I’m afraid of the bad man.

I’ve been hearing a lot of people talking about craigslist coming to town. It’s coming to town! It’s coming to town! Being a dumb hick from Backwardsfield, I didn’t know if I should be excited or afraid. Sure, I’d seen craigslist before, and I’d used craigslist before. Big deal. I didn’t call up all my friends and say “Guess what I just did!”

I decided to do to a little investigating, so I went to the rants and raves. I was really surprised to see how fired up people get in their desire to put down Bakersfield and the people who live here. Geez. One guy’s post was so full of venom and hate, you’d think the city stole his puppy. He even put Bako down for not having a skyscraper. I’m sorry – is that requirement for being a good city?

The whole thing kind of freaked me out. I mean, there are certain cities that I don’t care for. There are certain cities I would not like it live in. But I have never felt so passionate in my hatred for a CITY that I would take the time to write about it. We can’t all be Santa Barbara. Sure, there were plenty of people defending Bako; I added a comment of my own. But I don’t think I want to go back there. I’m afraid of the bad man.

Here’s the first and last comment I posted on craigslist;

Bakersfield is not the greatest place in the world to live. But it also isn’t the worst. Happiness is not found in a location. It is created inside of a person. Sure it’s fun and it’s easy to make fun of Bakersfield. Sometimes it’s hard not to – I do it too. There truly are some awful things that need to be addressed. But these are not the things that make this city less desirable than others. It is the people, both local and afar, and their desire to put down and tear down others.

If you live here and you think it sucks, do something about it to make it better. Get involved. Pay attention! Do something besides add to the problem with your bad attitude. Or at least MOVE! If you don’t live here and you think it sucks, shut up about it already. Why are you still talking? Why do you care? You don’t live here. Only people from Bako should be allowed to say anything bad about Bako.

There are many people happy in Bakersfield. And there are many unhappy ones too. Just like every other city in the world. It’s really not that complicated.

One last thing…As far as I’m concerned, Bakersfield’s greatest asset is its people. The people here are real. And the friendships you make last forever.