Heath Kellogg

So a moth goes into a podiatrist’s office. “Come in,” says the podiatrist, “What’s the problem?” The moth drops down into the nearest chair and says “What’s the problem? I don’t even know where to start. First of all, my boss is a vicious tyrant who gets off on the petty torments he puts me through day in and day out, and I’m too spineless to stand up to him, so I just take it and I’ve gradually come to hate myself for it. Also, every morning I wake up to the same prune-face old crone to whom I pledged my vows so many years ago. I used to love her, but that love has become like some sun-festering beached whale trying to die. We lost our daughter last year to one of the bitterest, coldest winters we’ve ever had to face in this region. I have nothing to look forward to but a continuation of this spiraling black hole that is my life, this existential cesspool that is the perpetuation of my lingering skid-mark on society. I despise people yet I crave their approval. I’m judgmental yet I care about nothing. I’m bitter, hateful and afraid. I’m alive yet I feel like the walking dead. This is it, Doc: I am a living, breathing, disease.”

The doctor stares at him for a while then finally says “Jeez, Moth, you definitely have some problems. But I’m a podiatrist. You need a psychiatrist. Why’d you come in here?”

The moth says, “Your light was on.”

This story reminds us that while things may appear one way, when we take the time look deeper into the facts and find the truth – it can be very different than what we first believe. Webster defines perspective as a mental view or outlook. It was C.G. Jung that put it well when he said “It all depends on how we look at things, and not on how things are in themselves. The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it.”

What is your perspective of the downtowns in Tama County? Are you content? Or do you think things could be improved? If you think things could become better, I would invite you to attend one of several downtown forums held across the state in June to discuss downtown and community improvement topics.

Forum attendees will have an opportunity to share their experiences relating to the downtown projects and communicate with other community leaders the exciting things occurring in their commercial districts. Each forum will focus on a different area of economic development (housing, water management, retail trends and building faade improvements) and will be held in designated model communities that have established strategies for success and best practices in these areas. You can contact our office (641-484-3108 or info@tamacountyiowa.org ) and we will get you the specific days and locations of each forum.