Let’s work towards something new for the Bronx

 written by: Fernado P. Tirado

With a new year underway, let’s work towards something else, something new for the Bronx

With the New Year’s celebrations complete, many of us are undergoing the annual ritual of making resolutions for 2014. Sometimes we write out goals, other times we consult lists with the top 5, 10, or even 30 things to change for the new year. We are even bombarded with TV commercials trying to sell us on how we can become a new person (physically fit, financially fit, spiritually fit, etc.). There is really only one thing that anyone of us can change that can help us in becoming who we want to be.

Attitude.

Attitude helps us to take the goals that are on paper and put them into action. It helps us to get up when we’ve been knocked down and roll with the punches. Attitude helps us to cope with challenges big and small, taking the lemons and making lemonade.

So what does attitude have to do with the Bronx? In the past year, we’ve had several incidents in the press of people far and wide trying to knock us down, most recently from a mayoral candidate in Paris, France. We’ve been put down by the likes of tour bus operators to a momentarily relevant Bansky. But the worst of it seems to come from our own backyards. People complaining that we are not one thing or another, or that we will never change, or that things are getting worse.

 

Enough!

 

People everywhere have challenges they have to face, but we don’t need to add fuel to the fire. Rather than grumble about our weaknesses, its time that we talk up our strengths as a neighborhood, a community, and a borough. If people would drop their bad attitudes for a moment and see what the Bronx really has to offer, you would see that we have a lot of potential. Many are looking at the Bronx as the newest frontier for business, investment, and growth, but too many have their heads down and not looking at what’s right in front of them.

Let’s make a collective commitment to create a new Bronx attitude in 2014. Let’s be a part of the change that we want to see in our communities. Let’s stop blaming others for the things that are occurring around us and take responsibility not only for our own attitudes, but for also promoting a good attitude amongst our children, our friends, and our neighbors. Get involved in promoting that good attitude, whether it is at a house of worship or in your civic organization. Don’t allow others to suck you into their bad attitude, but counteract it with your better attitude. Only when we start to control our reactions will we be able to make a difference in the attitudes of the ones around us.

So are you ready to promote a new Bronx attitude? Let’s start together now!