I’ve got a friend who is a real estate agent. She HATES showing houses in Dunwoody. You know why? She doesn’t want to answer the questions: “Save Dunwoody? Why does Dunwoody need saving? What is wrong in Dunwoody that these folks need to save? Do I really want to live here?”
Dunwoody is a great place live, but you would never know it from the tone of the debate over the last year or so. The world may not be watching what we do, but our neighbors are. It is time for us to turn over a new leaf and find ways to disagree without being disagreeable.
Put away
your signs. Tone down your public
comments. Moderate the tone of your
letters to The Crier. Curb your
outrage. Distance yourselves from the
spreaders of unreasoned dissent and twisted malice.
In other
words, stay involved, but be civil. To
remind everyone how to act, I refer you to the book “All I Need to Know I
Learned in Kindergarten” by Robert Fulghum
Here are the 16 things we all need to remember from kindergarten:
“These are
the things I learned (in Kindergarten):
1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don't hit people.
4. Put thngs back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don't take things that aren't yours.
7. Say you're SORRY when you HURT somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life - learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Stryrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first workd you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.”
― Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
1. Share everything.
2. Play fair.
3. Don't hit people.
4. Put thngs back where you found them.
5. CLEAN UP YOUR OWN MESS.
6. Don't take things that aren't yours.
7. Say you're SORRY when you HURT somebody.
8. Wash your hands before you eat.
9. Flush.
10. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
11. Live a balanced life - learn some and drink some and draw some and paint some and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.
12. Take a nap every afternoon.
13. When you go out into the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.
14. Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Stryrofoam cup: The roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
15. Goldfish and hamster and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
16. And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first workd you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.”
― Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
Whoever wrote this comment has no idea how far reaching the acrimonious tone and exaggerated comments became last Summer. I had a client contact me, from Colorado Springs, asking me what in the heck was going on in Dunwoody and why was I in the news.
ReplyDeleteSome neighbors used a 'scorched Earth' strategy, bellowing proclamations of corruption and wrongdoing to further their political agenda. All fun and games until real damage occurs. What if State Farm chose another location because of these loudmouths?
The City needed to learn that neighbors cannot hear about projects like a round-a-bout by opening up The Crier. The City needs to understand that our citizens have many talents and should embrace our 'in-house know how.' All of this can occur without burning our reputation.
I look forward to seeing how people act in 2014 - Make no mistake about it, those folks calling our City officials corrupt, our practices self-serving, won't get a pass.
Dunwoody is better than that.