This is my personal Blog. I've had it for many years. As you can see, there is not much to it. You won't see many "posts" here. There is a reason for that.
It's not something I have made public until now. I've kept it a secret. I've only shared it with one person over the years and I came to regret that.
Let me explain. As many of you know, I LOVE being on Facebook. It's a GREAT way for me to keep in contact with people I grew up with and met over my 56 years on the planet.
I use it for business and for personal reasons. But this BLOG is different. I use it to VENT when I am upset about something. I get on here and type out what I'm feeling and thinking at the time.
Then, I let it sit here for a day or two. I will read over it several times. And then I delete it. AHHHHH...that feels better and no one got hurt or offended by what I was saying and I got it out of my system.
So, let's go back about 2 and a half years ago. A group from my hometown of Chadbourn, NC was wanting to raise money to put a new roof on The Chadbourn Depot Museum. To make a long story short, I offered to have my band, "The Sweeney Family Band" to come and put on a show/concert at NO CHARGE to them. I would produce the show, pay for everything, including the advertisements and paying my band members out of my take on the show and donate the rest to the organization.
For whatever reasons, the show had a poor turnout and I actually lost over $2000. Either they didn't know it was happening or didn't care to support it. I was not so upset about folks not coming to see MY show as I was folks not coming out to support ANY show that was putting on a fund raiser to help make Chadbourn better.
A local, well known, newspaper reporter/journalist wrote an editorial about how we made the trip all the way from Florida to put on the show and the folks from Chadbourn did not care enough to drive a few miles and see it. (BTW...MOST of the attendees that were there came because they are personal friends of mine and saw me post it on Facebook.)
So, when he shared with me what he wrote, I shared with him what I wrote. I had VENTED on my BLOG. I had written rather scathing remarks about the good townfolk of Chadbourn (not everyone) and shamed them for not supporting the efforts of those wanting to make Chadbourn a better place.
I stated that I had zero desire to perform there ever again, and said I'm sure no one really cared one way or the other. I then went on to say that I was NOT really feeling that way, because I REALLY do care about my hometown and that was why I was so disappointed.
Anyway, I learned something about journalism that week. I learned that if you publish something on the internet and it's "out there", ANYONE can republish it without getting permission. This gentleman told me he was going to publish it. At first, I thought "Fine." Then a couple of days later, I wrote to him and told him I was not comfortable with that and to please not publish it.
He told me it was too late and that it had already gone to print. And besides, he informed me that he didn't need my permission to publish it. After I posted it to the internet, it was fair game (I'm paraphrasing.)
So....it ran. I never saw it in the paper as I don't get the local Chadbourn paper, but a lot of people did see it because they told me. The ones who approached me when I visited home said they agreed with what I said. However, I got a letter from someone I have admired my entire life telling me that I should not be so hard on the townsfolk. She has since passed away.
Some have said "He's just mad because nobody came to see his show." That is not so much true. I was mad and disappointed because it looked like no one cared about improving their hometown by coming out to support any effort. (And losing $2000 didn't help.)
(BTW....we had a GREAT time and I want to thank the many who came to see the show. There were a LOT of people there who don't even live in Chadbourn anymore. They came from Lake Waccamaw, Tabor City, Wilmington, Myrtle Beach, Calabash and Greenville, SC.)
I lost numerous "followers" on Facebook during that time and I am thinking that the "article" had something to do with it.
I don't know how much of my "letter" was posted, but I do know I said some scathing things it in. One mistake I made when writing it was that I actually meant to refer to the state of "DOWNTOWN CHADBOURN" only and not the town as a whole. But then, I never thought anyone would see my writings but me and one other person.
So...this has bothered me for over two years. I want to say that I am very much interested in the progress of Chadbourn since then and very happy to see what is happening.
If you are reading this from Chadbourn, I would like you to know that I do love my hometown and support it however I can. If I could make a living there, I would be living there. But in my profession, I have to be where the work is.
I can't attend The NC Strawberry Festival this year as I will be working in Ohio that weekend. I want to wish everyone there a "Happy Strawberry Festival" and wish only the best.
And please know that if you did read the letter a while back, it was coming from my hurt/disappointed 14 year old self who still wants Chadbourn to be the landmark I see in my heart.
So to the gentleman who posted my blog, I am not upset with you as you did what any good journalist would do. AND...I would hope that the letter has somehow helped "shake things up" a bit and helped get things moving more. (That's my hope anyway.)
For what it's worth, I have great hopes that Chadbourn will improve. Who knows what it will take, but aesthetically, it's getting better and that's a great thing. The Police Force is better and I see good things happening.
So, God Bless Chadbourn and please accept my apologies for a letter that was never meant to be seen in the first place.
With warmest regards,
Greg Thompson
