If one takes online polls to heart, your heart may sink a little this week. As a community, it appears that we are not at all optimistic about our future.
Last week’s online poll at www.hopestandard.com asked readers to answer yes or no to the following statement: I think good things are in store for the Hope region in 2011!
Well the enthusiasm for celebrating the New Year did not rub off onto the public’s prediction for a prosperous new year in Hope.
And that can cause damage in itself.
Although the holiday poll garnered just a small sample of respondents, we still have to question the strength of the no vote. Sixty-five percent of us do not feel good things are in store for us in 2011. And they may be right.
But do we pass this negativity onto our customers who shop, eat, and stay in our community? When we speak of our community, is it in a positive light or in the negative? Do we reflect a healthy business, community and family environment: an environment that fosters investment? And does our no-hope attitude hold us back from investing in our own businesses and properties?
Times are tough around the world, but when we slam ourselves… dub our home as hopeless (as many of us have nicknamed it), we are slamming that lid one notch tighter. Let’s spend 2011 addressing our problems, but let’s not make our problems the focus of our address.
Since the arrival of our First Nations thousands and thousands of years ago, through the fur trade, the gold rush, mining, and logging and now to being the heart of four major highways, Hope has always been well positioned as a viable and thriving community. So why isn’t it?
Simone Rolph (Black Press)