10 Ways to Ruin a Town
I won’t mention how old I was in 1985 but I will tell you I still go to nap in Kindergarten. We are digging in the archives here at the Chamber and found an interesting article titled Ten Ways to Ruin a Town. I’m going to try to put a current spin on it and see how much still rings true today. (My comments are in red)
1. Attend no meetings of any kind. Criticize the way “they” are doing things. (I think it is safe to say that if the first public meet-ing you attend is to complain about something, you are taken much less seriously than if regularly participate and understand the process.)
2. Remind others at all items of the cold winters, hot summers and ruggedness required of those who live here. (Other than a few, I rarely hear this and love how positive our community is. It sure has been wet these few months though…)
3. Complain about the police department, fire department, chamber of commerce and other government and civic groups. (These people are obviously the ones in the community who, like number 1, fail to attend public meetings and have no under-standing about how a community functions to serve, protect and keep taxes low for people like them.)
4. Keep convincing yourself that your attendance at school programs, service clubs, ball games, art exhibits, plays and community functions aren’t important. (Don’t worry, your non attendance won’t be missed by everyone enjoying themselves. You can see what you missed on social media.)
5. Knock your city council and county commissioners about all the “kick backs” they must be getting. (Trust me, I work with them and see what they drive. If they cheat, they are bad at it.)
6. Stay away from church or just attend on Easter Sunday. (You are missed and prayed for whether you like it or not.)
7. Purchase most of your groceries and required shopping items from out of town or mail order catalogs. (If you still get the Sears catalog, hang onto it, it will be as valuable as dinosaur bones soon. Try shopping local and put the internet down just a little bit and enjoy a day exploring local. We know you may live in a cave, but poke your head out and enjoy the weather and some conversation occasionally.)
8. Remind others that your local newspaper and radio stations are no good, that they miss more local news than out of town papers and stations. (What you and I may consider news are probably very different. What happens on Facebook is rarely news-worthy and fortunately for us, we are blessed with good honest media. Back in kindergarten, I used to get all my news from Morristown and it is still the news hub of East TN.)
9. Remember that all kids are delinquents, all businessmen are crooks and that the world may not rotate on its axis if you don’t make a negative remark about the place you live. (This one is a pet peeve of mine as the US still allows free movement of legal citizens. If you are unhappy with kids being kids, people working hard to be successful and a community that is working hard to grow, I heard West TN is starting a colony for people like you.)
10. Above all, always be skeptical, cynical and negative about anything good for the community’s progress. “if it is good, it just can’t happen here.” (This happened to me for years in a past job, “why would Lowes come here, there is one 25 miles away” was the comment of the day. “ I won’t believe it until I see the sign.” Pull up that old news article from 2006, there is your sign and a picture of me holding the golden shovel!)
I hope you enjoyed the look back on many of these comments. It Is refreshing to see how many we have moved beyond, but there is still work to be done!