I was braving the 520 bridge yesterday, thanks to the I-90 construction where they shut down the ENTIRE WESTBOUND BRIDGE (sigh - I'm still a little bitter), and just as I got past the cop sitting at the last exit onto the highway, my phone beeped.  Naturally.  Yey for cops and the no-handheld-phones law; luckily, my trusty Bluetooth earpiece was right there and I popped it on, flipped open my phone and answered a call from...

...my sister.  "I really want to go see a movie tonight," she said, but had no preference on which movie she wanted to see.  Long story short, I picked her up downtown and we shot back into Ballard to check movie times.  Believe it or not, Harry Potter was sold out (darn).  Everywhere.  But a movie I wanted to see several weeks ago was still playing...for only two more days.

Food, Inc. is one of those movies that makes you want to stop eating.  No, seriously, if you need to go on a diet, go watch that movie, because I walked out of the theater with my stomach turning and a new awareness of where the food I do eat comes from.  Luckily for me, I don't eat a lot of processed or snack foods - I mostly choose local fruits and veggies.  I think my downfall comes in my meat selection.

But I digress...  this isn't an article about the movie, but what happened after.  On our way back to Ballard, Paige (that's my sister) and I got into a debate about illegal immigration.  It was a large theme in the movie and so it was an easy jump from that to the debate.  Slowly, our discussion grew from illegal immigration to collapsing multi-national corporations to, finally, how innovation is the product of necessity.

So, with my mind too on the run after that conversation to really lay down and sleep, I laid and stared at the ceiling and pondered...  What need do we fill?  We're in real estate, so the automatic knee-jerk reaction is to say "I get people into homes".  Which is great! Don't get me wrong: I'm not bashing that mentality at all.  But...

...that's not a necessity.  What I'm offering up as a question is a much wider look at the industry and what we do in it.  Are you  a pioneer?  Using Jon as an example, he's created this magnificent engine that, even for it's faults, has helped push real estate marketing to a whole new level - a personal level.  Another example: My job here is part assistant/part office manager.  Is that the need I'm filling?  No.  I'm the fixer, the coordinator, and the organizer - the need I fill is keeping everyone together so that the business functions.  Am I a pioneer?  Perhaps, on some level, due to my association with AR, the tools I try to get people to use in the office, and so on.

My sister's point was simply that "no one" would want to work certain jobs for what these large, multi-national corporations were paying illegal immigrants, in example: clean toilets, gut pigs, shovel manure, and so on.  With the jobless rate in the country being nearly 10%, I was of the opinion that were those jobs available, necessity would dictate what those "no ones" would do to provide for their families, and innovation would be born from that necessity - new, better ways to do the job, better wages, better living standards...  perhaps, even, a better product.

Now, before I get on my high politics horse (which, as you all know, I try to avoid whenever possible - my blog's not a battleground, and even -I- need to respect that), I circle back to the thought of filling needs.  In this society, in these economic times, it's interesting to see how many people seem born with a natural tunnel-vision that inhibits them from thinking of anyone other than their own household bottom line.  This, unfortunately, leads to holes in the community that need to be filled but are ignored until those holes cannot go on anymore: businesses move out of the neighborhood, certain products are shipped out of state to be assembled, workers who are no longer "necessary" get cut, families have to raise their budget to pay for commodities, utility bills go up, etc., etc.

But we are not powerless.  I know it seems a dim, dire situation when you're watching your personal or community's bottom line, seeing things changing, but understand me clearly: those changes are opening up opportunities and NEEDS that must be filled to stabilize the community.  You all know the term "Build it and they will come"...

I think, in essence, that's the need that real estate agents must fill - you are community builders.  Not like AR's Community Builders, of course ;) but more of finding the right fit for the right people, bettering neighborhoods, building up, and rounding out the rough edges.  So now, my wonderful and lovely real estate agents, I must ask: What need do you think you fill?  What gap have you closed?  What wider-world hole have you patched up?  What innovation are you working to see progress?