Recent events inspire hope in newcomer to Lima

Gas prices are up. Power lines are falling down. Drugs are destroying lives. Jobs are disappearing. This is a sad time in Lima. This is America's darkest hour.

Or is it our brightest?

Although a pessimist, atheist and snob, I'm filled with hope by recent events in my new home city.

With the jump of fuel to nearly $4 a gallon, I see my neighbors driving less and using more fuel-efficient cars. I see Ohio's Legislature approving three-wheeled electric cars for road use. I see Americans getting more creative and open-minded about how they get around and more aware of the distances separating home from office and brother from sister.

I hear the manly, truck-loving men of The Lima News' press room asking me how many miles per gallon my moped gets. And I see more motorcycles and scooters on the street. Gas prices have been good to me.

And this month when I experienced my first real Ohio storm, my electric service was cut for three days. Sure, my food spoiled and my apartment got a bit warm, but I met my neighbors. We stood on our porches and watched the storm flash through the night. We decided on a midnight cookout to grill all our perishable meats. We finished the last of our cold beer and told stories about life at the University of Northwestern Ohio and why twentysomethings don't enjoy newspapers.

With power disconnected, we found the power of connecting with one another. The storms have been good to me.

When I moved to Lima, it was on the tails of the Tarika Wilson shooting. A few months later, Wendy Westergaard was slain on Market Street. Police and activists pointed to drugs in both cases. And what I saw floating in a sea of tragedy just blocks from my home was a community awakened. With the help of Jesse Lowe II and others like him, neighbors stood up and spoke out against a dangerous culture developing on our doorstep. I saw signs in windows and rallies on the roadside. The names Wilson and Westergaard became scars etched in our memories and rolling from our tongues. Lima and neighboring towns refused to forget what had happened. Tragedy has united us.

As American jobs disappear to outsourcing, dropping demand and changing technologies, some of our readers and friends come upon hard times. Workers at Van Wert's Kongsberg plant have been told to accept lower wages or say goodbye to their employment. The choice isn't easy, and we are struggling in hard economic times. But there is a brighter side. I hear youth discussing their future plans and am amazed by their adaptability and occupational savvy. New jobs, different jobs are on the horizon, and a smarter America will be ready for them. Already, business leaders in our community are following the example left in the region's history and shifting industry and the workforce to weather tough times. A changing economy has galvanized us.

I am a doubter raised in a family of faith. I often quizzed my mother on God, asking how a divine being could allow the world to harbor so many horrors.

"Baby," she would say, "everything happens for a reason."

What she didn't say, but what I now understand, is that the human condition is the engine behind that reason. Everything happens to make us stronger, wiser, better and more perfect.

So keep reading the news, the good and the bad, and remember that this newspaper exists as a catalyst for turning our successes and failures into fuel for a brighter tomorrow.

Kiarash Zarezadeh is news editor at The Lima News. Readers may send e-mail to Kzarezadeh@limanews.com.