Our beloved Nosara is growing. Fast. Faster than any of us probably really want, and I, as a real estater, am on the front lines of this growth. Benefitting, Yes. But also concerned. Scared for Nosara and her new found fame and what that might bring into our relationship. Nervous that she may be wooed away from her roots, and start believing all the hype. Terrified that the money and recognition will go to her head and she will stray from the solid foundation that has gotten us this far.
We all want Nosara to stay as she was when we first discovered and fell in love with her. This is the same with any love affair. In the beginning it’s all hot and heavy and lusty. Every minute apart feels like an eternity and all you want to do is get back to her.
If you have been in Nosara for any amount of time in the last 10 years, you have seen her changes. Usually they creep up on us slowly, little by little, until one day you realize that your beloved has gone and made a decision without you. And right then and there, whether you are aware of it or not, you have just made a decision regarding your relationship with her. You have decided that you are either going to continue to tolerate her non-communicative ass, or that you are packing your bags and moving on in search of new love.
Nosara is being pushed and pulled and lured in any infinite number of directions by any number of different people all day every day. With the amount of international media coverage that our Girl, the lovely Ms. Nosara, has received over the last year, the barbarians are at the gate! They are desperate to get in. To participate in our jungle fever love experiment. To surf and make money. To escape whatever it is they don’t like from wherever it is that they are from. To breed and raise their spawn on the beach and stake their claim. And they, like the rest of us bring their own vision and opinions of who Nosara should be.
So, the question is, who decides? Who really has the power to affect change in our community? Who is at the controls of our lifestyle spacecraft? The answer, of course, is YOU. Or, US, as it may be.
Scary? Yes.
Don’t worry, that little quiver in your bowels, that slight tightening of your sphincter that you feel is natural. That is the pressure of personal responsibility. Of being forced to accept that you are in control of you and your communities’ future. That, now, with your eyes opened, you can never un-see the truth of our predicament.
This, I would argue, is what draws many of us here. A need, a yearning, to get back to a certain level of freedom and control in our lives. An inherent drive in all of us to take some risk in order to live and feel alive. The same yearning that drove Americans West, drives us to the Jungle.
I guess, this post is really a call to arms. A blaring trumpet across the field of our community rallying locals and visitors alike to participate! All of us are busy basking in the bounty of the apparent economic recovery, but the winds of change are upon us. We all bare the scars of the 2008 economic upheavel, but no longer can we afford to assume that someone (see; Bobbi Johnson) will fight the good fight. My generation of Nosaranians, WE must get involved in our community on a deeper level, if we are going to reserve the right to bitch about what she has become in the future.
The NCA, the local water board, the security council, the Nosara Development Association, SIBU monkey sanctuary, The Bomberos, etc etc etc,. There is no shortage of groups and associations that are working to affect change. Groups that are pushing their agenda and engaging in the local dialogue. Managed and run by small groups of caring individuals, they are, across the board, overworked and understaffed and they need your help. It does not matter that we will never all agree on everything. What is important is that we individually engage on the issues that we feel passionate about. A community full of actively engaged citizens is inherently healthier than a town mired in apathy and behind the scenes sniping.
Our princess, our love, Nosara, needs you. She needs you to engage, beyond your our own selfish needs and desires. She is craving some communication and feedback. She needs you to give back and help guide her through these tumultuous years ahead. She is on the precipice of stardom, the tipping point has arrived, and We, Us, You, have the power to decide what road she follows.
Will she follow in the tracks of the vacuous empty socialites, who are so popular these days on the Facebook and the Instagram? All shiny baubles and empty accessories. A flash in the pan that was fun while it lasted?
Or will she grow up strong on the foundation that we built for her? A foundation that will allow her to stand up in the face of her own new found fame with grace and honesty and bring forth a message of cooperation, community and communication?
Only time will tell…
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