DALTON — Good morning.
Several years ago, when I worked in Wichita, Kan., I ate lunch most days with a reporter friend who could find a conspiracy in just about any situation.
Those lunches were full of spirited conversation and his eye for intrigue was a skill that served him well as a reporter, and would have made him a great spy, but it also gave him a cynical outlook that could cause him to view a full glass as half empty.
I thought about my friend last week as I reflected on much of the news that has made headlines recently.
When things are not going well, the impulse to look at everything around you in a jaded manner is understandable, and much of the news from around Dalton has not been good.
n Our unemployment rate for January soared up half a percentage point from December and now stands at 13.1 percent.
n Dalton Schools may have to cut $2 million more out of its budget by July 2011 than it initially thought because the state might have less money than it currently estimates it will have.
n Dalton State might have to cut another $2.4 million from its budget as part of a package of $300 million in higher education cuts that the university system might have to endure, on top of millions in cuts it has already made.
It is enough, as my pastor in Wilson, N.C., on one occasion said to me, that it “makes you want to go curse in the woods.”
I don’t think Pastor Doug would go curse in the woods, however. I think he would look and grasp for any thread of good that he could find in a situation and start pulling on it.
There is much in life that will make any sane person feel despondent at times.
When I faced an unexpected layoff, I questioned everything about my life right down to whether I had made the right choices when picking my electives in middle school.
But as my wife would patiently point out, there were a lot worse things that could happen to someone and that as cliched as it might sound, when one door closes another opens.
You just have to find the threads of life that uplift us and use them to help you find your way, even when that way seems to be murky at best.
In Dalton, those threads were also present in abundance this week.
After a year in Afghanistan, Charlie Troop and its 90 warriors returned home to their loved ones. Their presence amongst us won’t improve the local economy or bring more jobs here, but you couldn’t help but feel better as you watched them roll down Thornton Avenue wearing grins that instantly told you they were glad to be home and that in their world things were all right.
And yesterday, the girls basketball team from Northwest High School played for a state championship.
The importance of sports is often way over emphasized in today’s society, but when you watch a team play with the joy that this one has, you realize that athletics is about more than greedy pros grabbing their millions. Cheering on a team can give you a lift that can help you if you let it.
There is a lot to worry about in Dalton these days, but there is a lot to be proud of as well.
What we have to ask ourselves is, what are we going to emphasize as we tackle the problems that currently face us, and that will inevitably face us in the future?
We can look at each problem and wonder how we will ever be able to surmount them all. Or, we can grasp tightly to those threads that offer hope and start pulling toward them one by one.
We can go curse in the woods or applaud the heroes that surround us, on the battlefield, the basketball court and so many other places across our community.
When we look for that good, we might just discover that the future is brighter than we think.
Tim Rogers can be reached at 706-272-7735 or timrogers@daltoncitizen.com.
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