real issues that desperately need to be addressed and which deserve well thought-out solutions that are not full of political and economic compromises.

What bothers me about the health care bill is not the fact that we have it, but the way we got it.

The lack of perspective
The big picture is that as a nation we are not healthy, and as a result more and more of our hard-earned money goes toward paying for health care. This in turn will make us less and less competitive as we compete with fitter nations ready to provide products and services at lesser cost because they spend less on being sick. A good way to pay for the bill would be to raise a tax on fast food, which is the main culprit in making us the most obese nation on earth. Before we complain about the cost, we need to compare it with other expenditures and, for example, realize that this bill’s price tag is about the same as what we have spent on the two current wars.

The unwillingness to find thorough answers I’m very disappointed that the current bill looks like a compromise between a beggar and a banker and really missed the opportunity to overhaul the system and make it more efficient (as in less expensive). 

How can I tell? You know that something is not right when the monopolistic health insurance companies are favoring a bill. We missed the opportunity to curb the ability to sue for malpractice; the much- needed tort reform got scrapped. These are just two points that deserved closer scrutiny. I’m sure that there are many more.

I feel it is our moral duty to provide health care access to everyone (indirectly we are already doing that and paying for it), but I don’t like the fact that we added more government spending before putting our financial house in order. I don’t like that we added a bill that is not balanced because it did nothing to make the system less expensive and more efficient. And I don’t like the way we pay for it.

(An example: Entrepreneurs that are providing health care and are taking risks to add new employees will likely be faced with higher insurance premiums).

As long as everything is being done for political partisan gain, as long as we are buying off interest groups or at times whole industries by making compromises and all along lose our civility, how can we remain the greatest nation on earth? Our leadership structure and our political system need to change if we want to stay alive and competitive in a fast changing and challenging world. Without our ability to use the intellectual potential our nation has, we will not be able to turn the challenges into great opportunities and grow to the next level.

Let’s move on and do better the next time!

Blog with Marc Frey at hiltonheadmonthly.com/blogs or e-mail him at mfrey@freymedia.com

• Creating the 605-acre Sea Pines Forest Preserve;
• Recognizing that natural beauty is a major asset;
• And creating a building code that ensures that man-made structures blend into the existing natural surroundings.

The Sea Pines Forest Preserve represents about 12 percent of the 5,000 acres that make up the Sea Pines community. It isn’t just a piece of wild land, but a place where trails and open spaces are mixed into the various habitats consisting of woods, swamps, former rice fields and lakes, making it possible for humans to interact with and observe nature from various angles. It is still a model of what a recreational space in the Lowcountry should be.

Recognizing that the natural beauty is a major asset sounds obvious. But after having traveled the entire seashore from Newport to Miami, I can attest that Hilton Head Island is one of the few places where this motto has been implemented as carefully and as disciplined as it has been here, especially considering the size of the island and the commercial value that has been established on it. (There remains, however, considerable room for improvement, but that’s a topic for another article). Selling the natural beauty is part of every tourist-related advertising campaign and part of every Realtor’s repertoire. It has become embedded in the way we speak and think about living on Hilton Head Island.

The building code — and the core values that stand behind it — is at the center of what distinguishes us from other towns. It’s what attracted us to this resort destination as visitors, and was consciously or unconsciously one of the reasons why we chose to live here.

Over time there have been numerous violations and dilutions of the spirit behind the building code. While Wexford Plantation is a wonderfully planned private community, it stands in stark contrast to the original thinking. Man-made structures were not supposed to be a representation of who we are; they were not supposed to be used to impress the neighbors; gardens were not to look planned and artificial. The real weakness of Hilton Head Island, however, is not what lies behind the gates, but what connects the many distinct neighborhoods. These mostly commercial zones do not form a cohesive and pretty picture. We need an overall plan for the entire town. That will certainly become a central discussion point as we 
recognize the need to rejuvenate our 
infrastructure and make the most of the existing assets and the remaining density units.

As much as Hilton Head Island was green before being green became fashionable, we have not continued to be on the forefront of what would have been the consequent and logical implementation of the term “living in harmony with our natural surroundings.” In fact, we are now way behind the curve when measured against the term “sustainability.”

There is stark evidence that Hilton Head Island cannot be considered an environmentally-
friendly community. For instance:

• We are not conserving water as a precious commodity that will become scarce before too long.
• We have not established a green building code to conserve energy.
• There is no island-wide recycling plan.
• We buy frozen shrimp that has not been caught locally.
• The blow and mow of gardening is taking place.
• Not all of our golf facilities follow the Audubon Society standards for environmentally-safe practices (the ones that do follow that code include Palmetto Hall, and the Ocean Course, Harbour Town and Heron Point courses at Sea Pines).

We have only paid lip services to what makes us unique and intriguing in the first place. That is a real shame, and it is time that we reverse the course. Being green does not end with agreeing not to build any structures that are higher than the tree line. Being green today has to come from the inside out; it is a way of thinking about our environment and respecting nature. Being green is morally the right thing to do. Being green will create a wave of new wealth for our country (think about being energy independent from imported oil). But more to point, being green is one of the determining factors if our island will once again be considered a first-rate place to visit, live and retire. That in return will greatly influence our quality of life and our home values. As an added bonus our grandkids will thank us for leaving this unique place in a better state than when we came here!

Onwards!

Marc Frey, CEO of Frey Media, serves on the Mayor’s Vision Task Force. Share your thoughts with Marc by e-mailing mfrey@freymedia.com or blog with him at hiltonheadmonthly.com/blogs.

I remember when I was 15-years-old, I came across a sentence written by German philosopher and poet Friedrich Schiller that read, “Happiness is to love and to be loved.” This sentence stood out among an ocean of words and immediately stuck with me. For a few months I examined it’s meaning and tried to find a better definition of happiness, but I couldn’t. Hence I made it my “credo.”

Many decades later this simple definition of happiness has served me well and still stands strong like a 100-year-old oak tree that has stood the test of time. Over the years the interpretation of “to love” has evolved from the youth-driven romantic love between the sexes to a broader scope that includes the love one develops for family, friends, pets, nature, a hobby, work, a place and a community. As one gains experience, one also learns the joy of loving (giving) without an immediate expectation of being loved back (receiving).

Most of Schiller’s famous works were written in the last two decades before the 17th century ended, long before the Industrial Revolution and the more recent communication revolution that has changed society forever. The Industrial Revolution brought material things into our lives, but there are two major flaws in our obsession with owning “things.” First, they seldom give back happiness. Second, they take away time from our ability to love and to be loved, and therefore are in direct competition with our desire to find happiness in our lives.

The communication revolution has made us all interconnected. And while the advantages are many — including my ability to quickly research Schiller on the Internet without leaving my chair — it also carries great dangers. There is the obvious loss of privacy. But more pertinent is that the ability to be superficially connected to many people can give us the false feeling of being loved, while in truth we might become lonelier. Compare the elaborate deep thoughts that Schiller and Goethe exchanged with each other via long handwritten letters to our habit of hammering down a few words on a keyboard and hitting “send.”

How credible is a text message claiming, “I love you” that took 3 seconds to compose, compared to a handwritten note personally delivered? Sometimes it’s not just about the words, but the amount of effort that went into it, the originality of the thought, the style, the form and the intensity.

Do Hallmark cards turn you on or would you rather receive a handwritten note? Obviously a handwritten note takes more effort, which leads to my next gripe about technology. I often wonder if our ability to “instant that” and “instant this” gets in the way of original thought. If we can’t hide behind preprinted cards, behind superficial news, behind the common wisdom shared via blogs, if there was no easy way out, we would have to stop, think and create.

Of course it isn’t technology that’s the culprit. It’s the way it has caused superficiality. As an illustration of my point, one of my favorite sayings is: “We are over-newsed, but under-informed” (of course the word “over-newsed” hasn’t made it to the dictionary yet, but it should).

There are a few things we could do as a society to counter-balance the influence of technology. As a starter, schools should put more emphasis on teaching our children to think properly and less emphasis on acquiring knowledge. We should encourage more research on what effect technology has on society. And finally, it is in our own power to limit the amount of time we are spending with technology. This is not that difficult to do if you start with the premise that every minute one uses to receive or send superficial data amounts to much ado about nothing and is in direct competition with the ability to love and be loved.

After all do you want to twitter your life away or would you rather find time to do and experience things that really matter?

With my love…
Marc Frey

To that end, the town has updated the comprehensive 10-year plan and the mayor has appointed a task force to formulate a vision and road map to address the question of how we can improve the quality of life for all citizens, how we can make the visitors’ experience more rewarding and how we can secure the economic viability of our community.

The task force is comprised of a good cross section of community leaders; this should ensure a balanced and thoughtful outcome that will be delivered six months from now. No process is perfect, but the willingness to ask the question is a good start. The idea of taking a group of volunteers that have the ability to think independently is an efficient way to go about this, and the town’s willingness to partner with private citizens needs to be applauded.

I can’t speak for the group, but for my part I can assure you that I will not take this task lightly and that I will do my best to look beyond the obvious or the shortsighted. There are many elements that need to be considered and condensing it down to a set of practical strategies is not as easy as it might look. On the other hand, it is a great opportunity for all of us to have a voice in what our community might look and feel like in the future.

The plaque shown above is in Compass Rose Park
on Pope Avenue. The plaque at left is in front of
Carolina First on Pope Avenue.

The ball is rolling and here is YOUR chance to speak up:
Write to mfrey@freymedia.com; as always your correspondence will not be published unless you wish to have it published. Small thoughts, big thoughts, ideas, wishes, solutions and/or your ability to make a contribution to the process are all welcome. Be as specific as possible.

Onwards!

Before we look forward, we must look back.
Before formulating a new vision we must capture the essence of what defines us.

What is the intangible essence of our island?

Maybe it helps to understand that its material existence relies on the force of nature itself. The land where we build our homes and businesses was under sea level for millions of years. In contrast, 15,000 years ago the sea level was 400 feet lower than it is today, and our land was miles from the ocean.

Maybe it helps to understand that it is young. Only about 4,000 years ago the sea level rose to its present level, and the “modern” development of the island only goes back a little over 50 years.

Maybe it helps to understand that tides dictate the rhythm of natural life, just like the tides of tourists fill and empty our streets with life.

Maybe it helps to understand that others have been here before us — Paleo-Indians, European explorers, plantation owners, union troops, Gullah native islanders — and that we might be well served to behave like temporary stewards of this land. Maybe it helps to explore what attracted us to the island in the first place.

Was it the promise of getting away from it all? Was it the promise to spend time in a simpler place where one could relax and reconnect with ourselves? Was it the discovery that there is a place where nature was still intact? Was it our sense of wonder stimulated by the beauty of the exotic vegetation?  Did the ability to observe wildlife cater to our need for exploration? Was it the experience that “quiet” can be a wonderful, fulfilling state of mind? Was it our sense of survival signaling to us that this is a safe place? Was it our encounter with other islanders that made us feel welcome?

We might talk to our friends about the miles of beaches, the sunsets over the bay or the lush golf courses, but maybe the real reasons that attracted us here are not rational after all. It may be our subconscious telling us that this is a place where man and nature live in harmony, a place where a different type of planning and foresight made this island feel purposeful and unlike any other place on earth.

No vision will ever be perfect, no plan will ever be complete. A core set of values will guide us in making the right decisions as we embark on defining and building the next chapter of history of Hilton Head Island. Here is a first attempt to put words on paper:

• Let us respect that nature was here before us and that man should live in harmony with his surroundings.
• Let us recognize what makes this a unique place and community and continue to foster these qualities relentlessly by working together for the greater good of all.
• Let us agree that without a vision and a road map we will not be able to optimize our natural and man-made assets.
• Let us embrace the diversity of our ecosystems and the cultural diversity of our residents.
• Let us recognize that often less is more, but that sometimes more might offer a better solution.
• Let us strive for an abundant and balanced place where visitors and residents can fulfill their pursuit of happiness with ease.
• Let us be a model for other communities to follow, not just in the way we plan, but also in the way we live together.

Maybe it helps to understand that our island is no longer what it was, and that what it will be has yet to be defined. This creates both a need and presents an enormous opportunity.

Onwards!