Summer 2007 Article Published in Paper

Always look on the Bright Side of Life!!


As I was tooling around Atchison the other evening, I became increasingly frustrated at trying to get to my destination. It seems as if there are those bright “hunter’s orange” cones at every stop. Construction abounds on the streets of Atchison, and it’s potential to wreck havoc on traffic is evident at some major channels throughout Atchison.

While trying to navigate to my destination, my first inclination was to curse like a sailor at the frustrations of oozing through the cone-mania on Skyway Highway. Then, out of the blue, I suddenly remembered a song from a Monty Python movie: “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” Upon that “like a light bulb” revelation popping into my meager brain, at the drop of a hat I relaxed and realized we Atchisonians could have worse transportation nightmares eyeing us down daily.

While this construction might provide some inconveniences for a while, we have to look at the positives. It’s going to present a headache and some snafus for quite some time. However, there is a bright orange cone waiting to be removed at the end of the tunnel soon. Eventually, the train whistles will fall silent. The confusing and bizarre concrete island at the south end of the 14th street viaduct will be gone. Traveling through Atchison will be better in the end. The intersections will be modernized and updated. Modernization is a good thing, albeit a painful process.

While it may present a headache to us temporarily, remember that we are blessed to avoid the commuting issues and problems that larger cities present. I for one know that when I have an educational conference in Kansas City, the early morning commute on Interstate 435 drives me bonkers. We are fortunate (those of us that live and work in the confines of our fine city) that our morning commute to work takes less than five minutes. We probably oftentimes forget that our small town offers conveniences that we take for granted. I’ll take the headache and temporarily stalled traffic, the bright orange pylons that resemble men attending a hunting convention, and the barricades blocking streets in exchange for smoother transitions in the future. We need to remember those that have hour-long commutes and long subway trips to work in the cities often add two or more hours to their workday by including their commute time. We are fortunate we are a five-minute city!

With that, the next time I get stuck in snarled and congested traffic, I plan on whistling “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life” from Monty Python’s “Life of Brian.” It won’t make traffic move any faster, but at least it will soothe my inclinations to become snippy and say bad words!!