By Terry Brooks | Kentucky Lantern
Mark Batterson’s new book is a provocative read. Titled “Gradually Then Suddenly,” the author details how the biggest dreams sometimes seem as if they will take forever and then … POOF! … it happens seemingly overnight.
One of my favorite examples from the book is Olympic gold medal winner Rowdy Gaines. Batterson reminds us that the United States boycotted the 1980 games in Moscow, which means Gaines trained for eight years in preparation for the 100-meter freestyle, a race that lasted less than a minute. Add up all the practice laps for those eight years, and you’ll see that he swam some 20,000 miles for a race that lasted 49 seconds.
Gaines won that gold medal for the U.S. gradually before winning it suddenly.
When it comes to policy, wins for kids have been coming far too gradually. There have been too many “wait until next year” and far too few lightning strike wins. As the opening gavel falls on the 2026 General Assembly, our lawmakers must turn the “gradual pace” into 2026 “sudden action.” Kentucky’s kids need that pace — perhaps more now than ever.
Our boys and girls need leaders in Frankfort who don’t just say they care, but who act with a sudden urgency on that commitment.
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As laid out in the Blueprint for Kentucky’s Children 2026 priority agenda, Kentucky’s kids need budget investments to support kinship families and hard-hitting policies that reduce sexual abuse and exploitation. Our young people need budget investments to strengthen their legal representation and policies to promote housing and food stability. Young kids with disabilities need more responsive early childhood settings and our teenagers need real supports on issues from vaping to mental health.
Kentucky needs to lift the well-being of our children in every corner of the commonwealth. Our kids need to win suddenly. While the latest KIDS COUNT Data Dashboard shows improvements in several indicators of child well-being, 1 in 5 young Kentuckians live in poverty and face food insecurity, among other immense challenges often exacerbated by where the child grows up.
For me the seminal question around the 2026 state legislative session is learning exactly where kids stack up in our legislators’ priorities. Are our kids going to get substantial, common sense and focused policy wins in 2026 or merely political rhetoric?
Batterson quotes the heroic Christian missionary Hudson Taylor about turning gradually into suddenly. Taylor asserts there are three stages of any great work: “First, it’s impossible, then it is difficult, and then it is done.” I, for one, am tired of hearing that this policy is impossible and that policy is difficult.
Kentucky needs good policy for kids done, and done suddenly.
