Community Corner
The Creek Beat: It's All How You Look At It
How some folks in Walnut Creek looked on the bright side at situations that others felt were not so bright
It's a lesson I wish I had learned younger in life.
It's all how you look at it.
No matter what happens you don't have to be angry, sad or frustrated, if you don't choose to be.
There are certainly instances where those emotions are warranted. But there are others where you can choose to look at the bright side... or not.
I was struck in the past week and a half by moments where people in Walnut Creek chose to see the positive side of things.
The first was on Friday, Oct. 18, when BART workers went on strike, forcing thousands of commuters to find other ways to get to work.
I went to the Walnut Creek BART station about 6:30 a.m. that day. There was a line stretching down the block.
Despite the early hour, it was an orderly scene. No one was yelling. No one was trying to cut the line.
People weren't happy about the strike and they criticized the parties involved. Yet, even though some had arisen an hour or more earlier than usual to make sure they got a seat on the bus, they were taking it all in stride.
One commuter said he was happy there were buses available. The inconvenience didn't bother him that much. As long as he got to work on time, he was OK.
He and the others were happy to have jobs and a way to get to them.
That attitude surfaced again on the following Monday night at Northgate High School. There were more than 100 people at a town hall-type meeting on the new aquatics center that will be built on that campus.
There were some legitimate complaints from neighbors about the noise, the lights and the traffic that the new pool will create.
However, one woman got up and said she lives so close to the school that she can hear the bells, the students chattering and even the crack of baseball bats during spring practice.
"And I love every minute of it," she said.
She said all that noise meant students were active, they were busy and they were learning.
"Schools make noise. That's what they do," she said.
She was seeing the bright side of of living on the doorstep of a gathering place for hundreds of teenagers.
When the pool is open next summer, she'll be OK with it, too.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
