It’s Time To Kill The Phrase Lubbock Or Leave It

Probably one of the most asinine phrases ever spoken is "if you don't like it, leave it". How completely inane and stupid. If you don't like your car, should you "leave it"?  If your taco doesn't have enough sauce, should you "leave it"?  Well I feel the same way about Lubbock and Texas. I love them both enough that I'll do what I can to "fix them" and not "leave them".

I moved out here as a high school student. I went back to California for a while, then later in life my job took me to Austin and to Spokane Washington.  I was then given a chance to come back home to Lubbock. Since that time I've had MANY opportunities to move to larger cities and bigger jobs. Sorry, I like this town.  Even then, there's a lot not to love.  Should I "leave it", or try to make it better?  Well, since I moved back, the town has gone "wet", the city started an arts festival, the Amphitheater was built (really upping the amount of shows), we built our own tourist attraction "Nightmare On 19th Street" and hundreds of other little things have been built, changed or been improved.  Heck, even the farmers have adopted a lot of methods that keep the dust down a bit. People in this city have looked at where it was lacking and have worked to make it better.  Trust me, change is slow in Lubbock, but the Lubbock of 2015 is miles and miles more progressive than of the Lubbock of 1980.

The world does not people who "leave it" and we don't need idiots who think that that's the only solution to a problem. It's a childish answer to a childish question. If you find something you don't like, work towards change. It's not always going to happen, but at least you didn't sit around whining about it. "Leaving it" is for quitters and cowards and that's not me.