Monday, April 27, 2009

Glad To Be Home

I’m back in the city and at work on a Monday morning. Las Vegas was cool since it was my first time going. I was there for a work conference and as usual I met some really nice people. Friday I sat and had lunch with a bunch of people including two ladies from Detroit. It seems like everyday there is some bad news about their city. As I sat there talking to them I couldn’t help notice how melancholy they were as we talked about it. I also couldn’t help notice how they didn’t seem to be blaming their own people for everything.

There was no blaming the people uptown or the people downtown. No one said that the economic problems were an “opportunity” to reshape the city. Even though these ladies had jobs, no one said the other folks needed to stop whining and get themselves together or how we should sterilize all the people who were living off the government. These ladies lived in the suburbs and talked about upset they were that their morning commute had become too easy. They wanted the traffic in the city because it meant people were there. I was just thinking to myself “Wow, people in the suburbs understanding the importance of stability in the big city….I bet these people have a hospital.” They didn’t even mention their text messaging crazy ex mayor and call him any names.

I am not saying everyone in Detroit is as caring and concerned as these ladies. I am not saying that everyone in the area I live in is negative. I’m saying that sometimes it feels like all we want to do is be pissed off with one another around here. Sometimes the situation is so severe that you should pull together. That’s why a city like Detroit will fall flat, pull together and recover two times over while we sit down here pointing fingers, watching opportunity pass us by and try to figure out who our mayor went to dinner with in 1985. I’m glad to be home.

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