Will The First One Please Turn the Lights On

“Decatur sucks!”  “Decatur is a dying town.” “Decatur Stinks – and it’s not just ADM!”  “Will the last one to leave please turn the lights off.”  If you’ve been living in Decatur for any length of time, I’m sure you’ve heard or read all of those classic lines.  I try to avoid the Herald & Review’s Letter’s to the Editor Blog like the plague, but once in a while I’ll pop in, and it never fails; someone will say something nice about Decatur and a gang of ravenous attack dogs will slobber over their unsuspecting prey.  “Oh, another sappy, delusional Decaturite has written something positive about Decatur – they must be Chamber puppets or looking through rose colored glasses because Decatur sucks!  Anybody with a brain knows that!”  Just try and throw out an idea to improve downtown and you might as well hand out whips, strip naked and strap yourself to a pole and prepare yourself for the onslaught of stinging remarks and put downs.  What’s wrong with us?  I guess that’s a study for Sociology or Psychology 101.  Maybe it’s not unique to Decatur but it’s really getting old.

I know Decatur has been through a lot, and faces a lot of problems, but it goes against my grain to just give up.  Maybe it’s just a feeling of helplessness, or not knowing where to put our energy, but if we want to make one big contribution to our community, without having to do a whole lot, – let’s stop putting Decatur down and putting each other down.  That would go a LONG WAY!  All I can say is, “Will the first one please turn the lights on!“

This is a sappy song but put on your rose colored glasses and sing along!