The danger when you assume, the old saying goes, is that all you do is make an “ass” out of “u” and “me.”

That thought came to mind last night when a reader emailed to complain about Monday’s comments regarding the Floyd County Board of Supervisor’s approval of a “shell” building they will have to buy in 2007 when the owner bails out of the sweetheart deal (see the story below this one).

“About what we would expect,” the emailer said. “Another outsider coming into Floyd County telling us how to do things.”

Outsider? Somebody didn’t do their due diligence. Sorry to disappoint you but I grew up here and graduated from Floyd County High School in 1965. My mother is from Meadows of Dan and my grandmother worked at the shirt factory on Locust Street until she retired.

There is, however, a difference between being someone who is “from here” and being someone from here who has also “been there.” Some of us have ventured out into the real world and, because we’ve “been there,” we have a different perspective that can, and should, make a difference.