I have recently been browsing the comments on the Ashland Time-Gazette site. It is unbelievable that someone could post a negative comment on a weather report, but yes, it is possible.

It is amazing how much one person can diminish hope of a better tomorrow, let alone a whole community griping in unison. Even more unfortunate, the bitterness may be all the person comes to represent, regardless of their healthier endeavors. I have witnessed too many people whose message is lost in their disdain, and I have decided that when they are ready to talk rationally, I will be ready to listen.

I understand that many are hardened because of various life experiences, but what does it take to salvage their hope and optimism? How low does someone have to go before they realize that there has to be a better use for their passions?

I woke up this second day of a new year wondering something. In general, people like staying in small towns because traditionally they were a place of low risk and personal security. That fact made me wonder a few things:

Does that mean people live here in Ashland because they don’t want to risk anything?
If they don’t want to risk anything, can real change happen?
Do we thwart others’ attempts to change because we are comfortable?

There are plenty of places in Ashland where people can go out of their comfort zone, so this year my goal for myself and my encouragement for you is to live a risky lifestyle here in Ashland.

I read an article recently regarding a study done by Harvard and the University of California. I thought Ashland may need a dose of it’s results.

The study found that happiness is contagious.
You are +15% happy if a friend is happy, +10% if it’s a friend’s friend, and +6% if it’s a friend’s friend’s friend. I did the math, and Kevin Bacon gains .24% happiness from Will Smith’s pursuit of happyness!

Having a happy friend living nearby increases your happiness by 25%, even if you don’t see them for a while. No friends nearby? Having a happy neighbor increases your happiness by 34%!

My point in writing this is that I am tired of being glum, even when everything around is falling apart. I wonder if change is contagious… Let’s go make someone happy today. I’m happy now, so you can have 15%.

Here and There

What is the difference between here and there? We have the same television, the same Facebook, and the same Walmart. We hear the same music, watch the same movies, and eat the same fast food. Normally, when that many facets of one’s environment are similar, you would expect a similar outcome. Yet somehow, with all of these similarities, it seems as if there is something that differentiates us from communities that are thriving.

Bubblewhat?

Some of you may be wonder of what I am speaking. Think of it in terms of Ashland weather. When a front rolls through, Mansfield to the south may get a foot of snow, and Nankin to the north may have raging tornadoes, but in the midst of all this, there sits Ashland minding its own business. When someone visits, they can sense a weird change in temperature.

Now to put that in terms of culture. Trends, good or bad, come rolling across the Midwest, and somehow the clouds break around Ashland, leaving us behind. And if there was a temperature for complacency, it would be that. Is it bad that the trends missed us? I am not talk about fashion trends, but rather those elements which blend and unite the peoples of a greater region. Are we disconnected?

Hardship

More than ever before in our lives we are hearing of friends and family losing their jobs. Others are facing the burden of rising prices, financial instability, and skyrocketing debt. Most all have poured their lives into something, only to have it pulled out from under them, not for their own shortcomings, but rather for those of a crumbling consumer market. There are undoubtedly feelings of anger, resentment, and despair. There is something about working hard, playing by the rules, and then “losing” out that is quite unsettling. There are certain rules that we learned in grade school that just don’t apply to the real world.

Now how, you may be asking, does this effect change in Ashland? And I say you are blind. Ashland has seen it’s fair share of this “injustice”. From Archway Cookies to Ashland University, plenty of hardworking, responsible folks have been awakened to the nightmare that their lives are not what they were yesterday. Others have suddenly found that their checking account is beginning to fall a little short of the monthly “necessities”. This shattering news does something to people that few other things in life can achieve. It forces them to change.

Hope

People like to base their hope on flaky foundations. We base our lives on our job, our friends, our possessions. We have an odd idea from the 1950’s that we will have the same job for our whole life, train an apprentice, and retire comfortably. Our friendship is cemented in our Facebook friend counts. As long as we lock up our iPods, we have nothing to fear. Why are things that can be lost and broken the exact same things on which we base our existence? What makes the fragile so comforting?

Freedom

Today I got word that a friend who had recently lost her job felt had a very odd feeling inside. It was a feeling of freedom. What is the freedom from? Maybe her job was burdening her, but if it had truly been a burden, why not simply leave earlier. Possibly the extra hours during the week felt like a blessing, but there are plenty of daily leisures that could be sacrificed for some additional time. Tonight I offer up the thought that this freedom is not from burden or from time, but rather from the idea that we are defined by our jobs. What would your life be like if you were forced to redefine yourself? Would you be happier?

What’s wrong here?

I have a beautiful wife, some friends I love, and a job even in this sad, sad economy. The issue is not what isn’t, but what could be. The issue is not just that the downtown is struggling, or that the most exciting thing to do is to go to Walmart (the reason for the struggling downtown). It is just baffling how a community this big cannot have a place to go in the morning to get fresh bread, or how a community this small knows everyone but socializes with no one.

Is it just me?

After talking to plenty of fellow young adults, both from Ashland and visitors to Ashland, there is a resounding “whaaa!”. Sadly, it seems like if you grew up here, it’s a place to be from, not a place to be. If you are a visitor, then chances are you also attend Ashland University. And its not that we dislike Ashland.  Just think of it like a groaning for something more.

What does it take to awaken a sleepy community?

Well we hope to find out, and we figured we’d let the rest of the world do it with us. As much as Ohio was the token struggling state in the previous election, Ashland has seen it’s fair share of layoffs, losses, and despair. But there is already a local newspaper to talk about that stuff, so we will focus on those points of light that are rising out of our fallen walls.