non sibi sed aliis / not for ourselves, but for others

motto on the colonial seal of the State of Georgia, USA

During a recent conversation, the topic of Augusta’s history arose and quickly turned to the monument walk on Greene Street (thanks, JP). The winding path down the center of Greene Street creates a walking “tour” of Augusta’s past and one worth taking.  You can find out a lot about this great town we live in, and what history has to teach us. 

For those of you who might be new to the area, or if you are a life long resident, I also recommend a quick stop at the Augusta Common. There you will find a statue in remembrance of James Oglethorpe. When you gaze upon this statue, you are looking directly at the man who founded Augusta.  Also in the Common, you can read James Oglethorpe’s orders given to Nobel Jones which instructed Jones to perform a survey of the area in 1739 after the completion of Fort Augusta. The communication by Oglethorpe to Jones clearly outlines his expectations for the development of Augusta into a vibrant city, complete with renderings. Our founding father put a lot of thought and care into the city’s construction with several demands in his lengthy discourse. The same forethought that Georgia’s founding fathers gave when they chose the state motto “non sibi sed a liis,” or “not for ourselves but for others.” 

Augusta’s original plan was focused on one large square/plaza, which was to be four streets deep. Fort Augusta sat adjacent to “town lots” near the river, forty total. At this moment in time, two streets (Reynolds and Ellis) were named after early colonial governers. 

What a long and storied history Augusta has. As with everything in life, times change, economies change, public demands change, industries change, populations change, demands from those populations change. Clearly, at this time in Augusta’s history, not unlike many others, you and I have an opportunity to be an active part of something great. As events continue to unfold, our hope is that, in a hundred years, residents will look back and say, “Wow, what an effort.” Keeping that in mind, I ask: are you involved? Are you asking yourself the question that our founding fathers were asking themselves? What can I do for others and not myself? What a challenge they put on the future of this great state. How are you living up to the motto? 

There are many opportunities for you to become a part of your community. Koinania. There’s that word again. Do you get it? Let me give you another word to think about: doulos; which means to be devoted to another to the disregard of one’s own interests.  Doulos means to build a community that has the interests of others in mind first. A great goal for Augusta. This is our charge as put forth by Georgia’s founding fathers.

With that new found energy and growth, as you enjoy the pages of this month’s verge, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of our supporters. verge is about you. verge is about our community. verge is about downtown Augusta. verge is about becoming a part of your community. Supporting the locally owned businesses that advertise, participating in the events that you see, and getting to know the people between these pages helps build our community. 

We have been extremely humbled by the support our publication has received. We’ve grown a little this month, due to our advertisers and you. We thank you and truly look forward to seeing you downtown - the heart of our community.

Doulos.  Koinania.

September

Thank you Augusta!

The immediate positive response to our first issue of verge amazed me. We are grateful for the many people who have expressed their enthusiasm for verge and its mission. As we move forward into April, Augusta has definitely stepped up to the call re-building our great downtown community street by street, business by business and event by event.

As you read on, we want you to see that downtown Augusta is a bustling epicenter of excitement every month. Choices abound: clubs to check out, live performances to experience, volunteer opportunities to get involved with, restaurants to enjoy, retail stores to shop at and people to meet. There are CD release parties, acoustic sets to hear, throw back dance parties to attend, new recipes to try out and a plethora of events to attend this month (check out pipeline).

Downtown is a desirable place to live, work and play. We’re also providing you the opportunities to come, see and do as well. CADI teams are busy cleaning the streets, Saturday Market kicks off mid-April, new real estate projects are breaking ground as existing projects continue to move forward. This is an exciting time to be involved with downtown, reach out into your community and look for these opportunities. You will be amazed.

In this month’s verge, you will begin to meet the people behind the scenes. These are our heroes, quietly working hard to make downtown a better place for us and our families. Whether they assist people in finding events or places, help in cleaning up the clutter, provide us with volunteer opportunities or fulfill a dream of being an independent business owner, they are some of the most dynamic people you can want to meet. We are introducing you to just a few of them this month and will continue to do so in coming months. If you see them at an event downtown, eating at a restaurant or at your church, go up and greet them and you will see first hand the dynamic makeup of this community.

We all have a challenge ahead of us and that challenge is to become more involved, whether that’s trying to go greener or start a business or simply support the local economy, the challenge can be met and overcome by involvement. As you begin to meet these folks see how you can get involved and help out. The benefits are far greater than the costs.

We’ll see you downtown!

matt