[Vision2020] My Concern

[Phil Nisbet]

After having stewed about it over the weekend and listening to the rhetoric 
from so many parties, one thing stands out in my mind as a truth.

J Ford is right, this town is girded for war.  But its not one sided.  It 
not just a single issue that has battle lines drawn.  The mentality on all 
issues is us versus them.  Everything is a giant conspiracy, each individual 
action by any individual part of some master secret plan that will ruin the 
community as somebody sees it.

It would all be humorous, but then something happens that makes it not too 
darn funny.

That Barbara Crouch feels unsafe in our community and that she does not want 
to raise her children here says reams to me.  Barbara has been a very 
valuable asset to this community, one which will be very dificult to 
replace.

Its time for people to stop the culture war and stop the constant battle and 
conspiracy theory mongering and start being neighborly so that we can find 
ways to keep people like Barbara here.  The flight of so many bright and 
talented people, for fears that should not be being generated, for economic 
opportunity not being generated, for lack of community itself, is something 
that has to be solved.

If diversity is to have any meaning at all, it means that people you may not 
agree with or even like are going to be part of the community.  In a diverse 
community, you have to learn to work with folks who are very different than 
yourself and who will definately hold very divergent veiws from yours.  We 
need to find what unifies us, what makes us whole or the only folks left 
will be those in the trenches readying the next string of grenades to lob 
across the no mans land that was our community.

Phil Nisbet

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