Since the beginning of time, gems have been a thing humanity has had to dig for. Be it in the depths of mines, under the immense weight of mountains, the hollows of river beds, or even the seemingly darkened corners and alleys of cities we've all but given up on. Point being: to find such treasures, you're gonna get dirty. Real dirty. And Perhaps that's part of the point. Perhaps that the metaphor so to speak. Maybe the good lord designed things that way. Makes sense doesn't it? Give what you get? Crawl through a pile of shit and come out a far better person in the end. Why do you think so many cultures pilgrimage to spiritual "meccas" with cinder blocks chained to their legs? Out of health?
Regardless of if you believe that or not, we can all get on the same page around one simple fact. We can all nod our proverbial head in agreement that one, uncontroversial thing is true... gems tend sparkle a little brighter while surrounded by filth. Contrast alone proves that point. A diamond simply shines brighter plucked out a pile of shit.
In some towns (ours included), the filth comes in many forms, be it drugs, poverty, lack of direction, obesity, alcoholism, hopelessness, anger, hatred, disgust. Far too many to count on a single hand. Some towns lost the benefit of the doubt long ago without the knowledge of where it began. All that seems to remain are the stories of youth, of better times. Young adults forced to (all too soon) utter the phrase, "when I was your age.:"... And it's true, no one knows where it began for sure, or what the catalyst was that championed the decline. Chances are there wasn't one. The reality might be that too many unfortunate circumstances came to be at the same time. And it's a shame that we can't point the finger. But that shame is more of a gift than it is a curse. Because at least it spares us all the blame of having to point a finger. To eliminate ourselves from the responsibility. Wouldn't that be nice? "It's not my fault, I only grew up here." Fuck that. You're here aren't you? No matter what our differences might be in this town we all can gather around one common thread. One thing that brings us all together despite our differences. We all can agree on one thing: Rutland, Vermont has become a steaming pile of shit. Lets all shut our mouths and fix it.
Because we might be missing one incredible and powerful but amazingly thing: diamonds still exist in the Rut. And maybe... just maybe, with enough love and support, we can bring it back out of the depths and be proud to be from it again. Of course, there is always the possibility that we can't, that it's too far gone to support any longer. Are you scared? Fuck that... no you're not, you just don't know where to start.
So here's the thing. If you're not willing to try... then I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Pack up and get out. You're simply not aloud to complain without having the desire to make things for the better. This blog is where to begin. Where we can all find the good things about such an awful town. It's not just a clever name. Let's together find and exploit "Diamonds in The Rut", because otherwise, why are we here?
