Do you think most locals take pride in where they live?
You hear so many people being negative about our hometown, complaining about what's wrong with it and what the community's leaders are doing wrong, pointing the finger of blame at others, talking about who should do what to make things right.
These negative people seem resigned to everything that's wrong and they spend so much energy on what's wrong that I wonder if they can no longer see any of the positives.
It would be nice if that could be turned around - if the focus could first be on all that's great about where we live, work and play so that with a positive outlook we can take a proactive approach to then dealing with what's wrong and what needs fixing; deal to it with some energy and passion.
There are people who do just that - who see something is wrong and do what they can to make it right; people who take action rather than just complain and expect others to do all the fixing.
This past weekend Hubby and I hosted visitors from Australia. All they have seen is that our place is great - the natural beauty, the lakes, the hillsides, the forest, the location, the people, the tourism, the culture. They come from a fairly nice part of Australia themselves but say it's "nothing like this". They haven't even mentioned the smell.
Clearly they are half-glass-full kind of people, preferring to focus on the positives rather than try to find things wrong.
There are things wrong everywhere, in every part of our country and every part of the world. Nowhere is perfect - everywhere has its problems and challenges. We choose how we view those good and bad things and how we respond to them.
We do live in a beautiful part of the country and our place has a lot to offer those who choose to see the glass half full rather than half empty.
Life anywhere is what you make of it with what you have.
There may be things our city falls short on, things that could be improved, but all in all this is a part of the country where you can lead a pretty good life and where the simple pleasures in life are free or cheap compared to elsewhere.
As Hubby and I rode through the forest yesterday, enjoying the mild autumn temperature and sunshine and seeing others doing the same, we decided that life was really pretty good, that we didn't really have too much to complain about.
Of course, there will always be people who are struggling and who face much bigger challenges than many of the rest of us. It's up to all of us, as a community, to help those who need help and to play a part in bringing about positive change and there are many ways to do that. Everyone can make a difference, however small.
The simple act of catching the view from the positive side of the fence and taking pride in "our place" and the life it can give us if we choose to grab it, can make all the difference.
Imagine what we could achieve if we all took great pride in where we lived and strove to ensure that it stayed that way.
We live here because we love it - how about you?
Ingrid Tiriana is a freelance writer based in Rotorua.