What do you think about this?
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The time for understanding the haters has passed.
Those who diss Dayton and its surrounding communities for being boring, crime-ridden, depressed or just downright horrible have three options:
- Leave. Youngstown is very nice this time of year. Cars, planes and Greyhound buses go there. The most creative among us could even perhaps figure out how to travel by boat.
- Roll up those sleeves. There are numerous groups from DaytonCreate to Dayton History working to make the Miami Valley a better place to live, work and play.
- Shut up. It is not nice to tell people to shut up, but seriously, shut up. Everyone, and I mean everyone, is sick of hearing your hateful whining and unending griping. Blah, blah, blah. Your baseless conspiracy theories and misguided conclusions are for the birds.
For what it is worth, many of us like and even love it in these parts.
You’ve clearly overlooked the region’s dynamic arts community, universities and brights spots in business like Caterpillar’s $69 million center in Clayton and General Electric’s $51 million research facility being built in Dayton.
Besides, what has the negativity achieved besides more negativity?
Dissenters are great. They help keep everyone honest and the trains running.
There is, however, a difference between dissension and a word that sounds and awful lot like switching.
There is also a huge difference between Dayton and I don’t know, a prison yard during a riot.
This brings us back to the other options.
It’s an old adage, but I think it works: Don’t let the doorknob hit you where the dog shoulda bit you.
If you don’t like the environment you find yourself in, find a new environment. It’s a terribly large world. Rich people are even blasting into outer space for sport. Surly you can be happy somewhere in the universe if not here.
Try Detroit. Try Russia. Try Mars.
If you don’t plan to shut up anytime soon and can’t stand the notion of leaving a place you loath, roll up your sleeves and dig in the dirt. Helping improve the situation is, of course, the option that would be most desired by the community at large.
The Dayton area needs innovators willing to harness the awesome.
There is no doubt that things could stand to change around this place, but change, of course, doesn’t come with the wave of a wand.
There are a host of economic, social, education and structure issues that need tending.
If you really, really cared about an issue, you’d do something about it.
Mean-spirited lip smacking is just mean-spirited lip smacking.
The lips get a good workout and that’s about all.
What do you think? What is your favorite things about the Dayton area? Let me know at arobinson@daytondailynews. com, or send tweets to twitter.com/ddnsmartmouth.
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