Edgy Idea

 

On the Corner of Main

 

Look for the well designed sign in the brick sidewalk that says Main Street, USA. Many small towns across the country are revitalizing their communities with entrepreneurial enterprises and welcoming cityscapes. 

 

On Commerce Street, we see different types of activity. The chain groceries in Detroit have left the area and small grocers have become the life line. The commerce area of Charleston, WV, has beautifully landscaped streets and an ebb and flow of entrepreneurs. The downtown mall lost a major anchor store and the space was filled with corporate offices while, on the eastern outskirts of the city, the suburban mall has transformed itself into a cityscape.

 

Around the corner on Main Street, not quite so many people are milling around. The farmer’s coop market is doing well as people focus on eating local and healthy. The Dollar Shop is doing better than Best’s Department Store since Carl the Carpenter’s wife is trying to stretch the family dollar. The bank is doing pretty well. People are saving and paying off their credit cards.

 

The doctor’s office on the corner of Main and State is seeing some problems. Costs are rising, vibrations coming up State Street are disturbing the patients, and Carl the Carpenter’s kids need their back-to -school physicals.

 

Down State Street, things are shaking. There’s so much work to be done, but the micro-climate here seems disruptive. New ideas presented by one group are held up for ridicule by another. Proposals with some sound basis of reason are blocked because the Purple Party wants to show just how powerful they can be, or they want to get even for that water balloon the Striped Party dropped on them last year. With all the water balloons and spitballs flying around, the huge columns holding up the buildings on State are showing cracks.

 

On the edge of the block with Main, the people of California have put down an interesting blockade making it quite difficult for the workers on State Street to make progress. They’re having a bit of a dispute about fixing the holes in the pavement. Traffic is a bit challenging. 

 

Commerce and State Streets meet at a point on this wedge-shaped block of town. Gorgeous high rise buildings fill the corner. Lobbyists of every sort fill the offices. While they touch on State and Commerce, many of the lobbyists unfortunately have their backs to Main Street and don’t see what’s going on there.

 

The same could be said for all the people on State, Main and Commerce. They all look out on a different perspective. If they would just look inward, however, they’d discover they all share the heart of the community. They are all anchored to the same ground. At their core, they have much in common.

Maybe we should all take a walk around the block, check the perspectives our neighbors have. Perhaps we can help repair the crumbling columns on State.  Maybe we can help stabilize the ground under the doctor’s office. Maybe Carl the Carpenter’s wife would like to carpool with us and Go Green. Take a walk around your block this week.

 

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