I was sad when we had to report that a big project wasn’t coming to Craig, after all.

But I was even more sad to read some of the responses to the dissolution of the Yampa Valley Adventure Center.

Help me understand here: Why would anybody who loves Craig cheer the failure of a project that would have revitalized our decrepit old mall and could have brought jobs, retail and visitors to the city?

I’m truly confused that there were some of our neighbors who reveled in the demise of this ambitious project.

I get thinking it wasn’t going to work. I get wanting to be right. I get, maybe, not liking the former politician who was working to make it happen, although I don’t love the way that makes me feel as a human being.

But I don’t get cheering that it didn’t happen.

Is being right that important when it hurts us? Or, supposing you weren’t a fan of the project in the first place, do you have another idea? Because I’m not seeing those.

Instead, we’ve still got a practically empty mall — one of the largest buildings in town, standing as a reminder of what we’ve lost, instead of what we might have yet to gain. Three cheers for… what exactly?

I’m worried when I see this. I know it wasn’t everybody. I know it wasn’t all of us. But it was some of us, and it worries me that some of our loudest neighbors apparently want, what? More of the same?

Folks, we’ve got to come together here. We’ve got to build each other up. We’ve got to encourage effort, champion taking chances, and celebrate success. We’re all in this same Moffat County-shaped boat together, and we’ve got to start rowing in the same direction, or we’re bound to sink with our collective ship.

What’s the future? We don’t know. But we know it’s going to be different and we know it’s going to take a movement of positive thinking and positively thoughtful community building.

We all love it here for a bunch of reasons, and one of the primary reasons is each other. Let’s build together. Let’s build up, not down. Let’s build a future for Craig.