Last week, I introduced the book that Leadership Dallas County read for our group reading.

David Mathews’ book “For Communities to Work” spoke to all of us in how to approach the issues that Selma and Dallas County face.

Mathews wrote in the first chapter, The Challenges of Change, that we have all wondered why some communities are effective at making changes while others fail to meet their goals of effective changes.

Mathews writes that there is no definitive explanation on why this happens, but educated guesses can be made.

Mathews stresses the importance of communities that come together.

“Communities that have come together and acted through a revitalized public to gain control over their futures have usually made fundamental changes in their politics,” he wrote. “They haven’t just solved problems; they have changed themselves by changing the way they go about their collective business.”

Mathews talks about political will and adds that long lasting, fundamental and systemic change requires a great deal of will.

He considers working together as a quiet commitment needed to change a community.

“Deeply rooted, it has staying power and is not superficial enthusiasm,” he wrote.

I think that is something we can agree on that those that want the city to be better is a legitimate enthusiasm and love for the community.

What is political will?

Mathews defines political will as a conventional thought of a massive outpouring of civic duty born of an “enlightened commitment to the common good. A more realistic assessment suggests that it grows out of joining self-interests rather than replacing them with a unitary, general will.”

Do we have the coming together of self-interests in our community?

“Communities must become committed to changing before fundamental improvements can begin,” Mathew wrote. “Developing a shared sense of responsibility for what happens to the community seems critical.”

Davis Merritt Jr. the editor for Wichita Eagle once wrote, “The only way … for [our] community to be a better place to live is for the people of the community to understand and accept their personal responsibility for what happens.”

We all have a responsibility in this community, and those that think they don’t are fooling themselves.

We each need a sense of ownership when it comes to the community that we live in.

We live here.

Why wouldn’t we want this place to be the best it can be?

We must be engaged citizens.