Breckenridge Texan

Seymore asks community to join together to make Breckenridge better

Seymore asks community to join together to make Breckenridge better
July 28
12:03 2018

The theme of this year’s Chamber of Commerce membership luncheon was “Growing Our Community,” and guest speaker Tim Seymore addressed that topic through a concept he believes can have a big impact on Breckenridge.

Seymore, superintendent of Breckenridge Independent School District, gave a copy of the book “Together is Better” to everyone who attended the luncheon on Thursday. He explained that earlier in the year he had given copies of the book to every employee in BISD but that he had come to the realization that the ideas inspired by the book seem bigger than just the school district.

“School and community go hand-in-hand,” Seymore said. “At the school, we’re really talking about what do we believe in that we all have in common as a school community, and now we can talk about, as the community of Breckenridge, what do we have in common that we can come together and say we believe in.”

He went on to explain another item he had put on the luncheon tables for each attendee, a printout of something his daughter, Shelby, had sent him in a text message. It was a page from her journal, describing her experience in Inverness, Scotland.

“Everything here is beautiful,” she had written. “But, it’s a different kind of beauty. It’s beauty by choice. It’s the refusal to do the bare minimum. It’s the choice to always go the extra mile, to dress oneself elegantly, to treat others exceptionally well, to only create things that are beautiful as well as functional, to create beautiful meals and events for loved ones, to build a beautiful home and an even more beautiful life. What a gorgeous lesson is to be learned from this place. It is something no book or teacher can properly explain.”

Seymore said he called his daughter in Scotland and talked to her about what she had sent him. She told him she wanted to move there. “‘I want to move there, too, but I can’t,’” Seymore said he replied. “But, I want to live there. So, I made the choice right then…I’m going to live there here. Wherever I am, I’m going to live in this place. And I’m asking you to be a part of that. I’m asking you as a member of this community, to help me create this place here in Breckenridge.

“I set out to make it my business to talk about this everywhere I go, to try to live it, to try to apply the things I do to it,” he continued. “This book is about these things.”

The book that Seymore gave to everyone at the luncheon, “Together is Better,” written by Simon Sinek and illustrated by Ethan M. Aldridge, features a children’s book-type storyline told in illustrations while the text offers advice for working together as a team and becoming a great leader. It even has a scented page infused with the “smell of optimism,” according to the author.

The pictures show the tale of a group of children who face a playground bully, leave and discover a better way of living and then take what they’ve learned back to the playground to improve their own world, converting the bully into a team player.

The text offers bits of advice, such as “We can start a revolution when we know what we stand against. To create change that lasts, we need to know what we stand for.” And, “Life is beautiful not because of the things we see or the things we do. Life is beautiful because of the people we meet.”

Seymore also talked about how many aspects in Breckenridge seem like they are a mess right now but that they are actually in the process of getting better. As an example, he mentioned the roads that are under construction.

“Everything’s a mess right now; thank goodness. Because things have to get messy before they get better. There are a lot of messes because things are getting better. We’re making things better,” he said. “I believe we’re currently in a place right now in Breckenridge where things can take a huge leap forward. I think if we start believing it and doing it, we’ll see that ‘together is better’ and Breckenridge will be better for it.”

 

Story by Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan

Cutline, top photo: Tim Seymore, guest speaker at the Breckenridge Chamber of Commerce membership luncheon on Thursday, spoke to the crowd about working together to make the community better. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

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