Posted by The_Big_Chief_Again
on 11/19/2011, 9:40 pm, in reply to "Re: Election Results"
174.102.29.25 | Message modified by user The_Big_Chief_Again 11/19/2011, 9:51 pm
Anyone can get on here and debate and whine and deny the next things that I write, but certainly in my mind they are true, they were true 40 years ago, and they are true to many of the good folks in Cambridge.
Having allowed myself to live outside the cozy confides of Guernsey County, I have had the opportunity to see how other communities operate. There have been thousands of times when I have proudly thrown in my 2 cents about how Cambridge did things a little bit better. Of course there were also times when I saw how other communities did things better.
Here's where the main wrinkle lies, that will begin to explain the disgust and dislike towards teachers. There is no 99% in Cambridge, at least not in some people's minds, there is a 20% of Cambridge people who have steady, full-time jobs, family-owned businesses, or State or Federal jobs, and then there is everybody else, the 80%. The 20% (teachers included) have always acted superior, have always blatantly disrespected and looked down their noses towards the 80%, the blue-collar, the self-employed guy barely scraping by, the guy on and off unemployment, the guy you call to work on your car or water heater for next to nothing.
For a few years, (by accident, because the higher ups didn't even know there was anything wrong), for a few years things were fixed because you had the world's best go-between in Gene Ford; in him you had the closest thing to Abraham Lincoln that Cambridge had ever had, a man for the people, by the people, and certainly one of the people. He was relatable, he replaced a coach that drove around in Cadillacs while he rode around in beat up vehicles and mopeds. He made just as much money as the other teachers but he didn't flaunt it, he didn't live at the Elks, he didn't live at the Country Club, he didn't think he was better than anyone else in town. Matter-of-fact he was just as likely to stop and talk to the janitor or town bum than he was to spend time talking to school board members. So who do you replace him with, an out of towner who from all accounts wasn't overly outgoing and basically had no ties to the community. You've got a football coach that didn't even live in town, (don't know if he does now or not), so I gotta believe that the typical Cambridge person wouldn't know him if he bumped into you at Walmart.
You can blame all of this on whatever you want, but the 80 percenters, want noticed, they want to be recognized, they want to matter. I was one of the 80 percenters and until Pete Nordstrom I didn't think I got a fair shake based on my economic status. Pete didn't care, he was like the Statue of Liberty, give me your tired, your poor...... and because of him I finally figured out that it didn't matter how much money I had in my pocket, it was about how hard I worked and how much I could give from my heart and I've lived that way from that day forward and trust me, I take those poor kids under my wing when I get the chance.
Sports matters, as a matter-of-fact in Cambridge sports matters a lot more than other things, Gene united the community in a way that we only kind of imagined could happen. You have some very polarizing figures involved in the school system right now, from coaches, to teachers, to administration. Look at how the Mayor voting went; Tommy Orr has money in his pocket but look at how he relates to the common man, he rolls his sleeves up and does what needs done, he fishes, he traps, he goes to sporting events and puts in his 2 cents, he is just as apt to put on a pair of hip waders and crawl around in Wills Creek as he is to put a suit on and conduct official city business. Wow, you have nothing like that within the school system! Who is one of the most beloved citizens in town? Easy question to answer: Hoggy. He runs this website, and works in a school system just like other teachers, but he is as approachable and down-to-Earth as anyone, he's not hated by the community, they love him.
You reap what you sow. Cambridge has snubbed their noses at the common man for decades and now the common man has the power to have the upperhand for a change. What has the school system done to make the people of Cambridge want to help out? In other communties, the school is the hub of activity for both young and old, moving the school to where it is now took the school out of the line of sight of 95% of the population. It's a job for some people to try to drive out there. I'm not saying that it could have been put anywhere else, I'm just saying how it appears. At this point the school district needs to bend over backwards to try and win back the common man vote; senior citizen suppers at the school, youth this and that, free giveaways this and that, free health screenings, feel free to use your imagination, but I can tell you that every night that there isn't an event going on at the school is a missed opportunity to change the mind of one voter at a time. And everytime those common citizens see a teacher in a new car or bigger house or in some kind of personal or legal jackpot, that's more votes out the window. The town doesn't care if you make money, they care when it's flaunted out in front of them. They care when their car is broken down for the third time that month and they look in the paper and see the teachers wanting a raise. What have the teachers done for them?
You talked about the guy who couldn't afford $30 more dollars, well I say those same things, "I can't afford to do this or that." But if a buddy of mine needed money, I would just hand it over without a question. The school is not a buddy to the community. You've got to find a way to make the community feel like they are important and that they are part of a team. You've got teachers complaining that the town hates them and won't vote for a levy, and you've got a town that sees a bunch of rich whiners wanting more money when they already make double what they make. First things first, you better make the staff a hell of a lot more approachable than they are right now, ain't none of us are gonna beat disease, ain't none of us gonna beat death, we're all human beings, we all have happiness and sadness and sorrow and regret. We are all the same regardless if you live in Brown's Heights or in the Bottom. Secondly, you need a common goal, common ground, something that the 80% and 20% can stand side-by-side and fight til your knuckles bleed.
I hope with all of my heart that someone can step up and start rebuilding what I know is one of the greatest communities in America, Cambridge, Guernsey County.
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