In my work, parents often ask why their children behave as they do. “Why is she so defiant?” “Why did he cheat on his test?” “Why can’t he do his homework without having a meltdown?”
My answer almost always begins with this question: What would have to be true for your child/ teen/ husband/ neighbor to behave as they do?
I have asked myself this question as I’ve read the dishonest and deceptive claims being made by opponents to Measure R: what would have to be true for these folks to deliberately misrepresent the facts of Measure R in such a way as to lead people to believe that we residents would be prevented from choosing to have a Whole Foods or Trader Joes, if we so wished?
What would have to be true for opponents of Measure R to scare people into thinking we could no longer have a movie theater or an Urgent Care, when in truth, those businesses remain unaffected by the measure?
Ask yourselves these questions. Why would someone be invested in deceiving the citizens of a town where they do business? (Even if they don’t actually live here and have to face their neighbors when traffic becomes a nightmare because they have built more and more stores that few of us will ever visit?)
What would have to be true for Steve Soboroff – no doubt a nice fellow – Paul Grisanti, Ken Kearsley and others to bully us into believing we’ll be sued if we don’t give them what they want? Why would they guilt us into picturing the poor children who won’t have a nice park if we don’t acquiesce to their wishes?
We can never know for sure why anyone does what they do, but my guess is that it has something to do with having millions of dollars of skin in the game.
Don’t assume other people will take the charge — there are no other people. Please use your voice to vote “yes” on Nov. 4 to reserve the right to influence what your town looks like while we still can.
Susan Stiffelman