Letter to the Editor: 'Brandon Strong'

Thirteen years ago, my wife Terri and I brought our children to Brandon looking for a city with strong academic excellence and good core values. The Brandon Valley School District definitely brought us here; however, the quaint little city with excellent amenities and that small-town atmosphere sold us, and over the years we have been blessed and honored to call Brandon our home. 

As one of the leaders and a citizen of our great city, I am concerned that social media has unfairly characterized our community and our leaders as corrupt, incompetent, dishonest, and the list goes on. I think it’s time that we, as a community, stand up and become “Brandon Strong.”

We have become a society quick to point fingers and place blame, while hiding behind a computer screen spreading fake news, half-truths, and flat-out lies. This type of behavior places individual agendas ahead of responsibility of reporting the truth, without thoughts of the consequences to our city and others. Division undermines progress, affects productivity, and drives away opportunity to put a greater emphasis on solutions rather than problems. 

The veterans of this great nation fought for our freedom of choice and freedom of speech as outlined in the First Amendment. However, freedom of speech should not occur without some level of integrity, honesty, and professionalism, especially when reporting information attacking one’s character or one’s community. 

We have an opportunity before us to check our egos at the door to learn and grow together, because the most important aspects of this great city are the people. The city, the people, and the voices are important to each one of us. Brandon is the place we call home and where we have chosen to raise our children. Every voice does count. And it’s those 10,000 voices that drives each of us to hang in there through attacks and half-truths to see the vision of the city through to the end.

Life is challenging, even when things go well. But our life’s journey should not be about wins, losses, pointing fingers, or keeping score. It should be about our community, our people, our unique set of goals and values, and our diversity. Each one of us has a vested interest in this community and what is being said on social media – because each of us calls Brandon home. It’s a wonderful place to raise a family, and even with the challenges we face, it’s still the place that I choose and am proud of to call home.

We are not perfect, and quite honestly, we never will be. Much like my life, we as a city are a work in progress. Mistakes happen, and life goes on. Each of us has plenty of scars we bare about our past experiences that have taught us important lessons.

It has been an honor to work with a dedicated group of leaders, city administration, and city employees of this great community, graciously giving back their time and talents, humbly working toward a common goal of making our community the best it can be. 

I encourage each of you to take an active role in this “Brandon Strong” movement by taking the time to research and educate yourselves about the important issues our city faces as we move toward the future. It’s time to lead with integrity, be a role model for civility and professionalism, and hold ourselves accountable to a higher level of honesty putting a greater emphasis on solutions rather than pointing fingers being stuck in the past so we can make tomorrow a better place than today.

Be proud of your past failures Brandon. Because it is the lessons learned within those failures that will lead to future successes. No one here is perfect and never will be. And I for one am proud of my past, as it is a good reminder of where I have been and where I am going. 

It’s time Brandon to take back our community and work together for a brighter future. I think John Kerry hit the nail on the head when he said, “Truth is the essence of facts.” Let’s build off this momentum and work together focusing on mission, vision and values for this great city because we are “Brandon Strong.”

Brett Bastian

Brandon