Inevitability: Honoring the Past While Defining the Future

The Voice

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Alexander Hilmy

Owner / Partner, HILMY & Valence

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Let’s face it, progression is inevitable, be it technology, real estate, gentrification, etc. We as a society aren’t good at sitting still. 

I think change can be weaponized for good while still paying homage to the past. History is important, and it should be honored, but at the end of the day it’s history. I feel that the automotive industry is a great example of this: look at the major brands, VW, Toyota, Honda, Mercedes…they’ve all incorporated modernity into a structure that was developed a century ago. 

IMPLEMENT – you don’t always have to redefine.

Humans have the ability to create, develop, and impact, and we often forget that this change can be positive. We tend to be comfortable with consistency, even if that consistency is uncomfortable. But if you take away the adversity to change and rally together, you’ll often find that some wonderful things can happen. Expansion IS happening and if we focus on what we can do to influence it positively, there will be a less divisive stance on the matter. 

Consideration is a slow mindset amongst rapid time. Consideration of space, of people, of story, and of place can take a square peg and a round hole and transform them into a symbiotic relationship of the next generation of growth.

“Back in the good ‘ol days”… “It’s not how it used to be”…“I remember when…” are cliches that get us nowhere really, really fast.

It is our responsibility to utilize what we know of our own past to inform the next step. Progression is about change and a positive outlook that actually impacts the future. 

Push the button on the side of your phone to turn off the screen, give Facebook and Instagram and Twitter (or “X,” or whatever it’s called now) a rest, and pick your head up. Look around and realize that all of this is happening in real time and that we have the ability to impact the trajectory exactly how we see fit. 

San Antonio is one of thousands of metropolitan areas that will look different tomorrow than it did today. You can adapt to change while being true to your roots. Let’s all stop complaining and start creating.

The world is your oyster: Shuck it.

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